WALTER      DOUGLAS 

President    of    The    American    Mining    Congress 
1917 


Report  of  Proceedings 

•  /  7 


OF    THE 


American  Mining 

7  T  £-5 

Congress 


Nineteenth  Annual  Session 

Chicago,  Illinois 
November  13-16 

1916 


-v. 


Published  by  the 

American  Mining  Congress 

At  the  Office  of  the  Secretary 

Washington,  D.  C. 

1917 


PREVIOUS  SESSIONS  OF  CONGRESS. 


PATE. 

1st  July, 

1st  July, 

2d  July, 

3d  July, 

3d  June, 

4th  July, 

nth  Sept., 

Gth  Sept., 


1897* 

1897 

1898 

1899f 

1900 

1901 

1902 

1903 


CITY.  PRESIDENT. 

Denver,  Colo.  Hon.   Alva  Adams, 

Denver,  Colo.  Hon.   L.   Bradford   Prince, 

Salt  LakeCity.UtahHon.  L.  Bradford  Prince, 
Milwaukee,  Wis.        Col.  B.  F.  Montgomery, 
Col.  B.  F.  Montgomery, 
Kon.  L.  Bradford  Prince, 
E.    L.    Shafner, 


7th 

Aug., 

1904 

Sth 

Nov., 

1905 

9th 

Oct., 

190G 

10th 

Nov., 

1907 

llth 

Dec., 

1908 

12th 

Oct., 

1909 

13th 

Oct., 

1910 

14th 

Oct., 

1911 

15th 

Nov., 

1912 

16th 

Oct., 

1913 

17th 

Dec., 

1914 

18th 

Sept., 

1915 

39th 

Nov., 

1916 

Milwaukee,  Wis. 
Boise,    Idaho. 
Butte,  Mont. 
Deadwood    and 

Lead,  S.  D. 
Portland,  Ore. 
El   Paso,   Tex. 
Denver,  Colo. 
Joplin,  Mo. 
Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
Goldfleld,  Nev. 
Los  Angeles,  Cal. 
Chicago,  111. 
Spokane,  Wash. 
Philadelphia.   Pa. 
Phoenix,  Ariz. 
San  Francisco,  Cal.  Carl  Scholz, 
Chicago,  111.  Carl  Scholz, 


Hon.  J.  H.  Richards, 
Hon.  J.  H.  Richards, 
Hon.  J.  H.  Richards, 
Hon.  J.  H.  Richards, 
Hon.  J.  H.  Richards, 
Hon.  J.  H.  Richards, 
Hon.  J.  H.  Richards, 
Dr.   E.  11.   Buckley, 
John  Dern, 
Samuel  A.   Taylor, 
David  W.  Brunton, 
Carl  Scholz, 


ADDRESS. 
Pueblo,   Colo. 
Santa  Fe,  N.  M. 
Santa  Fe,  N.  M. 
Cripple  Creek.Colo 
Cripple  Creek.Colo. 
Santa  Fe,  N.  M. 
Cleveland,  Ohio. 

Boise,    Idaho. 
Boise,   Idaho. 
Boise,   Idaho. 
Boise,   Idaho. 
Boise,   Idaho. 
Boise,   Idaho. 
Boise,   Idaho. 
Rolla,    Mo. 
SaltLakeCity.Utah. 
Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
Denver,  Colo. 
Chicago,   111. 
Chicago,   111. 
Chicago,   111. 


*Temporary. 

tPassed    to    June,    1900. 


' 


INDEX. 


Annual    Banquet    177 

Financial   Statement   of   Secretary    162 

Forest  Relations  Committee,  Report  of 48 

Joseph  A.  Holmes  Memorial  Committee,  Report  of 40 

Members,  Annual  Meeting  of 159 

Members,  Adjourned   Meeting   of    162 

Nominations  Committee,  Report  of 173 

Resolutions,  Committee  on    35 

Report  of 51,  52,  53,  54,  57,  58 

Revision  of  Mineral  Land  Laws  Committee,  Report  of 119 

Uniform  Coal  Mining  Laws — 

Association,   Formation   of    , 154 

Committee  on  Resolutions,  Report  of   154,  158 

Uniform  Cost  Accounting  and  Reports,  Report  of  Committee   78 

Workmen's  Compensation,  Committee  Report  of   84 

SPEAKERS 

Adams,    Harry    C Opens    Convention 13 

Atwood,    Harry    F Address    of    Welcome    on    behalf    of   Mayor    William 

Hale    Thompson    of   Chicago    13 

Ball,   Max.    W Discussion    of   Naval   Reserves    129 

Adequate  Acreage  and  Oil  Conservation   322 

Bent,    E.    T Response    for    Illinois    19 

Debate   on   Resolution 61 

Discussion  of  Commission,  Plan  for  Formulating  Laws  150 

Bogle,    W.    S Response  for  Indiana 19 

Brede,    M.    H Discussion  of  Mr.   Ruhl's  paper 107 

Bridge,    Dr.    Norman    . .  .  Discussion  of  Area  in  Naval  Reserve 126 

Presides   at  Afternoon  Session.   Oil  and  Gas  Section, 

Wednesday,  November  15,   1916 136 

Remarks  on  Losses   Through  Small  Operations  in  Oil  141 

Buckingham,   Geo.   T.    ...  Toastmaster  Annual  Banquet,  Thursday  Evening,  No- 
vember 16,  1916   177 

Callbreath,   J.   F Announcements 18,  31,  32, 

35,    38,   39,   40,    43,   46,   48,   51,    138,   159,   160,   161,  174 

Debate  on  Resolution  No.   11 59,  61 

Reading  of  Dr.   Henry   S.  Drinker's  Paper 64 

Reading  of  Letter  of  W.  H.  Huff  of  Colorado 71 

Calls  to  order  Annual  Meeting  of  Members,  Tuesday 

Evening,  November   14,    1916 159 

Submits  Secretary's  Annual  Financial  Report 162 

Comment  on  Report 164 

Reports   on    Contributions 165 

Discussion   of  Mining  Journal 166 

Discussion  of  Formation  of  Bureaus  to  Aid  Work  of 

American  Mining  Congress   176 

Chance,    Dr Response  for  Eastern  Pennsylvania ' 26 

Debate    on   Resolution    62 

Clarkson,  Gen.   John  T.    .  Response  for  Iowa 20 

Discussion  of  Check-Off  in  Iowa 89 

Codd,    A.   A Presides  at  Afternoon  Session  of  Metalliferous  Section, 

Wednesday,  November   15,   1916 110 

Collins,    Geo.    E Introduction  of  Resolutions 36 

Presides  as  Chairman  Afternoon  Session,  Metalliferous 

Section,  Tuesday,  November  14,  1916 105 

Base  Price  for  Zinc   112 

Sampling  Method  for  Zinc 113 

Crews,    Ralph     Co-operation  in  the  Marketing  of  Coal 184 


6  INDEX. 

Presides    at    Mornina    Session    Metalliferous    Section, 

Thursday,  November  16,   1916 118 

Reads  Report  Upon  the  Revision  of  the  Mineral  Land 

Laics  by  E.  B.  Kirby  of  New  York   119 

Shackelford,   W.    R Response  for  Missouri   21 

Remarks  on  Sampling  and  Marketing  Zinc  Concentrates    111 

Sharpe,  J.   H Discussion  of  Oil  Flotation   .  .    116 

Short,   Frank  H Introduction  at  Resolution  No.   5 47 

Conservation;  Its  Purpose  and  Effect   631 

Presides  at  Afternoon  Session  of  Oil  and  Gas  Section, 

Tuesday,  November  14,   1916    123 

Uncle  Sam-  and   Western  Public  Land  Question   ....    620 

Siebenthal,    C.    E Lead  and  Zinc  Resources  of  the  United  States 397 

Skldmore,    A.    H Response  for  Kansas    22 

-  Smith,    George    Otis    Cost    of   Coal    452 

Summarizes  Paper  of  C.  E.   Siebenthal  on  Lead  and 

Zinc  Resources  of  the  United  States    105 

Snyder,   W.    J Remarks  on  Conservation  and  Preparedness 49 

Debate  on  Resolution   62 

Discussion  of  Check-Off  in  Indiana   87 

Stander,    Henricus   J.    ...  Oil    Flotation 510 

Stevens  Response  for  South  Dakota 27 

Stoek,    H.    H State  Mine  Rescue  Stations   275 

Debate  on  Resolution    61 

Announcement  of  Program   147 

Discussion  of  Commission  Plan  for  Mining  Laws....    150 
Reads  Letter  to  the  Governor  of  Tennessee  from  R.  A. 
Shiflett,    Chief   Mine   Inspector   of   that   State,   on 

Uniform    Mine   Legislation    152 

Talmage,    Dr.    James   E. . Response  for  Utah 28 

Presides  at   General   Session,  November   15,    1916 40 

Taylor,    S.   A Response  for  Pennst/lvania   25 

Presides    at    General   Session    (Afternoon)    November 

16,    1916    48 

Report  of  Committee  on  Uniform  Cost  Accounting.  ...      78 

Debate  on  Check-Off 100 

Advisability  of  Preparing  Mining  Legislation  Through 

Commissions 581 

Thomas,    Eugene    Response  for  Idaho    19 

Thompson,    Judge   J.    W.. Methods  for  Obtaining  a  Uniform  Mining  Law 269 

Titus,    Louis     The  Federal  Government     and     the     California     Oil 

Claimants 606 

Remarks  on  Waste  in  Oil  Production 142 

Trumbull,    L.    W Remarks  on  Sub-flooding  Oil  Sands   139 

Tucker,   W.   C Presides  as  Chairman  of  Morning  Session  Thursday, 

November   16,   1916    101 

Van  Wagenen,  F.  W The  Prospector  and  the  Mining  Law 224 

Weitzel,    E.    H Response  for  Colorado   19 

Discussion   of   Check-Off   in   Colorado    96 

Discussion  of  Colorado  Mining  Laws 149 

Welch,    R.    L.    ..." Remarks  on  paper  by  Dr.    Walter  F.   Rittman 137 

Practical  Phases  of  the  Standard  Oil   407 

Wells,   Mrs.    Emily   F.    ..Remarks   on  paper   of  H.    G.   James 138 

White,    C.    P Discussion   of   the  Pittsburgh   Vein   Operators'   Asso- 
ciation   of   Ohio    69 

White,  Dr.   I.   C Response  for   West   Virginia    29 

Presides  at  Afternoon  Session  Coal  Section,  Wednes- 
day, November  15,  1916 84 

Presides    at    Morning    Session    Oil    and    Gas    Section, 

Thursday,  November  16,   1916 139 

The    Anticlinal    Theory    550 

Whitney,    Dr.    W.    R Practical  Significance  of  Pure  Research   205 

Wieson,    H.    M Comment   on   Joseph   A.   Holmes   Memorial 44 

Williams,    J.   E Discussion  of  Situations  Arising  from  Railroad  Prob- 
lems      102 

Willis,    O.    F The  Value  of  State  Mining  Organizations   564 

Wopton,    Paul Reports  on  Mining  Journal 167 

Wright,    F.    P Response  for  Kentucky    23 

Discussion  of  Check-Off  in  Kentucky    94 

ADDRESSES. 

'Co-operation  in  the  Marketing  in  Coal Ralph  Crews,  Chicago,  III.  185 

The  State  Geologist  and  Conservation A.  H.  Purdue,  Nashville,  Tenn.  193 

The  International  Mind — America's  Opportunities  and  Responsibilities  in  World 

Relations  C.  L.  Dering,  Chicago,  III.  198 

Practical  Significance  of  Pure  Research 

Dr.  Willis  R.  Whitney,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  205 

A  Paper  Favoring  Remedial  Legislation  for  the  Benefit  of  Oil  Companies 

Roy  A.  Bishop,  California  217 

The  Prospector  and  the  Mining  Law F.  W.  Van  Wagenen,  Denver,  Colo.  224 

Authority  of  States  to  Tax  Mining  Property  on  Indian  Lands 

Judge   J.    G.    Gamble,  Des   Moines,   Iowa     232 


INDEX.  7 

Co-operation,  Conservation  and  Competition  in  Coal 

Dr.  E.  W.  Parker,  Wilkes-Barre,  Pa.     241  - 

Coal    Freight    Rates — Relativity    and    Uniformity 

E.    W.   Ropiquet,  East  St.   Louis,  III.     250 

Report   of   Forestry    Relations   Committee 261 

Methods  for   Obtaining  a  Uniform   Mining  Law 

Judge  J.    W.    Thompson,    Washington,   D.    C.     269 

State   Mine   Rescue   Stations H.    H.    Stock,    Urbana,   III.     275 

The  Effect  of  Uniform  Mining  Laws  on  Mining  Engineering  with  Special  Refer- 
ence to  Coal  Mining J.  A.  Garcia,  Chicago,  III.     281 

Geology  in  Its  Relation  to  the  Oil  Industry.  .  . J.  C.  McDowell,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.     284 
The  Sherman  Law  and  Its  Relation  to  Mining..  .Glenn  W.  Traer,  Chicago,  III.     303- 

Oil    Storage    Garrett   B.   James,    Chicago,  III.     307 

The  Mining  Industry — Its  Magnitude C.  A.  Tupper,  Chicago,  III.     318 

Adequate   Acreage   and   Oil   Conservation.  .  .Max   W.   Ball,   Washington,  D.    C.     322 
Responsibilities   and   Duties    in   Mine    Safety   Work 

Thomas    M.    Gann,    Knoxville,    Tenn. 

Revision    of    Mineral    Land    Laws    Report    of    Committee     337 

Federal   Aid   to   Mining   Efficiency — National    Importance   of   Agricultural   and 

Mining Van  H.  Manning,  Washington,  D.  C.     339 

Difficulties  I  Have  Met  in  Coal  Litigation .  .R.   W.  Ropiquet,  East  St.  Louis,  III.     354- 
Commission  Plan  of  Preparing  Mining  Legislation  in  the  State  of  Illinois 

A.   J.   Moorshead,   Chicago,  III.     360  - 

Present  Status  of  the  Oil  Flotation  Process 

D.   A.   Lyon  and   O.   C.   Ralston,   Washington,  D.    C.     365 

The  Position  of  Engineers  Towards  the  Question  of  Water  Power  Development 

in  the  West Henry  Sturgis  Drinker.  South  Bethlehem,  Pa.   371 

The  Revision  of  the  United  States  Land  Laws  as  They  Affect  Mineral  Locations 

F.  F.  Sharpless,  New  York,  N.  Y.     384 

Co-operation  the  Basis  of  Safety.  Efficiency  and  Conservation  in  the  Use  of  the 

National    Mineral    Resources Carl    Scholz,    Chicago,   III.     389- 

The  National  Need  of  Naval  Petroleum  Preserves 

Hon.   Franklin  D.  Roosevelt,   Washington,  D.   C.     395 

Lead  and  Zinc  Resources   of   the  United   States 

C.    E.    Siebenthal,    Washington,    D.    C.     398 

Practical  Phases  of  the  Standard  Oil R.  L.  Welch.  Chicago,  III.     406 

Record  of  Mine-Safety  Work Albert  H.  Fay,  Washington,  D.   C.     413 

The  Future  of  the  Gold  Production  of  the  World 

Waldemar  Lindgren,  Cambridge,  Mass.     435- 

The   Federal   Trade    Commission   and   the   Mining   Industry v/v 

Hon.  Edward  N.  Hurley,  Washington,  D.  C.     4-5-2^ 

The  Cost  of  Coal George  Otis  Smith  and  C.  E.  Lesher,  Washington,  D.  C.     452  - 

What  Becomes  of  the  Benefits  of  Production  Efficiency 

George  H.   Gushing,   Chicago,  III.     465 

The  World's  Oil  Supply Ralph  Arnold,  New  York.  N.  Y.     473 

Federal  Co-operation  with  the  Oil  Industry ...  H.   G.  James,  Kansas  City,  Mo.     491 

Oil  Flotation Henricus  J.  Stander.  Chicago.  III.     510 

Organized  Capital  and  Organized  Labor  and  Their  Relation  to  Safety,  Efficiency 

and  Conservation  in  the  Mining  Industry. Col.  George  Pope,  Hartford,  Conn.     516 
Dyes   and    Explosives   from    Coal   and    Petroleum 

Dr.  Walter  F.  Rittman,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.     524 - 

Compulsory    Investigation   of   Industrial   Disputes — Colorado's    New   Industrial 

Law   Wayne  C.   Williams,  Colorado     530  - 

The  Anticlinal   Theory Dr.   I.   C.    White,  Morgantown,   W.   Va.     551 

The  Responsibilities  and  Duties  of  the  Public  in  Mine  Safety  Work 

Dr.  F.  W.  McNair,  Houghton,  Mich.     557 

The  Responsibilities   and  Duties   of  the  Miner   in  Mine   Safety  Work 

Thomas    L.    Lewis.    West    Virginia     559 

The  Value  of  State  Mining  Organizations Prof.  C.  F.   Willis.  Tucson.  Ariz.     564 

Uniform  Coal   Mining   Laws James    W.   Paul,   Pittsburgh,  Pa.     572- 

The   Commission   Plan   of   Preparing   Mining   Legislation    in   Indiana 

M.    I.    Scollard,   Indiana     577 

Advisability    of   Preparing   Mining   Legislation   Through    Commissions 

Samuel  A.   Taylor,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.     581 

What   Can  Uniform   Mining   Legislation    Hope   to   Accomplish 

Van  H.  Manning,   Washington,  D.   C.     585 

Is   Uniform   Coal   Mining   Legislation    Advisable 

Robert   H.    Harlan,    Washington,   D.    C.     598- 

The  Federal   Government  and  the   California   Oil  Claimants 

Loins  Titus,  California     606 

The  Relation  of  the  Federal  Government  to  Western  Oil   Production 

Hon.  James  N.  Gillett,  California     613 

Uncle  Sam  and  Western  Public  Land  Question . Hon.  F.  H.  Short,  Fresno.  Gal.     620 

Government    Owned    Patents F.    G.    Cottrell,    Washington,    D.    C. 

Conservation:  Its  Purpose;  Its  Effect Hon.  F.  H.  Short,  Fresno,  California     630 


OFFICERS  AND  DIRECTORS,  1916 

OFFICERS. 

President— CARL,  SCHOLZ. 
First  Vice- President— HARRY  L.  DAY. 
Second  Vice-President— M.  S.  KEMMERER. 
Third  Vice-President — JAMES  E.  TALMAGE. 

DIRECTORS. 

W.  J.  RICHARDS,  Pottsville,  Pa.  SAMUEL  A.  TAYLOR,  Pittsburgh.  Pau 

DR.    JAS.    E.    TALMAGE,    Salt    Lake  L.  A.  FRIEDMAN,  Lovelock,  Nev. 

City,  Utah.  CARL  SCHOLZ,  Chicago,  111. 

CHAS.  M.  MODERWELL.  Chicago,  111.  HARRY  L.  DAY,  Wallace,  Idaho. 
DR.  WM.  B.   PHILLIPS,  Golden,   Colo.  CHARLES    S.    KEITH,    Kansas    City, 
M.  S.  KEMMERER,  New  York  City.  Mo. 

E.    A.    MONTGOMERY,    Los    Angeles,  WALTER  DOUGLAS,   Bisbee,  Ariz. 

Cal. 

GENERAL  COMMITTEES,  1916. 

EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 
CHAS.  M.  MODERWELL.  CARL  SCHOLZ.  WALTER  DOUGLAS. 

STATE    VICE-PRESIDENTS. 

Alaska— B.  F.  MILLARD,  Valdez.  Nevada— C.  B.  LAKENAN.  McGill. 

Arizona— W.  B.   TWITCHELL,  New  Mexico — T.  H.  O'BRIEN,  Dawson. 

Phoenix.  .  Ohio — W.  R.  WOODFORD,  Cleveland. 

Arkansas — C.    C.   WOODSON,  Oregon— HAROLD  N.   LAWRIE, 

Huntington.  Portland. 

California— CHAS.  E.  KNOX,  Berkeley.  Oklahoma— DORSET  CARTER, 
Colorado— IRVING  T.  SNYDER,  McAlester. 

Denver.  Pennsylvania— MORRIS   WILLIAMS, 

Georgia— W.   H.    FLUKER,    Thomson.          Philadelphia. 
Idaho— JAS.  F.  MCCARTHY,  Wallace.     South  Carolina— H.  L.  SCAIFE, 
Indiana — J.   C.  KOLSEM,   Terre  Haute.       Clinton. 

Illinois— F.  W.  DE  WOLF,  Urbana.          Texas— D.  C.  EARNEST,  Dallas. 
Kansas— JOS.   FLETCHER,  Frontenac.  Virginia— E.   A.   SCHUBERT,  Roanoke. 
Michigan— CHAS.  E.  LAWRENCE,          Wisconsin— F.  O.  GRANBERG, 

Palatka,  Oshkosh. 

Missouri— W.  B.   SHACKELFORD,  Wyoming— W.  D.  BRENNAN, 

Webb  City.  Cheyenne. 

Minnesota— F.   O.   HAMMER,   St.   Paul.  West  Virginia— ERNEST  CHILSON, 
Montana — JAS.  L.  BRUCE,  Butte.  Rush  Run. 

Nebraska— Frank  A.  Manley,  Omaha.       Washington— COL.  W.   T.  PERKINS. 
New  York— CHAS.  H.   SMITH,  Seattle. 

New  York  City. 

REVISION    OF    MINERAL   LAND    LAWS. 

E.  B.  KIRBY,  Chairman,   St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Alaska— L.  V.  RAY,  Seward.  Minnesota— H.  V.  WINCHELL, 

Arizona — WILL  L.   CLARK,   Jerome.  Minneapolis. 

California— E.  H.  BENJAMIN,  Missouri— E.  B.  KIRBY,  St.  Louis. 

San  Francisco.  Nevada— D.  C.  McDONALD,  Ely. 

Colorado— VICTOR  C.   ALDERSON,          New  Mexico— C.  T.  BROWN,  Socorro. 

Denver.  Texas — ISADORE  BROMAN,  Austin. 

Idaho— J.  H.  RICHARDS,  Boise.  Utah— W.  H.  KING,  Salt  Lake. 

Montana— WM.   SCALLON,  Helena.          Washington— L.  K.  ARMSTRONG. 

Spokane. 

Special    Committee   on    Revision    of   Mineral    Land    Laws,   to   Act   With    Similar 

Committees  From  the  American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers  and 

the    Mining    and    Metallurgical    Socjety    of    America. 

E.  B.  KIRBY,  Chairman,   St.  Louis,  Mo. 

GEORGE  E.  COLLINS,  Denver,  Colo.     GEORGE  WINGFIELD,  Reno.  Nev. 
WILL  L.  CLARK,  Jerome,  Ariz.  THOS.    S.   ROBINSON.   San  Francisco, 

Cal. 

Alaskan   Affairs. 

FALCON  JOSLIN,  Chairman,  Fairbanks,  Alaska. 
GEORGE  C.   HAZLETT.   Cordova,  WILLIAM  GRIFFITH,   Scranton,  Pa. 

Alaska  T.  P.  McDONALD,  Helena,  Mont. 

M.  D.  LEEHEY,  Seattle,  Wash. 

Workmen's  Compensation. 

T.  L.  LEWIS,  Chairman,  Charleston,  W.  Va. 

DAVID  ROSS,    Springfield,   111.  W.   R.  WOODFORD,   Cleveland,  Ohio. 

HON.  T.  KEARNS,  Salt  Lake  City,         J.  C.  KOLSEM,  Terre  Haute,  Ind. 
Utah. 


Conference  With  Federal  Trade  Commission. 
CHARLES  M.  MODERWELL,  Chairman,  Chicago. 

HUGH  SHIRKIE,  Terre  Haute.  HARRY  N.  TAYLOR,  Kansas  City. 

M.  S.  KEMMERER,  New  York  City.        P.  S.  LANDSTREET,  New  York  City. 

Standardization    of    Electrical     Equipment. 

In  Coal   Mines. 

GEO.  R.  WOOD,  Chairman,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

S.  A.  TAYLOR,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  H.  M.  WARREN,   Scranton,  Pa. 

J.  R.  BENT,  Oglesby,  111.  G.  A.  SCHREIER,  Divernon,  111. 

G.   T.  WATSON,  Fairmont,  W.  Va.         W.  A.  THOMAS,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

In  Metal  Mines. 

H.   S.   SANDS,   Chairman,  Denver,  Colo. 

SANFORD   B.    BELDEN,    Columbus,        C.  A.  CHASE,  Denver,  Colo. 
Ohio. 

Uniform  Mine  Accounting. 
SAMUEL  A.  TAYLOR,  Chairman,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

E.  T.  BENT,   Chicago,  111.  J.  C.  McKINLEY,  Wheeling,  W.  Va. 

Mineral  Statistics. 

OTTO  RUHL,  Chairman,  Joplin,  Mo. 
FRED'K  BURBIDGE,  Wallace,  Idaho.     J.   C.   DICK,   Salt  Lake   City,  Utah. 

Forestry   Relations. 

CARNEY   HARTLEY,    Chairman,    Denver,    Colo. 
C.  H.  GIBBS,  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah.       WILLIAM  McDERMOTT,  Tucson,  Ariz. 

F.  J.   ALEXANDER,   Denver,   Colo. 

Mine   Taxation. 

In   Metal   Mines 

D.   L.   WEBB.   Chairman,  Denver,   Colo. 

PROF.   L.  A.  YOUNG,  Urbana,  111.  D.  W.  BRUNTON,  Denver,  Colo. 

JOHN   W.    FINCH,    Denver,    Colo.  JOHN  M.  HAYES,  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah. 

Bureau  of  Mining   Economics. 

S.  D.  WARRINER,  Philadelphia,  Pa.        D.   W.   BRUNTON,  Denver,   Colo. 
F    S.   PEABODY,   Chicago,  111.  Dr.  L.  D.  RICKETTS,  Warren,  Ariz. 

B.  F.  BUSH,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Committee  on   Dr.  Joseph  A.   Holmes. 

Memorial. 

DAVID  T.  DAY,  Chairman,  Washington,  D.  C. 

SAMUEL  A.  TAYLOR,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.   JOHN   HAYS  HAMMOND,   New   York 
GEORGE  H.  GUSHING,  Chicago,  111.  City. 

J.  H.  RICHARDS,  Boise,  Idaho.  CHARLES  S.  KEITH,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 

C.  W.   GOODALE,   Butte,  Mont.  THOMAS  B.  STEARNS,  Denver,  Colo. 
H.   N.   LAWRIE,   Portland,  Ore.  JESSE   KNIGHT,   Provo,   Utah. 

J.   C.   KOLSEM,   Terre   Haute,   Ind.          M.   D.   LEEHEY,   Seattle,   Wash. 

B.   F.  MILLARD,  Valdez,  Alaska.  DR.  I.  C.  WHITE,  Morgantown,  W.  Va. 

W.  R.  WOODFORD,  Cleveland,  Ohio.       P.  J.  QUEALY,   Kemmerer,  Wyo. 

T    H    O'BRIEN,  Dawson,  N.  Mex.  DR.   JOS,  HYDE  PRATT,  Chapel  Hill, 

WILL  L.    CLARK,   Jerome,   Ariz.  N.  C. 

<  -  WILLIAM  GRIFFITH,  Scranton,  Pa. 

Mining    Investments. 

R.  J.  EVANS,  Chairman,  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah. 

GEO.  H    DERN,  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah.   J.    F.    ERISMAN,    Denver,    Colo. 
A.   G.    MACKENZIE,   Salt  Lake   City,     HENRY  I.    SEEMAN,   Denver,   Colo. 
Utah. 

Arbitration,   Mediation   and  Conciliation. 

GEORGE  W.  SCHLUEDERBERG,  Chairman,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
PHILLIP  PENNA,  Terre  Haute,  Ind.      JOHN  P.  REESE,   Gillespie,  111. 

COMMITTEES  ON  STATE  LEGISLATION. 
Alaska. 

COL,  B.  F.  MILLARD,   Chairman,  Valdez. 
CHARLES  A.   SULZER,  Sulzer.  W.   T.    BURNS,   Fairbanks. 

Arizona. 

WILLIAM  B..  TWITCHELL,  Chairman,  Tucson. 
WM.  M'DERMOTT,  Tucson.  P.  M.   MURPHY,   Prescott. 

Arkansas. 

C.   C.   WOODSON,  Chairman,   Huntington. 
W.   T.   SATTERFIELD,   Little  Rock.       M.   M.   McWILLIAMS,   Spadra. 


California. 

CHARLES  E.  KNOX,  Chairman.  Berkeley. 
THOMAS  T.  READ,  San  Francisco.  WALTER  H.  WILEY,  Los  Angeles. 

Colorado. 

VICTOR  C.   ALDERSON.   Chairman,   Denver. 
JOHN  T.   JOYCE,   Silverton.  EDWARD  ARPS,  Ouray. 

Idaho. 

JAMES   F.   MCCARTHY,  Chairman,  Wallace. 
JEROME  J.  DAY,  Moscow.  R  A  VENAL  MACBETH,  Mackey. 

Kansas. 

JOSEPH  FLETCHER,   Chairman,   Frontenac. 
FRANCIS   KEEGAN,   Pittsburg.  IRA  CLEMENS,   Pittsburg. 

Nebraska. 
FRANK  A.  MANLE'Y,   Chairman,   Omaha. 

New   Mexico. 

T.  H.  O'BRIEN,  Chairman,  Dawson. 
GEORGE  H.  UTTER,  Silver  City.  JOHN  SULLY,  Santa  Rita. 

Oregon. 

H.  N.  LAWRIE,  Chairman,  506  Yeon  Bldg.,  Portland. 
A.  M.   SWARTLEY,  Corvallis.  H.  M.   PARKS,  Corvallis. 

Oklahoma. 

DORSET  CARTER,  Chairman,  McAlester. 
F.    B.   DREW,    McAlester.  P.   R.  ALLEN,  McAlester. 

South   Carolina. 
H.  L.  SCAIFE,  Chairman,  Clinton,  S.  C. 

Virginia. 

E.  A.   SCHUBERT,  Chairman,   Roanoke. 

M.    M.   CALDWE'LL,   Roanoke.  PERCIVAL  JOHNSON,  Pulaski. 

J.  N.  HARMON,  Tazewell. 

Wisconsin. 
H.    O.   GRANBERG,    Chairman,    Oshkosh. 

Wyoming. 

W.   D.  BRENNAN,  Chairman,  Cheyenne. 
P.  J.  QUEALY,  Kemmerer.  H.    S.   HOPKA,  Deitz. 

Washington 
W.   T.    PERKINS,    Chairman,    Seattle. 

COMMITTEES  ON  FEDERAL  LEGISLATION. 

Alabama. 

DR.   EUGENE  A.   SMITH,   Chairman,   University. 

W.    P.    G.    HARDING,    1855    Wyoming     JOHN  W.  ABERCROMBIE,  Tuscaloosa. 
Ave.,   N.   W.,  Washington,   D.   C. 

Arizona. 

CHARLES  F.  WILLIS,  Chairman,  Director  Bureau  of  Mines,  Tucson. 
FRANK   W.    DEANE,    Douglas.  COURTENAY     DE  KALB,     Tucson. 

Arkansas. 
N.  F.  DRAKE,  Chairman,   Fayetteville. 

Colorado. 

R.  D.  GEORGE,  Chairman,  Boulder. 
FRED  CARROLL,  Denver.  BULKELEY    WELLS,    Telluride. 

Georgia. 

S.  W.   McCALLJE,    Chairman,  Atlanta. 
N.   P.   PRATT,   Atlanta,  B.  M.  HALL,  Atlanta. 

Illinois. 
F.   W.    DEWOLF,   Urbana. 

Indiana. 

EDW.   BARRETT,    Chairman,   Indianapolis. 
FRANK  I.  PEARCE',  Indianapolis.  JOHN   C.    WRIGHT,    Boonville. 

Iowa. 

GEORGE  P.  KAY,  Chairman,  Iowa  City. 

EDW.   SWEENEY,  Des  Moines.  PROF.    L.    C.   HODSON,    State   College. 

/     Ames. 


Idaho. 

IRVIN  E.  ROCKWELL,  Chairman,  Bellevue. 
J.   H.   RICHARDS,   Boise.  EUGENE   R.   DAY,   Wallace. 

Kansas. 
ERASMUS  H  A  WORTH,  Chairman,  Lawrence. 

Kentucky. 

J.    B.    HOEING,    Chairman,    Frankfort. 
A.   G.   SPILLMAN,   Earlington.  PERRY  GORMAN,  Hazard. 

Maine. 
PROF.  C.  VET  HOLMAN,  Chairman,  Holman  Oaks,  Rockland. 

Maryland 

AVM.   B.   CLARK,   Chairman,   Johns  Hopkins  University,   Baltimore. 
H.  V.  HESSE,  Frostburg.  E.    B.    MATHE'WS,    Johns    Hopkins 

University,    Baltimore. 
Michigan. 
R.   C.    ALLEN,   Chairman,   Lansing. 

Minnesota. 

DR.   W.   H.    EMMONS,    Chairman,    Minneapolis. 
RUKARD  KURD,  St.  Paul.  W.   R.   APPLEBY,  Minneapolis. 

Mississippi. 

E.  N.  LOWE,  Chairman,  Jackson. 
W.    L.    KENNON,   University.  LOUIS  ROARK,  Agricultural  College. 

Missouri. 
H.  A.   BUEHLER,   Chairman,   Rolla. 

Nebraska. 

E.    H.    HARBOUR,    Chairman,    Lincoln. 
ROBERT  W.   ELLIS,   Lincoln.  E.   F.   SCHRAMM,   Lincoln. 

New    Mexico. 

CHARLES  T.  KIRK,  Chairman,  Albuquerque. 
REES   H.    BEDDOWr,   Gallup.  J.   VAN  HOUTEN,   Raton. 

North  Carolina. 

JOSEPH  HYDE   PRATT,   Chairman,   Chapel  Hill. 
FRANK   HEWITT,   Asheville.  THOMAS  F.  WOODRUFFE,  Mt.  Airy. 

North    Dakota. 

A.   G.  LEONARD,  Chairman,  University. 
J.   W.   BLISS,   Bismarck.  E.   J.    BABCOCK,   University. 

Ohio. 
J.   A.   BOWNOCKER,   Chairman,   Columbus. 

Oregon. 

H.   M.   PARKS,  Chairman,  Corvallis. 
J.  FRANK  WATSON,  Portland.  F.  W.  SCOFIETX),  Sumpter. 

Pennsylvania. 

RICH   R.   RICE,   Chairman,   Beaver. 

R.  A.  F.  PENROSE,  JR.,  Bullitt  Bldg.,     ELMER  E.  HILES,  Oliver  Bldg.;  Pitts- 
Philadelphia,  burgh. 

South  Dakota. 
ELLWOOD   C.    PERISHO,   Chairman,    Brookings. 

Tennessee. 

A.    H.    PURDUE,    Chairman..    Nashville. 
JOHN  Wr.  FRY,   Columbia.  W.   F.  ALBRIGHT,   Nashville. 

Virginia. 
THOMAS  L.  WATSON,  Chairman,  Charlottesville. 

West    Virginia. 

I.   C.  WHITE,  Chairman,  Morgantown. 
J.   C.   McKINLEY,  Wheeling.  J.  W.  DAWSON,  Charleston. 

Wyoming. 

L.    W.    TRUMBULL,    Chairman,    Cheyenne. 
O.  M.  BECK  Atlantic  City.  P.   J.   QUEALY,  Kemmerer. 


CHICAGO  CONVENTION  COMMITTEES. 

Executive. 

HARRY   C.    ADAMS,    Chairman. 
CARL  SC-HOLZ.  CHAS.    M.    MODERWEKL. 

Arrangements. 

FRANCIS    S.    PEABODY,    Chairman. 
SAMUEL  INSULL.  GEORGE   M.    REYNOLDS. 

Finance. 

J.   K.   DERING,    Chairman. 
C.   A.    B1CKETT.  STUYVESANT    PEABODY. 

Publicity. 

HARLEY    E.    REISMAN,    Chairman.      . 
WILLIAM   H.   HARPER.  C.    A.    TUPPER. 

Entertainment. 
T.    N.   MORDUE,   Chairman. 

C.   A.   EASTMAN.  GLEN   W.    TRAER. 

A.   J.  MOORSHEAD.  RUSH    C.    BUTLER. 

A.    B.    STEFFENS.  W.   C.   HILL. 

E.  J.   RTJTLEDGE.  T.   D.    PAYNE. 
JOHN  T.   CONNERY.                                       D.  W.   BUCHANAN. 
JAMES  DUNCAN.                                              WILLIAM   J.    KELLY. 

F.  C.   HONNOLD. 

Reception. 

WALTER   S.    BOGLE,   Chairman. 

CHARLES  W.  JACKSON.  FRANK   P.    BLAIR. 

F.    K.    COPELAND.  HENRY  L.  HOLLIS. 

CHARLES  I.  PIERCE.  A.   B.    CONOVER. 

LYMAN  A.   SISLEY.  J.   A.   EDE. 

CHARLES  MCDOWELL.  CHARLES  PIEZ. 

S.  W.  McCUNE,  JR.  JOHN  ERICSON. 

ROBERT    G.    JEFFREY.  .LAMES  NEEDHAM. 

F.     VON     SCHLEGELL.  H.   H.    SMALL. 

CHARLES   L.    DERING.  ELMER   MARTIN. 

H.   H.    TAYLOR.  JACOB   M.   DICKINSON. 

FRED  H.   HARWOOD.  SAMUEL  O.  DUNN. 

JOHN    J.    FLYNN.  J.   E.   GORMAN. 

A.  D.   TERRELL.  A.    C.   RIDGWAY. 

OFFICERS  AND  DIRECTORS,  1917 

OFFICERS. 

President— WALTER   DOUGLAS. 

First  Vice-President— CHARLES  M.  MODERWELL. 
Second   Vice-President— GEORGE    H.    CROSBY. 
Third    Vice-President— L.    A.    FRIEDMAN. 
Secretary— J.   F.    CALLBREATH. 

EXECUTIVE    COMMITTEE. 

WALTER   DOUGLAS.  CARL   SCHOLZ.  CHARLES   M.    MODERWELL. 

DIRECTORS. 

W.  J.  RICHARDS,  Pottsville,  Pa.  IRVING  T.  SNYDER,  Denver,  Colo. 

DR.  JAME'S  E.  TALMAGE,  Salt  Lake  SAMUEL  A.   TAYLOR,   Pittsburgh,   Pa. 

City,   Utah.  L.   A.  FRIEDMAN,  Lovelock,  Nev. 

CHARLES    M.     MODERWELL,     Chi-  CARL  SCHOLZ.    Chicago,    111. 

cago,   111.  HARRY  L.   DAY,  Wallace,   Idaho. 

GEORGE  H.   CROSBY,  Duluth,   Minn.  CHARLES  S.  KEITH,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 

M.  S.  KEMMEREK,  New  York  City.  WALTER.  DOUGLAS,  New  York  City. 


REPORT  OF  THE  PROCEEDINGS 

OF  THE 

Nineteenth    Annual   Session  of    the    American 
Mining  Congress 


HOTEL  LA  SALLE,   CHICAGO, 
NOVEMBER  13-16,  1916. 


TUESDAY,  NOVEMBER  13,  1916. 

Opening  Session. 
2:30  O'clock,  P.  M. 

The  Nineteenth  Annual  Session  of  the  American  Mining  Congress 
was  called  to  order  in  the  Grand  Ball  Room  of  the  La  Salle  Hotel, 
Chicago,  at  2:30  p.  m.,  November  13,  1916,  by  Mr.  Harry  C.  Adams, 
Chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee. 

CHAIRMAN  ADAMS.  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention:  As  Chair- 
man of  the  Executive  Committee  it  is  my  pleasure  and  privilege  to  call 
to  order  this,  the  Nineteenth  Annual  Session  of  the  American  Mining 
Congress. 

The  first  gentleman  on  the  program  is  Governor  Dunne.  We  have 
not  seen  the  Governor  here  and  we  dp  not  know  whether  there  is  a 
representative  of  the  Governor  present  in  the  room.  If  there  is  we  will 
be  glad  to  see  him  and  glad  to  hear  from  him. 

Apparently  there  is  no  one  here  representing  the  Governor.  There- 
fore, we  will  make  the  welcome  local  and  I  will  call  on  Mr.  Harry 
Atwood,  attorney  for  the  Board  of  Local  Improvements  of  the  City  of 
Chicago,  who  will  represent  Mayor  William  Hale  Thompson.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

MR.  HARRY  F.  ATWOOD:  Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the 
American  Mining  Congress:  I  know  that  it  is  a  great  disappointment 
to  you  not  to  have  'Mayor  Thompson  here  in  person,  and  it  is  a  great 
disappointment  for  him  not  to  be  here.  It  is  a  difficult  matter  to  take 
his  place,  because  he  always  has  a  smile  that  makes  you  feel  welcome 
and  cheerful  and  he  has  a  personality  that  radiates  hospitality  and  that 
we  want  Chicago  to  stand  for,  because  we  feel  that  Chicago  should  be 
the  home  office  of  the  Universe,  as  it  is  the  center  of  this  country,  and  in 
many  ways  the  center  of  the  Universe. 

I  do  not  know  very  much  about  mining.  There  has  been  a  dispo- 
sition during  recent  years  on  the  part  of  many  of  our  public  men  to 
give  a  great  deal  of  advice  on  things  that  they  do  not  know  very  much 
about;  so  I  am  not  going  to  say  anything  about  mining.  We  feel  about 
Mayor  Thompson's  absence  and  my  presence,  so  far  as  you  are  con- 
cerned, a  keen  disappointment,  a  good  deal  as  the  second  husband  of  a 
certain  Irish  woman  felt  about  his  presence,  and  the  absence  of  the 
first  husband.  She  came  out  one  morning  and  noticed  some  black  cloth 
on  his  arm  and  she  said,  "Mike,  what  in  the  name  of  hivins  are  you  doing 


14  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

with  that  black  crepe  on  your  arm?"  He  said,  "Sure,  Mary,  I'm  in 
mourning  for  your  first  husband;  I'm  sorry  he's  dead."  (Laughter.)  And 
so  we  are  all  sorry  that  Mayor  Thompson  is  not  here. 

I  note  in  your  program  that  there  is  to  be  a  discussion  on  uniform 
legislation,  and  I  hope  that  you  will  all  favor  uniform  legislation,  and 
also  favor  as  little  legislation  as  possible.  During  the  five  years  from 
1909  to  1913,  inclusive,  in  this  country,  we  enacted  over  sixty-two  thou- 
sand new  laws  and  during  those  same  five  years  we  had  over  sixty-five 
thousand  decisions  of  courts  of  last  resort  and  compiled  six  hundred 
and  thirty-one  new  large  volumes  of  decisions.  If  we  should  keep 
up  that  process  for  a  hundred  years  there  would  not  be  room  in  all 
the  public  buildings  that  have  been  erected  to  store  the  printed  matter, 
and  no  one  would  have  the  faintest  conception  of  where  they  were  at  or 
what  they  were  doing,  or  what  they  ought  to  do.  I  think  that  is  a 
mighty  important  thing  for  business  men  to  think  about.  Legislation, 
excessive  and  half-baked  and  superficial,  in  my  judgment  has  been  the 
curse  of  the  last  ten  or  fifteen  years.  (Applause.) 

I  note  also  that  you  are  going  to  discuss  the  question  of  co-opera- 
tion in  the  mining  world;  and  I  take  it  that  the  spirit  of  your  meeting 
here  is  team-work,  for  the  purpose  of  exchanging  ideas,  of  helping  one 
another.  It  is  essential  that  business  men  work  together  and  catch  the 
spirit  of  team-work.  Co-operation,  in  my  judgment,  will  be  the  key- 
note of  the  Twentieth  Century. 

Whenever  I  appear  before  an  audience  of  business  men  I  frequently 
think  of  a  book  that  an  old  friend  of  mine  wrote  some  time  ago.  He 
called  on  me  with  his  manuscript  before  he  had  his  book  published  and 
wanted  me  to  glance  it  over  and  tell  him  what  I  thought  of  it.  I  had 
known  him  as  a  farmer  and  a  business  men,  but  not  as  a  writer.  I  had 
all  the  work  that  I  felt  I  could  do  and  tried  to  evade  the  issue,  but  he 
was  very  persistent  and  insisted  that  I  look  over  his  manuscript.  So 
finally  he  journeyed  homeward  leaving  the  manuscript  with  me.  I  sat 
down  to  glance  it  over  and  it  proved  so  interesting  that  before  I  retired 
I  had  read  the  entire  book.  He  had  it  very  carefully  divided  into  topics 
and  chapters,  and  when  I  came  to  what  he  called  his  chapter  on  Justice 
I  was  curious  to  know  how  he  treated  that  subject,  because  so  many 
wise  men  had  already  written  upon  it.  He  handled  the  subject  in  a 
rather  original  way.  The  opening  sentence  was  something  like  this:  He 
said  the  modern  business  man  and  farmer  was  rapidly  passing  the  judge 
and  the  lawyer  in  intelligence  and  in  knowledge.  I  thought  that  was  a 
pretty  strong  statement  to  make,  inasmuch  as  the  lawyers  and  judges 
were  supposed  to  be  about  as  intelligent  as  any  class  of  people.  But  he 
said  he  would  show  his  method  of  reasoning  by  which  he  arrived  at 
that  conclusion.  He  said  the  judge  is  today  sitting  in  the  same  quiet, 
closed  room  that  the  judges  sat  in  ten,  fifty,  a  hundred  and  more  years 
ago,  away  from  the  modern  trends  of  achievement,  away  from  inven- 
tions and  achievements  in  steam,  gas  and  electricity,  away  from  the 
creative  genius,  and  is  guided  in  his  day's  work  by  the  precedents  of 
the  past.  He  said  that  the  lawyer  sat  or  stood  before  the  judge  with  a 
few  dust  covered  law  books  before  him  and  he  argued  on  either  side  of 
any  question  from  precedents  of  the  past.  But  he  said  the  farmer  had 
to  do  with  the  problems  of  today,  with  the  problem  of  intensive  cultiva- 
tion, with  the  problem  of  soil  culture,  had  to  study  out  the  various  prob- 
lems connected  with  his  farming  in  order  to  meet  the  competition  cur- 
rent all  over  the  country,  studying  the  needs  of  his  farm  and  the  relation 
of  his  farm  to  the  rest  of  the  world.  He  said  that  the  modern  business 
man  had  to  be  a  general  because  he  was  constantly  organizing  indus- 
trial forces,  had  to  be  a  diplomat,  because  he  was  constantly  negotiat- 
ing important  transactions,  had  to  be  a  genius  because  he  is  always 
working  out  engineering  problems  and  overcoming  difficulties  and  estab- 
lishing new  precedents.  I  know  there  is  no  field  of  endeavor  where 
that  is  more  true  than  in  the  mining  world.  It  takes  a  genius  to  get 
along  in  the  mining  world.  They  can  even  sell  stock.  1  have  stock  in 


AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS  15 

several  companies  myself,  much  to  my  regret.  But  he  said  that  those 
two  classes  of  men  were  doing  most  of  the  work  of  today  and  establish- 
ing the  precedents  of  tomorrow.  I  know  that  the  lawyer  who  is  going 
to  make  himself  valuable  and  a  success  has  got  to  be  as  good  a  business 
man  as  the  client  he  is  trying  to  represent  or  he  has  to  live  on  money 
that  he  either  married  or  inherited. 

It  reminds  me  of  a  young  fellow  who  was  admitted  to  the  bar  down 
in  Louisville  and  who  was  going  through  what  they  call  the  starvation 
period  and  from  any  evidence  he  gave  it  looked  like  the  starvation 
period  would  be  a  long  one.  He  liked  Louisville  and  he  didn't  want  to 
leave  town.  So  he  fell  in  love  with  the  daughter  of  one  of  the  richest 
men  in  Louisville  and  he  went  to  her  father  and  told  him  that  he  was 
in  love  with  his  daughter  and  asked  for  his  consent  to  marry  her.  Her 
father  said:  "That  is  not  what  I  am  interested  in,  whether  you  are  in 
love  with  her  or  not,  but  the  thing  that  I  am  interested  in  is  whether 
or  not  my  daughter  is  in  love  with  you."  "Well,"  the  young  man  replied, 
"she  says  she  is."  "Well,"  the  old  gentleman  said,  "if  upon  investiga- 
tion I  find  that  to  be  true  you  can  have  her  upon  just  one  condition." 
The  young  fellow  said,  "I  want  her  pretty  badly.  What  is  that  condi- 
tion?" "The  condition  is  that,  after  you  are  married,  you  come  to  live 
with  us."  The  young  man  said,  "Will  you  please  put  that  in  writing?" 
(Laughter.) 

As  an  illustration  of  the  difference  between  co-operation  and  com- 
petition, I  think  that  the  safest  test  of  a  principle  or  a  law  is,  where 
will  it  take  you  if  you  carry  it  to  the  extremes.  I  am  glad  to  see  co- 
operation on  your  program  twice.  I  heard  a  story  that  illustrates  just 
how  far  competition  will  take  you  when  carried  to  the  extreme.  A  man 
was  working  in  a  factory  located  on  a  river.  One  day  he  fell  in.  He 
couldn't  swim  very  well  and  he  was  struggling  about  in  the  water  and 
tried  to  keep  above  the  surface.  He  finally  spied  an  acquaintance  on 
the  shore  by  the  name  of  Mike  and  he  said:  "Mike!  Mike!  I'm  drown- 
ing; run  down  to  the  factory  and  get  a  rope  and  throw  it  to  me!"  Mike 
ran  down  to  the  factory  and  ran  up  to  where  the  foreman  was,  almost 
out  of  breath  and  he  said:  "Murphy  is  drownding  down  here.  Can  I 
have  his  job?"  (Laughter.)  The  foreman  said:  "No;  you  are  too  late. 
We  gave  it  to  the  man  who  pushed  him  in."  (Laughter.) 

But  I  ran  across  a  poem  a  little  while  ago  on  co-operation  that,  while 
it  might  sound  simple  to  you,  I  believe  it  is  worthy  of  repetition.  It 
was  called  "Co-operation  in  Nature,"  and  that  little  poem  ran  something 
like  this: 

"Help  one  another,"  the   snowflake  said, 
As  they  nestled  down  in  their  fleecy  bed, 

"One  of  us  here  would  not  be  felt, 
One  of  us  here  would  quickly  melt, 

But  I'll  help  you  and  you  help  me, 
And  then  what  a  great  white  drift  there'll  be." 

"Help  one  another,"  a  maple  spray  said 

To  its  fellow  leaves  one  day. 
"The  sun  would  wither  me  here  alone, 

Long  enough  'ere  the  day  is  gone, 
But  I'll  help  you  and  you  help  me, 

And  then  what  a  splendid  shade  there'll  be." 

"Help  one  another,"  a  dewdrop  cried, 

Seeing  another  drop  close  to  its  side, 
"The  warm  south  breeze  might  dry  me  away, 

And  I  would  be  gone  'ere  noon  today, 
But  I'll  help  you  and  you  help  me 

And  we'll  make  a  brook  run  to  the  sea.  ' 


16  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

"Help  one  another,"  a  grain  of  sand 

Said  to  another  grain  just  at  hand. 
"The  wind  might  blow  me  over  the  sea, 

And  then,  oh,  what  would  become  of  me? 
But  come  my  brother,  give  me  your  hand, 

We'll  build  a  mountain  and  there  we'll  stand." 

So  the  snowflakes  grew  to  drifts, 

The  grains  of  sands  to  mountains, 
The  leaves  became  a  pleasant  shade 

And  the  dew  drops  fed  the  fountains. 

Now,  just  one  of  the  lines  in  that  little  poem,  "But  I'll  help  you  and 
you  help  me,"  applied  to  the  nations  of  the  world  today  would  establish 
instantly  international  peace;  applied  in  any  business  between  the  em- 
ployer and  the  employe  with  a  mutual  understanding  of  conditions  will 
make  that  business  a  success;  and  applied  between  members  in  the  same 
line  of  business,  working  together  and  exchanging  ideas  in  convention 
will  work  to  splendid  results,  and  it  is  in  that  splendid  spirit  of  team- 
work that  we  welcome  you  to  our  city. 

I  thank  you.     (Applause.) 

CHAIRMAN  ADAMS:  Gentlemen,  you  all  know  more  or  less 
about  the  Chicago  Association  of  Commerce,  an  association  of  which  all 
Chicago  people  are  proud.  It  is  an  association  that  does  wonders  for 
the  good  of  Chicago.  Mr.  O'Leary,  the  President,  is  here  today.  He 
is  going  to  say  a  few  words  of  welcome  to  ypu. 

MR.  J.  W.  O'LEARY.  Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  I  am  very 
glad  indeed,  on  behalf  of  the  commercial  interests  of  Chicago  to  welcome 
this  Congress.  You  have  come  to  a  city  that  ought  to  make  you  feel 
at  home.  Chicago  consumes  something  like  twenty-five  million  tons  of 
coal,  and,  of  course,  in  our  manufactures,  tons  and  tons  of  metals.  You 
are  in  a  state  that,  as  you  know,  produces  something  like  sixty  million 
tons  of  coal  a  year.  And  so,  as  I  say,  you  ought  to  feel  thoroughly  at 
home. 

Yours  is  rather  a  wonderful  industry.  Your  product  began  forming 
before  history  began.  It  is  the  greatest  commercial  necessity,  including 
the  metals,  the  greatest  commercial  necessity  of  today.  It  is  absolutely 
essential  to  our  industrial  progress  and  Chicago  particularly  is  under 
obligations  to  you  for  what  your  mines  have  produced,  for  we  are 
fundamentally  a  manufacturing  and  industrial  center.  That  is  the  basis 
of  Chicago's  greatness  today. 

Mr.  Atwood  has  touched  upon  some  of  the  subjects  you  are  going 
to  study.  You  have  great  problems  before  you.  Legislation?  Yes.  I 
think  we  all  agree  that  there  has  been  too  much  of  it.  I  think  the  time 
is  coming  faster  and  faster,  as  business  organizes  more  and  more  and 
appreciates  that  there  is  a  necessity  for  ethical  practices,  when  we  shall 
agree  that  we  could  get  along  just  about  as  well  under  the  ten  com- 
mandments as  under  the  sixty  or  seventy  thousand  existing  laws. 

You  are  in  the  limelight  today,  particularly  you  coal  men.  It  seems 
to  me  I  hardly  read  a  paper  in  which  I  do  not  see  how  these  robbers 
are  absolutely  taking  away  from  the  poor  people  their  last  dollar  and 
their  last  cent.  I  am  wondering  whether  you  cannot  develop  by  means 
of  your  sessions  an  appreciation  on  the  part  of  the  people  that  always, 
everywhere,  the  law  of  supply  and  demand  must  control;  that  we  cannot 
have  scarcity  of  labor,  that  we  cannot  have  inefficiency  on  the  part  of 
such  labor  as  still  remains,  that  we  cannot  have  scarcity  of  transportation 
facilities  without  necessarily  increasing  the  price  of  our  product. 

I  note  you  are  going  to  talk  about  co-operation  in  marketing,  pos- 
sibly in  producing.  I  remember  at  the  time  the  Clayton  bill  was  being 
considered  by  Congress,  and  trust  legislation  also,  that  Dr.  Van  Hise, 
President  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  always  cited  the  coal  industry 
as  one  of  the  reasons  for  some  sort  of  co-operative  organization  in  in- 
dustry, and  in  all  of  his  addresses  he  pointed  to  the  tremendous  waste 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  17 

and  extravagance  which  we  incurred,  through  competition,  how  we  were 
stripping  only  the  richest  veins  and  putting  a  mortgage  on  the  future 
which  it  would  be  impossible  to  pay  off.  I  have  been  impressed  with 
that  constantly.  I  think  the  Mining  Congress  should  work  out  some 
scheme  which  could  almost  be  placed  by  demand  upon  our  statute  books 
which  would  permit  co-operation  in  this  field. 

Safety  first,  like  lots  of  our  slogans,  is  getting  rather  weather-worn, 
but  it  is  just  as  essential  as  it  was  when  it  was  a  popular  word.  Con- 
servation in  human  life  is,  of  course,  the  most  important  element  that 
we  must  consider. 

But  I  am  not  here  to  discuss  the  problems  of  your  convention.  I 
only  hope  that  from  them  will  come  some  constructive  action.  I  hope 
that  while  you  are  here  you  will  have  an  opportunity  to  acquaint  your- 
self with  Chicago. 

We  are  proud  of  Chicago.  Some  folks  say  we  boast  of  it.  I  prefer 
to  say  we  boost  it.  We  are  proud  of  our  parks  and  boulevards,  and  we 
invite  your  attention  to  our  development  of  the  small  park  idea.  We 
think  we  are  leaders  in  it.  You  will  enjoy  it.  We  are  proud  of  our  art 
institutions,  our  educational  institutions.  You  may  have  noted  through 
the  papers  within  the  last  few  days  that  Chicago  is  to  be  the  medical 
center  of  the  United  States,  and  we  hope  for  the  co-operation  of  the  rest 
of  our  nation  and  of  the  world.  We  are  proud  of  our  manufacturing 
establishments;  and  1  am  sure  that  you  will  find  it  well  worth  your 
while  to  visit  our  great  manufacturing  institutions.  You  will  find  that 
the  open  door  policy  prevails  towards  such  men  as  you.  We  are  proud 
of  our  mercantile  establishments.  You  will  find  them  ready  to  receive 
you,  whether  you  spend  money  or  not. 

And  so  we  hope  that  you  will  study  your  problems  and  bring  from 
them  constructive  action;  and  not  only  this,  but  that  you  will  take  time 
to  get  acquainted  with  Chicago  and  to  realize,  as  I  hope  you  will  before 
you  go,  that  there  is  a  real  warmth  in  this  great  big  city  of  ours. 

I  thank  you.     (Applause.) 

CHAIRMAN  ADAMS:  I  think  you  will  all  appreciate  the  hearty 
welcome  that  Mr.  O'Leary  and  Mr.  Atwood  have  given  you. 

The  year  closing  in  the  metal  and  mining  business  has  been  a  re- 
markable year  in  many  respects.  It  has  been  a  very  prosperous  year 
in  a  great  many  of  the  metal  industries.  We  have  had  a  good  deal  of 
bad  and  a  good  deal  of  good  in  the  coal  business.  We  do  not  know 
how  long  the  good  is  going  to  last  in  the  coal  business.  Usually  it  does 
not  last  very  long.  The  attention  of  this  Congress,  in  my  judgment, 
should  be  given  largely  or  at  least  a  large  part  of  it  should  be  given  to 
consideration  of  the  standardization  of  cost  accounting,  both  as  to  min- 
eral and  to  coal  mining.  This  matter  has  been  brought  to  the  atten- 
tion of  almost  everybody  in  the  last  few  months  by  the  Federal  Trade 
Commission.  Mr.  Hurley  has  advocated  it  from  one  end  of  the  country 
to  the  other.  After  we  pass  through  the  abnormal  conditions  that  are 
surrounding  us  now  we  certainly  will  be  in  bad  shape,  so  far  as  mar- 
keting coal  is  concerned,  or  marketing  metals  is  concerned,  unless  we 
know,  all  of  us,  what  our  product  is  going  to  cost  and  what  it  does  cost. 
Some  progress  has  been  made,  so  far  as  coal  companies  are  concerned, 
along  the  lines  of  standardization,  and  we  are  getting  some  very  good 
results  from  the  effort.  I  think  the  time  will  come  in  the  very  near 
future  when  we  will  have  to  go  farther  than  the  standardization  of  costs. 
We  will  have  to  standardize  the  method  of  production.  We  will  have 
to  standardize  the  sizing  of  coal.  That  matter  has  been  given  some 
attention.  Probably  later  on  it  can  be  carried  to  a  success.  ^ 

The  program  as  outlined  here  is  a  pretty  long  one.  It  is  going  to 
take  lots  of  work  to  get  through.  Your  committees  have  made  some 
efforts  along  the  lines  of  entertainment  and  we  hope  that  you  will  have 
a  pleasant  time  and  a  profitable  time  while  you  stay  in  Chicago. 

I  think  the  Association  is  fortunate  in  having  the  guidance  of  so 
expert  a  mining  man  as  Mr.  Carl  Scholz,  your  President,  to  whom  I  now 
turn  over  the  convention.  (Applause.) 


18  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

THE  PRESIDENT.  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  and  Fellow  Members 
of  the  American  Mining  Congress:  I  am  sure  I  express  the  sentiment 
of  this  meeting  when  I  thank  the  City  of  Chicago  and  the  Chicago  com- 
mittee for  the  kind  and  generous  reception  they  have  given  us.  Per- 
sonally, I  feel  that  I  occupy  the  position  of  the  prophet  who  is  usually 
of  not  much  account  in  his  own  country.  Nevertheless,  the  attendance 
at  this  meeting  today  convinces  me  that  many  believe  in  our  work  and 
agree  that  we  are  doing  something  for  the  mining  industry. 

You  will  note  on  our  program  this  year  that  the  President's  address 
has  been  omitted,  for  the  very  good  and  sufficient  reason  that  I  only 
make  one  speech  and  I  have  already  made  that  speech  twice,  this  being 
the  third  time  I  have  presided.  Besides,  there  are  a  good  many  gentle- 
men here  who  have  given  much  time  and  a  good  deal  of  thought  to  the 
subjects  which  they  are  going  to  present,  and,  therefore,  I  am  going  to 
leave  out  any  remarks  which  might  be  expected  in  the  usual  course  of 
procedure  from  the  President.  I  will  say,  however,  that  my  speeches 
regularly  appear  in  the  Mining  Congress  Journal  and  have  appeared 
there  every  month  during  the  past  year.  Therefore,  I  am  going  to  pro- 
ceed with  the  regular  program,  and  I  hereby  declare  the  Nineteenth 
Session  of  the  American  Mining  Congress  open.  Mr.  Secretary,  what 
have  you  to  come  up  as  the  first  item  of  the  program? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  Chairman,  it  has  been  cus- 
tomary at  these  conventions  to  take  up  a  short  time  after  the  opening 
addresses  of  welcome  by  responses  from  the  various  states.  This  year 
the  request  has  been  made  that  each  state  in  making  its  response  shall 
present  in  the  form  of  a  resolution  or  a  concise  statement  that  thing 
which  in  the  opinion  of  the  mining  men  of  that  state  shall  be  considered 
of  the  most  importance  to  it;  in  other  words,  if  you  wish  to  ask  this 
convention  to  endorse  any  propaganda  which  your  people  think  is  most 
important  to  you,  that  you  let  that  fact  be  known  either  in  the  form  of 
resolution  or  short  statement.  I  think,  therefore,  Mr.  Chairman,  if  we 
may  call  the  roll  of  states  and  let  those  who  are  present  respond,  that 
we  will  accomplish  that  purpose. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Mr.  John  H.  Robinson,  Secretary  of  the 
Arizona  Chapter  of  the  American  Mining  Congress,  will  speak  for 
Arizona. 

MR.  ROBINSON:  As  a  representative  of  the  mining  industry  of 
Arizona,  we  came  before  your  convention  asking  for  nothing. 

Arizona  this  year  will  produce  over  five  hundred  million  pounds  of 
copper,  and  the  mining  industry  in  general  is  flourishing. 

The  last  three  or  four  years  we  have  been  troubled  to  a  great  extent 
with  a  lot  of  laws  that  have  been  more  or  less  detrimental  to  the  mining 
industry.  We  believe  that  we  have  overcome  this  difficulty. 

We  come  before  your  convention  today  hoping  that  the  meeting 
will  be  productive  of  good  results  to  the  industry  and  also  see  that  we 
are  given  saner  laws  in  mining. 

I  tha.nk  you.     (Applause.) 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Mr.  Robinson  has  fitly  described  the  situation 
which  applies  to  the  entire  mining  industry  today.  And  as  we  go  along 
I  want  to  point  out  to  you  that,  as  in  time  of  peace  we  must  prepare  for 
war,  in  time  of  war  we  should  prepare  for  peace.  I  am  glad  that  Arizona 
is  in  its  happy  condition,  as  I  hope  many  of  the  other  states  are.  I  only 
want  you  to  bear  in  mind  that  we  should  get  ready  for  what  is  coming. 

MR.  ROBINSON  (Arizona):  Arizona  would  like  to  co-operate  with 
you  in  all  matters,  though.  If  we  can  be  of  any  assistance,  do  not  hesi- 
tate in  calling  on  us. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Thank  you.  We  will  now  call  for  Arkansas, 
Dr.  Purdue. 

DR.  PURDUE:  I  beg  your  pardon,  Mr.  Chairman.  I  at  present 
represent  Tennessee.  Formerly  Arka.nsas,  but  now  Tennessee. 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  19 

THE  PRESIDENT:  We  will  next  hear  from  ex-Governor  Gillett 
of  California. 

MR.  GILLETT:  Mr.  President,  I  haven't  anything  at  this  time 
that  I  desire  to  say.  The  oil  situation  in  California  is  taking  up  most 
of  the  thought  of  our  people  there,  and  before  this  convention  is  ove.r 
I  expect  to  have  a  resolution  to  introduce  to  secure  whatever  co-opera- 
tio.n  we  can  from  this  Congress.  I  have  no  resolution  to  introduce  at 
the  present  time.  The  oil  situation  in  California  is  the  one  that  is  most 
impressing  us. 

THE  PRESIDENT:     Mr.  E.  H.  Weitzel  of  Colorado. 

MR.  WEITZEL:  This  is  the  first  convention  of  the  American 
Mining  Congress  I  have  attended.  I  did  not  know  of  the  custom  of 
calling  on  states  and  really  have  nothing  to  say.  I  am  glad  to  hear  our 
neighboring  state,  Arizona,  is  in  such  good  condition  and  doing  so 
much  business.  I  think  we  will  ask  the  convention  to  help  us  get  a 
better  price  for  our  coal.  That  is  all  I  would  ask  for. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Mr.  Van  H.  Manning,  the  director  of  the 
Bureau  of  Mines,  will  represent  the  District  of  Columbia.  Come  to  the 
front,  Mr.  Manning. 

MR.  MANNING.  Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  I  did  not  know 
until  a  few  moments  ago  that  I  was  expected  to  respond  for  the  District 
of  Columbia.  I  didn't  know  I  was  accredited  from  that  part  of  the 
country,  although  it  is  an  honor  to  accept  the  assignment.  I  can  only 
say  to  you  in  behalf  of  the  Department  of  the  Interior  and  the  Bureau 
of  Mines  that  we  are  always  glad  to  be  represented  at  the  American 
Mining  Congress.  The  Bureau  of  Mines  feels  that  the  American  Mining 
Congress  was  responsible  in  a  very  large  measure  for  its  creation,  and, 
therefore,  it  affords  me  genuine  pleasure  to  stand  before  you  today  and 
make  that  statement.  I  am  sorry  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior 
will  not  be  able  to  be  present.  He  was  invited  to  attend,  but  on  account 
of  his  duties  at  Atlantic  City  with  the  Mexican  Commission  he  will  be 
unable  to  attend. 

I  thank  you.     (Applause.) 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Is  there  a  representative  from  Georgia  in  the 
room?  Idaho. 

MR.  EUGENE  THOMAS  (Idaho):  I  am  from  Idaho,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, and  I  am  very  glad  to  report  to  you  that  the  litigation  in  the  Coeur 
d'Ale.ne  mining  district  over  the  extra-lateral  law,  or  the  apex  law,  as 
some  people  call  it,  has  been  overcome  to  a  great  extent.  The  people 
are  getting  wise  enough  to  quit  lawing  and  go  to  arbitrating.  The  law 
is  still  in  existence.  Now,  we  settled  that  by  just  simply  coming  together 
and  agreeing  on  certain  things.  Suits  that  were  started  twenty  or 
twenty-five  years  ago  have  recently  been  settled  by  agreement.  We 
hope  to  get  some  legislation  along  these  lines,  however,  which  will  for- 
ever put  a  stop  to  such  litigation,  because  the  mining  industry  can't 
stand  it. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  I  will  now  call  on  Mr.  Walter  S.  Bogle  to 
represent  Indiana. 

MR.  BOGLE:  Well,  Mr.  President,  this  is  rather  a  surprise  to  me. 
I  did  not  expect  to  represent  anything  here  today.  As  far  as  Indiana 
is  concerned,  at  the  present  time  she  feels  the  need  of  cars.  The  market 
has  taken  the  bit  in  its  teeth  and  it  running  away  with  itself.  Whether 
it  will  come  down  after  a  while  or  not  is  a  question,  but  what  it  has  ac- 
complished in  that  direction  is  simply  a  fair  example  of  what  can  be  ac- 
complished by  co-operation  among  business  men.  As  far  as  Indiana  is 
concerned,  I  believe  that  she  would  favor  and  would  call  for  a  standard 
method  of  computing  costs,  and  such  modification  of  the  Sherman  anti- 
trust law  as  would  permit  of  limited  co-operation  among  business  men, 
not  only  in  the  coal  business  but  in  other  businesses. 

Once  in  a  while  there  is  a  genius  born  into  the  world.  Some  thirty 
years  ago  or  so  I  sat  within  four  or  five  feet  of  Governor  Altgeld,  since 


20  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

dead.  He  made  this  statement:  "Large  aggregations  of  capital  have 
come  to  stay  in  this  country.  They  are  a,  necessity  to  meet  modern 
business  conditions.  They  will  prove  a  benefit  to  all  classes  of  com- 
munities; but  they  must  be  controlled."  I  think  in  view  of  later  develp- 
ments,  in  the  efforts  of  the  powers  that  were  at  Washington  who  tried 
to  crush  out  big  business  in  this  country,  that  his  words  sound  almost 
prophetic.  I  believe  that  the  crying  need  in  this  country  at  the  present 
time,  and  will  be  when  present  international  conditions  are  changed,  is 
that  the  business  men  of  this  country  should  be  allowed  to  have  limited 
co-operation  for  the  purpose  not  o.nly  of  cheapening  costs,  but  in  ar- 
ranging their  affairs  so  that  they  can  meet  competition,  no  matter  from 
whence  i-t  comes.  It  is  a  large  subject.  I  am  glad  to  see  that  the  Federal 
Trade  Commission,  through  its  chairman,  Mr.  Hurley,  has  taken  a  very 
broad  view  on  this  subject.  It  seems  thoroughly  disposed  to  aid  the 
business  men  of  this  country  in  that  direction,  but  he  insists,  and  I  think 
properly,  that  they  shall  be  able  to  present  a  correct  statement  of  costs 
of  their  different  products.  When  that  is  done  and  the  proper  compu- 
tations arrived  at,  when  the  proper  computation  is  made  as  to  overhead 
costs  that  should  go  in  that  statement,  then  those  who  are  engaged  in 
the  coal  business  or  in  any  other  business  where  the  competition  has 
become  very  fierce  will  receive  the  assistance  that  they  have  required 
for  a  number  of  years  past.  It,  in  my  opinion,  is  going  to  lead,  if  en- 
forced, to  the  commercial  supremacy  of  this  country  over  all  other 
countries  in  the  world.  The  American  Mining  Congress,  in  my  opinion, 
and  in  the  opinion  of  the  people  of  Indiana,  and  in  the  opinion  of  all 
men  who  have  given  this  subject  any  study,  I  believe  is  one  of  the  most 
important  organizations  before  the  business  interests  in  this  country  today. 
I  believe  that  the  American  Mining  Congress  should  give  its  thought 
and  its  best  assistance  toward  working  out  the  problem  of  limited  co- 
operation among  business  men,  as  endorsed  by  the  Federal  Trade  Com- 
mission. (Applause.) 

THE  PRESIDENT:  I  will  now  call  on  Mr.  Bent  to  resporid  for 
Illinois. 

MR.  E.  T.  BENT  (Illinois).  Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen:  Not 
until  this  minute  did  I  know  that  I  was  to  be  called  upon.  Illinois  has 
from  the  beginning,  I  think,  shown  its  interest  in  the  work  of  the  Amer- 
ican Mining  Congress,  and  has  believed  that  it  was  the  medium  through 
which  a  united  mining  industry  could  most  effectively  speak.  The  ex- 
perience of  the  past  few  years  is  showing  that  to  be  true  increasingly. 
Illinois  desires  to  see  the  other  mining  states  identified  with  the  Con- 
gress and  co-operating.  I  agree  with  the  former  speakers,  Illinois 
agrees  with  the  former  speakers,  that  uniform  accounting  is  of  vital  im- 
portance. A  large  proportion  of  the  coal  producing  men  of  the  country 
have  not  known  what  their  product  has  cost  and  have  been  deceiving 
themselves  and  ruining  both  themselves  and  others.  I  believe  that 
public  opinion  has  changed.  We  know  that  the  authorities  have  changed 
their  point  of  view.  Within  the  limits  of  what  can  be  shown  to  be 
right  and  just  to  the  people,  I  believe  that  the  things  of  which  Mr. 
Bogle  speaks  are  going  to  come  about.  Illinois  wishes  to  co-operate  to 
that  end. 

MR.  PRESIDENT:  I  will  call  on  Mr.  John  P.  Reece  to  respond 
for  the  state  of  Iowa. 

MR.  REECE:  Mr.  President,  being  a  resident  of  Illinois  and  being 
only  a  representative  of  Iowa,  I  wish  to  decline  in  favor  of  Senator 
John  T.  Clarkson,  who  represents  the  Governor  of  Iowa.  (Applause.) 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Senator  Clarkson,  we  will  be  glad  to  hear 
from  you. 

SENATOR  CLARKSON:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  regret  that  Mr.  Reece 
suggested  my  name,  as  he  is  so  much  better  qualified  to  speak  on  this 
subject  than  I  am,  notwithstanding  that  he  now  claims  Illinois  as  his 
place  of  residence,  for  Iowa  claims  a  prior  right  because  of  his  former 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  21 

residence  and  present  interest  as  Superintendent  of  Iowa  Mines.  I 
know  but  very  little  that  I  can  add  to  what  has  been  suggested  by  the 
gentleman  from  Indiana.  It  seems  to  me  that  one  of  the  essential 
features  of  this  Congress  is  that  we  need  to  unify  our  action  along  the 
line  of  business  affairs  so  as  to  eliminate  as  far  as  reasonably  may  be 
what  I  would  be  pleased  to  call  cut-throat  competition.  It  occurs  to 
me  that,  while  the  conditions  will  vary  somewhat  in  the  various  states, 
yet  after  all  there  is  a  commonality  of  interest  to  such  an  extent  that 
we  can  well  afford  to  pool  our  efforts  with  a  view  of  arriving  at  some 
common  basis  of  action  for  uniformity  of  purposes  to  obtain  the  de- 
sired results.  Along  that  line  might  be  suggested  reasonable  uniformity 
of  legislation.  Some,  may  say  that  federal  legislation  would  be  imprac- 
ticable as  a  standard  for  uniformity.  The  same  objections  might  be 
suggested  in  opposition  to  state  legislation,  for  the  reason  that  con- 
ditions vary  within  that  state.  After  all,  legislation  should  establish 
standards,  leaving  the  details  to  be  worked  out  to  conform  thereto. 

Iowa,  as  far  as  mining  interests  are  concerned,  is  largely  interested 
in  the  coal  mining,  there  being  very  little,  if  any,  other  mining  in  Iowa. 
We  have  felt  for  some  time  the  absolute  necessity  of  co-operating  with 
the  surrounding  states  to  work  out  some  plan  by  which  may  be  elimi- 
nated, as  far  as  may  be,  what  might  be  said  to  be  cut-throat  compe- 
tition; in  other  words,  the  catch-as-catch-can  methods. 

Uniformity  of  accounting  and  uniformity  of  public  welfare  legis- 
lation are  some  of  the  things  that  seem  to  me  would  very  materially 
help  the  industries  represented  in  this  Congress. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  We  will  call  on  Mr.  W.  B.  Shackleford  to 
represent  Missouri. 

MR.  SCHACKELFORD:  Mr.Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  I  do  not 
know  that  our  state  has  any  particular  resolution  to  present.  The  metal 
industry  in  Missouri  has  prospered  exceedingly  in  the  past  two  years. 
Our  former  cry  has  always  been  for  a  tariff  to  protect  us  on  zinc  ore 
down  there  against  the  heavy  importations  of  Mexican  ore.  This  year 
we  have  had  ore  from  everywhere — Australia,  Mexico,  Spain,  British 
Columbia,  China  and  Japan.  I  do  not  know  but  that  a  tariff  would  be 
a  good  thing  for  us  when  the  time  comes  when  we  will  need  a  tariff. 
Our  people  down  there  at  this  time  did  not  seem  to  think  so.  They 
did  not  elect  anybody  that  stood  for  it.  (Laughter  and  applause.) 
Therefore,  we  are  probably  in  a  poor  position  to  appear  before  the 
powers  that  be  to  ask  for  anything  of  that  kind;  but  as  long  as  there 
is  a  demand  for  our  product  and  we  are  getting  the  prices  that  we  are 
now  getting  we  are  having  a  little  money  to  spend  down  there  outside 
of  our  actual  business  needs. 

We  have  spent  a  great  deal  of  money  there  in  the  last  year  or  two  in 
matters  of  mine  sanitation,  the  prevention  of  accidents,  public  health 
service,  and  we  are  doing  quite  a  good  work  in  our  district  along  these 
lines,  with  the  aid  of  Mr.  Higgens  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines  and  Dr. 
Lonza  of  the  Public  Health  Service.  They  started  off  a  work  there  that 
has  brought  results  to  us,  and  started  us  along  right  lines  of  work. 
We  are  paying  considerably  more  down  there  now  for  our  supplies  and 
for  our  coal.  Our  coal  is  about  60  per  cent  over  what  it  was  a  year 
or  so  ago,  but  as  we  are  getting  a  hundred  per  cent  more  for  our 
product  we  are  not  kicking.  We  think  the  coal  men  should  enjoy  a 
little  of  the  good  things,  too.  The  only  thing  we  would  like  to  get  is 
a  little  better  quality  of  coal  if  we  could  get  it.  We  get  Kansas  dirt, 
and  we  would  like  a  little  of  this  good  Illinois  coal  if  we  could  get  it. 
(Laughter.)  I  think  the  next  legislature  in  our  state  will  agree  on  the 
passage  of  a  workmen's  compensation  law.  That  is  something  that  we 
want,  that  we  need. 

I  know  of  nothing  else  that  our  state  needs,  except  more  of  what 
we  have.  (Applause.) 

THE  PRESIDENT:  We  will  now  ask  Mr.  John  Needham  to  speak 
for  Montana. 


22  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

MR.  NEEDHAM  (Montana):  Mr.  President,  Montana  is  a  very 
small  coal-producing  state.  I  represent  that  branch  of  the  business. 
I  rather  think  there  ought  to  be  somebody  here  from  Montana  repre- 
senting the  great  mining  industry  of  the  state,  copper.  As  far  as  the 
coal  business  of  the  state  is  concerned,  Montana  is  doing  very  well  and 
is  not  under  the  same  difficulties  that  some  of  the  other  states  are  under. 
The  coal  business  is  going  along  satisfactorily.  Perhaps  probably  the 
hardest  blow  that  hit  the  state  was  hit  about  the  7th  of  this  month,  when 
the  state  went  dry.  (Laughter.)  And  I  imagine  that  we  will  want  some 
help  in  about  another  year.  (Laughter  and  applause.) 

THE  PRESIDENT:  All  the  states  seem  well  pleased  with  their 
present  attitudes.  There  is  one,  the  next  on  our  list,  Nevada,  where  all 
the  gold  is  mined,  where  they  feel,  I  presume,  better  than  anybody  else. 
I  will  ask  Mr.  Codd  to  respond  for  Nevada. 

MR.  GEORGE  H.  CROSBY  (Duluth):  Mr.  President,  I  am  sur- 
prised that  the  important  State  of  Minnesota  has  been  left  out. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  I  will  be  very  glad  to  have  you  speak  for 
Minnesota  since  the  gentleman  from  Nevada  has  not  responded. 

MR.  CROSBY.  Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  am  very 
proud  of  the  state  which  I  represent,  Minnesota.  It  is,  as  you  know, 
the  most  important  factor  in  the  production  of  raw  material  for  the  steel 
industry  in  this  country.  Without  Minnesota  we  would  not  be  able  to 
take  the  place  that  we  do  in  that  important  industry.  Minnesota  is  pro- 
ducing a  very  large  per  cent  of  the  iron  ore  that  is  consumed  throughout 
the  United  States  in  the  manufacture  of  pig  iron  and  steel.  The  Lake 
Superior  District,  part  of  which  lies  in  Minnesota,  produced  this  year 
more  than  sixty  per  cent  of  all  the  iron  ore  produced  in  the  United 
States  of  America.  We  are  very  well  satisfied  with  the  tonnage  of  pro- 
duction, but  we  have  just  a  little  bit  of  kick  coming  on  the  unfair  pro- 
portion of  the  profit  derived  from  the  industry.  Minnesota  sends  raw 
material  to  the  east  and  south  and  the  central  west,  to  Chicago,  and  it 
does  so  sometimes  at  a  loss  and  sometimes  at  a  meager  profit.  It  seems 
to  me  that  the  men  who  represent  this  Congress,  at  this  session,  should 
see  to  it  that  the  industry  give  Minnesota  her  fair  share  of  profit.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

THE  PRESIDENT:  With  apologies  to  Minnesota,  I  think  I  should 
call  on  Florida.  There  are  mines  and  mining  interests  in  states  that  I 
did  not  know  about  myself.  I  know  that  Florida  produces  grapefruit, 
oranges  and  alligator  pears  and  it  might  produce  some  mining.  Is  there 
anybody  here  from  Florida?  I  also  overlooked  Maine.  Is  there  any- 
body here  from  Maine?  I  didn't  call  on  Maine  because  I  didn't  think 
there  was  anybody  here  from  that  state. 

MR.  A.  H.  SKIDMORE  (Kansas):  Mr.  President,  I  would  like  to 
know  why  you  passed  over  Kansas?  Is  it  on  account  of  the  chameleon 
political  complexion  since  the  recent  election,  or  is  it  on  account  of  the 
Kansas  dirt  that  the  gentleman  spoke  of  a  while  ago?  I  think  Kansas 
is  getting  a  good  deal  of  knocking  today,  but  notwithstanding  that  I  am 
from  Kansas  and  proud  of  it.  (Applause.) 

THE  PRESIDENT:     Mr.  Skidmore  will  speak  for  Kansas. 

MR.  SKIDMORE:  Mr.  President,  I  consider  it  an  honor  to  be  al- 
lowed to  speak  for  Kansas,  although  I  know  there  are  some  men  here 
who  are  much  better  qualified  to  so  do  than  myself. 

I  wish  to  say  for  Kansas:  We  have  a  country  that  as  far  as  I  know 
produces  as  good  coal  as  any  state  in  the  Union.  I  am  informed  that 
there  is  being  shipped  from  Illinois  to  Kansas  City  coal  that  sells  for 
fifty  cents  less  a  ton  than  we  of  Kansas  can  afford  to  sell  it  for  in 
Kansas  City,  and  yet  that  coal  is  shipped  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
farther  than  our  Kansas  coal.  The  gentleman  that  represents  any 
state  which  follows  such  a  practice  ought  not  to  stand  in  this  conven- 
tion and  refer  to  Kansas  coal  as  dirt. 

Kansas  has  more  money  per  capita,  more  churches,  more  and  better 
schools  than  any  other  state  in  the  Union.  At  the  last  election  we  gave 


AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS  23 

our  Republican  Governor  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  majority, 
but  we  gave  Wilson  thirty-five  thousand  majority.  I  do  not  think  any 
state  in  the  Union  can  beat  that.  I  do  not  know  the  politics  of  the 
Chairman,  but  simply  from  the  fact  that  he  omitted  Kansas  from  the 
roll  call  does  not  indicate  to  my  mind  that  he  represents  the  party  that 
controls  in  Kansas,  so  far  as  the  presidential  election  is  concerned. 

We  have  had  a  compensation  law  in  the  State  of  Kansas  for  sev- 
eral years  which,  with  a  little  polishing  up,  would  be  quite  satisfactory 
indeed.  I  understand  that  this  Mining  Congress  is  going  to  take  up 
some  questions  of  law  governing  mining.  I  am  like  the  speaker  who 
referred  to  some  six  or  seven  or  eight  thousand  laws  with  reference  to 
mining.  I  believe  that  if  the  mine  operators  and  the  coal  miners  them- 
selves would  try  to  obey — will  some  of  you  gentlemen  tell  me  which 
one  of  the  commandments  it  is  which  refers  to  getting  together?  Is 
it  the  eighth?  Well,  if  we  would  obey  the  eighth  commandment 
(laughter  and  applause)  we  wouldn't  need  all  of  those  laws.  We  wouldn't 
need  to  have  five  or  six  thousand  laws  on  our  statute  books.  The  fact 
of  the  matter  is,  judging  from  my  own  observation,  the  more  the  oper- 
ator tries  to  build  up  the  business  the  more  some  of  the  miners  try  to 
tear  it  down,  and  the  more  the  miners  try  to  build  up  the  business  the 
more  some  of  the  operators  try  to  tear  it  down,  from  a  miner's  stand- 
point. In  other  words,  we  can't  agree.  In  Kansas  today  contracts  are 
not  yet  closed  that  should  have  been  signed  up  the  last  of  July. 

Now,  if  this  convention  can  do  anything  to  help  us  out  along  that 
line  we  would  be  pleased  to  have  you  do  it.  If  you  will  do  that,  when 
I  get  back  home  I  will  tell  them  that  a  gray-haired  friend  of  mine — I 
don't  know  his  name,  but  he  is  a  nice-looking  gentleman — referred  to 
our  coal  as  dirt,  but  we  won't  care  anything  about  that.  When  you 
know  you  are  right  you  don't  care  what  the  other  fellow  says  about  you. 
I  know  when  you  come  to  get  the  coal  from  Kansas  which  is  from  three 
to  four  feet  thick  that  it  sells  on  the  market  quickly  and  at  a  greater 
price  than  some  of  the  eastern  coal. 

Now,  what  is  the  uniformity  that  this  convention  wants?  Is  it  in 
reference  to  laws?  Are  you  not  placing  too  much  stress  on  the  law? 
The  law  helps  the  lawyer,  but  I  say  to  you  as  a  business  man  as  well 
as  a  lawyer  that  the  law  don't  help  make  very  much  money  down  in  the 
coal  mine.  Just  get  together.  Let  us  have  a  fair  market  price  for  our 
coal.  I  do  not  think  one  state  should  ship  into  Kansas  and  sell  coal  for 
one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  when  we  can  sell  it  in  the  state  for  two  dollars 
and  two  dollars  and  a  half,  if  these  people  would  not  cross-cut.  We  all 
know  what  cross-cutting  means.  That  is  where  we  make  a  mistake. 
Too  often  one  coal,  operator  will  cut  the  throat  of  another,  and  that  is 
what  this  convention  ought  to  see  is  not  permitted  hereafter  so  far  as 
it  can. 

Now  gentlemen,  I  am  kind  of  an  interloper  here,  although  it  is  true 
I  have  a  commission  in  my  pocket,  but  I  am  neither  a  coal  miner  nor 
operator,  so  to  speak.  We  have  gentlemen  here  from  Kansas  who  have 
prepared  speeches  for  this  occasion.  I  have  not.  I  simply  got  a  little 
mad  at  what  the  gentleman  referred  to  about  Kansas  dirt  and  I  thought 
Kansas  should  be  heard  from.  1  thank  you  for  your  patience  in  listen- 
ing to  my  remarks. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  To  avoid  being  corrected  again,  I  am  going 
to  call  the  list  of  every  state,  territory  and  nation  under  the  sun.  (Ap- 
plause.) I  will  now  call  on  Louisiana.  There  are  mines  in  Louisiana. 
Somebody  ought  to  be  here.  Is  there  anyone  here  from  Maine?  Will 
Maryland  respond? 

MR.  JACKSON:  The  ex-President  of  the  Western  Kentucky  Oper- 
ators Association  is  here,  Mr.  Wright,  and  we  would  like  to  hear  from 
him. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Mr.  Wright,  we  would  be  glad  to  hear  from 
you.  Kentucky  was  called  for  once  but  there  was  no  response. 

MR.  F.  P.  WRIGHT:  I  believe  you  called  for  some  special  name 
from  Kentucky,  didn't  you? 


24  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Well,  I  am  afraid  I  did.  The  Secretary  gave 
me  the  name  of  a  man  who  was  supposed  to  be  here  but  who  did  not 
respond. 

MR.  WRIGHT:  I  didn't  know  1  was  expected  to  rise,  and  you 
know  Kentuckians  are  supposed  to  be  orators,  but  after  listening  to  the 
gentleman  from  Kansas  I  am  afraid  that  we  are  very  modest. 

I  tell  my  Kentucky  friends  down  there  once  in  a  while  that  I  lived 
in  Chicago  a  great  many  years  ago,  before  the  fire.  In  those  days  we 
had  occasion  to  boast  about  Chicago,  but  I  tell  them  that  we  should 
not  call  Chicago  the  Windy  City  any  more.  The  people  from  Chicago 
blow  very  well,  but  they  haven't  been  obliged  to  blow  so  hard  lately. 

Kentucky,  as  you  know,  was  originally  more  of  an  agricultural 
state  than  anything  else,  but  it  has  taken  its  place  in  the  mining  in- 
dustry of  the  country  in  late  years.  Kentucky  is  filled  with  all  sorts  of 
minerals,  some  to  a  large  extent  and  some  with  only  traces.  We  have 
clays,  stones,  lead,  felspar  and  coal.  I  am  not  going  to  get  into  a  dis- 
cussion with  my  friend  from  Kansas  about  the  coal,  nor  the  quality  of 
it.  I  represent  the  western  portion  of  Kentucky  and  a  few  years  ago, 
ten  or  less  than  that,  that  was  the  largest  producing  part  of  the  state, 
but  during  the  last  four  or  five  years  the  eastern  part  of  Kentucky  has 
made  great  strides.  Kentucky  coal  is  going  all  over  the  country  now 
and  in  the  L.  &  N.  cars  and  other  cars  that  don't  come  back.  That  is 
what  we  are  suffering  from  now.  At  an  investigation  into  the  car  short- 
age which  was  begun  at  Louisville  last  week  the  representative  of  one 
railroad  stated  that  there  was  one  road  which  had  six  hundred  cars  of 
the  L.  &  N.  on  it  and  that  the  general  manager  of  the  L.  &  N.  had 
written  to  the  general  manager  of  this  road,  pleading  for  the  return  of 
those  cars,  and  the  general  manager  of  this  road,  the  western  road, 
wrote  a  very  polite  letter  and  said  they  had  lost  their  own  cars  down 
east  and  didn't  know  where  they  were,  that  they  had  been  using  those 
six  hundred  cars  belonging  to  the  L.  &  N.  and  that  they  were  going 
to  keep  them.  It  was  brought  out  in  that  investigation  that  the  L.  &  N. 
Railroad  Company  had  nineteen  thousand  coal  cars,  less  than  nine 
thousand  of  which  were  on  its  own  road.  This  morning  when  I  came 
in  from  my  relatives'  who  live  up  on  the  north  shore  here,  I  counted 
eight  or  ten  L.  &  N.  cars  between  Glencoe  and  the  city.  None  of  them 
were  empty.  Some  had  gravel,  some  had  broken  stone  and  some  had 
lumber  in  them,  but  I  saw  no  coal  in  any  of  them,  but  they  came  here 
with  coal. 

I  am  not  here  to  make  a  speech,  and  as  all  of  these  other  gentle- 
men said,  I  am  not  prepared.  I  cannot  speak  against  these  gentlemen 
who  are  already  prepared.  I  am  very  glad  to  speak  for  Kentucky.  I 
want  to  tell  you,  gentlemen,  about  some  of  the  things  that  we  have  done 
in  reference  to  cost  accounting.  I  am  a  representative  of  three  different 
coal  associations,  every  one  of  which  is  now  compiling  statistics  on 
and  discussing  the  question  of  uniform  cost  accounting.  I  am  the 
chairman  of  one  committee  that  has  that  matter  in  hand. 

Uniformity  in  laws  is  another  thing  in  which  the  people  of  Kentucky 
are  interested.  Every  time  the  legislature  of  Kentucky  feels  they  are 
a  little  hard  up  for  money  they  tackle  the  mines  and  new  bills  are  intro- 
duced taxing  coal  from  one  to  five  cents  a  ton.  It  has  never  been  taxed. 
With  reference  to  the  compensation  law,  I  asked  the  chairman  of  the 
State  Board  why  it  was  that  all  the  corporations  were  brought  under 
the  provisions  of  this  law  but  not  the  agricultural  industry  or  the  agri- 
cultural interests.  I  remember  once  several  years  ago  that  there  was  a 
bill  introduced  in  the  legislature  to  appoint  a  state  sealer  of  weights 
and  measures  which  included  among  others  the  coal  operators'  scales 
that  should  be  tested,  and  at  the  end  of  the  bill  it  said,  "Agricultural 
scales  exempt."  It  seems  to  me  that  is  going  a  little  too  far. 

But  Kentucky  is  going  along  pretty  well,  though  we  are  short  of 
cars.  Some  prices  have  gone  up,  but  the  rest  of  us  who  have  contracts 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  25 

made  a  year  ago  at  low  prices  are  not  getting  much  of  the  benefit,  but 
we  are  not  complaining.     (Applause.) 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Is  there  anybody  in  the  room  to  respond  for 
Mississippi?  Nebraska?  New  Hampshire?  New  Jersey?  New  Mexico? 
Mr.  O'Brien  is  here,  I  know,  for  one,  from  New  Mexico,  and  there  may 
be  others.  New  York?  North  Carolina?  North  Dakota? 

MR.  HANSEN  EVSMITH  (North  Dakota):  Mr.  Chairman,  North 
Dakota  mines  lignite  coal.  That  is  our  problem.  It  is  an  industry 
that  is  comparatively  new,  but  I  think  that  today  it  saves  probably  five 
million  dollars  annually  to  the  people  of  the  state.  The  working  out 
of  the  lignite  problem  is,  of  course,  to  find  a  way  to  make  use  of  an 
inferior  fuel.  We  have  an  excellent  state  mining  school  that  is  working 
out  that  problem.  We  have  no  local  difficulties.  The  people  are  with 
us.  Our  principal  trouble  is  to  meet  the  competition  of  the  better 
coals  from  the  outside.  (Applause.) 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Ohio.  Oklahoma.  Oregon.  Pennsylvania. 
Mr.  S.  A.  Taylor  will  answer  for  Pennsylvania. 

MR.  S.  A.  TAYLOR  (Pennsylvania):  Mr.  Chairman,  Pennsylvania 
is  going  along  about  her  usual  way.  She  has  in  the  past  produced  about 
half  of  the  coal  that  has  been  produced  in  the  United  States,  and  is 
producing  nearly  that  much  now,  although  we  have  fallen  back  some- 
what. She  has  some  of  the  best  iron  mines  in  the  country,  with  all  due 
respect  to  my  friend  from  Minnesota,  who  thinks  they  have  pretty 
nearly  a  cinch  on  that. 

There  are  several  things  that  Pennsylvania,  I  think,  might  need, 
although  I  am  not  charged  with  producing  any  resolutions  here.  Penn- 
sylvania, I  think,  probably  might  introduce  a  resolution,  although  I 
judge  the  Congress  might  do  in  a  measure  what  I  heard  described  as  a 
new  dance  that  was  instituted  down  in  Washington  recently,  one-  step 
forward,  two  steps  backward,  hesitation  and  sidestep.  I  think  that 
Pennsylvania  could  introduce  a  resolution  here  today  to  move  to  con- 
sider the  election  of  last  Tuesday  and  make  it  unanimous  in  the  way 
Pennsylvania  went.  (Laughter  and  applause.)  I  think  they  would  be 
very  glad  to  introduce  such  a  resolution,  but  I  anticipate  that  this  Con- 
gress might  sidestep  such  an  issue. 

We  have  during  the  past  year  in  Pennsylvania  had  put  into  effect  a 
workmen's  compensation  law.  Whether  good  or  not  remains  to  be  seen. 
There  are  some  things  about  it  that  are  admirable.  There  are  a  lot  of 
other  things  that  have  been  forced  upon  the  industries  of  Pennsylvania. 
At  any  rate,  in  the  way  it  was  passed  it  was  not  advocated  nor  insisted 
upon  by  the  industries  of  the  state.  They  were  in  favor  of  a  compen- 
sation law,  but  not  such  a  one  as  we  got.  In  fact,  as  was  suggested  by 
a  speaker  a  short  time  ago,  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  might  exist  very 
well  on  the  ten  commandments,  and  even  some  of  them  could  be  done 
away  with.  I  am  sure  that  we  have  entirely  too  much  legislation. 

We  have  before  this  convention  today  the  question  of  co-operation, 
and  I  am  sure  that  Pennsylvania  heartily  joins  in  the  question  of  co- 
operation along  any  lines  to  establish  unification  of  laws  and  the  re- 
pealing of  as  many  as  possible  that  have  been  enacted  in  the  past,  and 
in  the  future  to  bring  the  passage  of  laws  relating  to  mining  into  as 
few  in  number  and  as  concise  i.n  requirements  as  it  is  possible  to  do. 
I  am  sure  that  not  only  Pennsylvania  but  many  other  states  in  the  Union 
would  be  benefited  by  such  action. 

One  of  the  questions  which  is  most  prominent  today  in  Pennsyl- 
vania is  one  that  will  be  touched  on  more  completely  in  this  conven- 
tion, and  that  is  the  matter  of  co-operation  along  the  line  of  better 
conditions  in  the  mining  industry,  better  reports,  a  uniform  system  of 
cost  accounting,  which  has  already  been  started  and  which  we  hope 
will  be  carried  into  effect  during  the  present  year.  (Applause.) 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Mr.  Taylor  has  evidently  covered  mining  in 
Pennsylvania  in  a  general  way,  but  perhaps  we  should  call  on  Dr.  Parker 


26  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

of  the  anthracite  region,  who  is  here,  to  tell  us  something  about  an- 
thracite. 

MR.  E.  W.  PARKER.  Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Con- 
vention: There  is  only  one  thing  that  I  can  say  offhand  regarding  the 
situation  in  the  anthracite  field  at  present,  something  about  which  you 
have  possibly  already  heard  through  the  newspapers:  that  there  is  a 
coal  famine  in  the  east,  that  the  anthracite  operators  are  unable  to 
supply  the  demand,  that  prices  have  been  advanced  abnormally,  and 
that  conditions  are  of  a  very  tense  nature.  The  fact  of  the  matter  is 
that  most  of  this  is  newspaper  sensationalism,  and  if  I  were  going  to 
offer  a  resolution  for  consideration  by  this  convention  I  think  it  would 
be  to  have  the- Congress  go  on  record  as  favoring  a  plan  to  have  the 
newspapers  muzzled  occasionally. 

The  anthracite  mines  have  produced  this  year  something  over  half 
a  million  tons  more  than  they  did  last  year.  There  has  not  been  any 
more  coal  consumed  domestically  during  this  past  summer  than  in  pre- 
vious years.  In  addition  to  the  fact  that  the  anthracite  mines  have 
produced  a  half  million  tons  more  this  year  than  before,  there  was  at 
the  beginning  of  the  present  season  somewhere  between  five  or  seven 
million,  or  possibly  eight  million,  tons  of  coal  in  the  anthracite  storage 
yards,  located  between  the  mines  and  the  markets.  There  is  probably 
not  a  half  a  million  tons  of  that  coal  in  storage  today.  It  has  been 
taken  to  the  markets.  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the  consumers  have 
taken  warning  of  past  experience  and  have  been  buying  their  supplies 
early  in  the  season.  There  are  a  few  who  have  found  as  the  season  of 
cold  weather  advanced  that  they  were  short  of  coal.  I  do  not  believe 
there  is  really  any  serious  shortage,  and  if  the  consumer  is  willing  to 
take  only  what  is  necessary  for  immediate  needs  the  situation  will  soon 
be  entirely  relieved  and  retail  prices  restored  to  their  normal  level. 

.That  is  all  I  can  tell  you  at  the  present  time.     (Applause.) 

THE  PRESIDENT:  We  will  ask  Dr.  Chance  to  speak  for  the  east- 
ern part  of  Pennsylvania.  He  has  just  come  into  the  room  and  we 
would  like  to  hear  from  him. 

DR.  CHANCE  (Pennsylvania):  Mr.  President,  as  I  am  not  here  as 
a  representative  of  Pennsylvania,  I  therefore,  am  unprepared  to  speak 
on  any  subject  specifically  relating  to  that  state,  but  from  remarks  made 
by  a  number  of  gentlemen  who  are  prominently  connected  with  the  coal 
industry  it  has  occurred  to  me  that  legislation  connected  with  the  taxa- 
tion of  industries,  and  especially  of  mining  properties,  is  a  subject  of 
importance  for  an  organization  such  as  this  is  to  take  into  consideration. 

There  seems  to  be  a  growing  tendency  to  levy  taxation  upon  mines 
by  taxing  the  product  or  by  a  tax  on  the  net  profits.  These  modes  of 
levying  tax  seem  to  be  coming  into  use  in  the  west  more  commonly  than 
in  the  east.  Indirectly,  however,  the  principle  is  applied  in  the  east,  and 
has  been  employed  by  the  national  government.  The  federal  taxation  of 
corporations  upon  the  profits  of  the  corporations,  that  is  the  federal 
income  tax,  is  levied  by  the  national  government  upon  "profits"  of  the 
industry.  In  many  cases,  it  works  injustice  to  mining  corporations,  for 
the  reason  that  a  mining  company  is  not  permitted  to  deduct  from  its 
apparent  profit  for  the  year  the  interest  which  it  has  been  compelled  to 
pay  upon  its  bonds.  In  many  cases  the  interest  paid  out  upon  bonds 
of  a  mining  corporation  is  the  equivalent  of  a  royalty;  thus  we  may  have 
two  operating  companies,  operating  on  adjoining  properties  one  paying 
a  royalty  and  the  other  paying  interest  on  its  bond.  Referring  to  the 
anthracite  regions  the  company  operating  under  these  may  be  paying 
thirty  or  forty  cents  a  ton  royalty  upon  the  coal  mined  and  are  permitted 
to  deduct  that  thirty  or  forty  cents  to  determine  the  profit  on  which  tax 
is  to  be  paid.  The  company  on  the  adjoining  property  may  have  pur- 
chased its  property  upon  a  bond  issue  on  which  it  pays  an  interest 
charge  which  may  amount  to  thirty  or  forty  cents  a  ton,  the  practical 
equivalent  of  the  royalty  payment  of  its  competitor.  The  mining  com- 
pany operating  its  own  property  is  not  permitted  to  make  such  a  corre- 


AMERICAN     MININCx    CONGRESS  27 

spending  deduction  from  its  earnings  for  the  purpose  of  determining  the 
tax.  This  is  unjust  not  only  because  it  gives  lessees  an  advantage  over 
owners  of  coal  property  but  also  because  it  fails  to  take  into  account 
that  when  a  mining  company  takes  from  the  ground  ore  or  coal  or 
whatever  product  it  may  be  working  and  markets  it,  it  is  converting  its 
assets  into  cash  and  distributing  those  assets  as  dividends,  a  portion  at 
least  of  all  such  dividends  being  converted  assets  and  not  operative 
profit. 

Perhaps  the  Mining  Congress  cannot  at  present  do  anything  to  change 
this  condition,  excepting  in  an  educational  way,  by  letting  the  public 
know  that  mining  companies  are  inequitably  and  unequally  taxed,  and 
that  in  many  cases  this  must  tend  to  retard  the  development  of  our 
resources  and  increase  the  cost  of  such  products  to  the  consuming  public. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  Congress  should  aim  to  show  the  public 
that  a  proper  charge  for  depreciation  due  to  the  exhaustion  of  the  prop- 
erty should  be  made  in  all  mine  accounting,  that  the  distribution  of  divi- 
dends is  in  reality  a  distribution  of  assets  and  includes  a  distribution 
of  profits  only  when  there  is  an  operating  profit,  and  that  the  Congress 
should  urge  the  importance  of  these  truths  until  they  are  accepted  by 
our  lawmakers.  (Applause.) 

THE  PRESIDENT:  We  will  call  for  response  from  the  state  of 
Rhode  Island.  South  Carolina.  Is  Mr.  Chambers  in  the  room?  South 
Dakota. 

MR.  STEVENS  (South  Dakota):  Mr.  President,  I  can't  allow  the 
state  of  South  Dakota  to  be  not  represented  in  this  meeting.  It  is  the 
home  of  the  great  gold  mines,  the  Homestead  and  produced  last  year 
probably  eight  million  dollars  of  gold.  Gold  is  the  principal  product 
of  the  mining  industry  of  South  Dakota,  but  we  are  laboring  under  a 
tremendous  disadvantage  as  against  those  who  are  mining  copper,  lead 
and  zinc,  the  gentlemen  who  are  getting  very  high  prices  for  their 
product.  Gold  has  depreciated  about  thirty-five  per  cent  in  its  purchas- 
ing power,  if  not  more.  We  of  South  Dakota,  and  especially  of  the 
Black  Hills  section,  have  been  earnestly  pleading  with  the  Almighty  to 
put  a  dollar  and  quarter  more  gold  in  a  ton  of  ground  or  change  the 
standard  so  that  about  eight  ounces  will  represent  a  pound  and  we  will 
get  equality  by  that  method.  (Applause.) 

THE   PRESIDENT:    Tennessee. 

DR.  A.  H.  PURDUE  (Tennessee):  Mr.  President,  inasmuch  as  I 
was  called  some  time  ago  to  represent  Arkansas,  and  inasmuch  as  I  was 
in  that  state  a  good  many  years,  I  should  like  to  take  the  opportunity 
of  saying  just  a  word  about  the  greatest  need  of  the  mining  industry 
in  Arkansas.  That  is  the  repeal  of  the  mine-run  law.  The  mine-run 
law  has  put  the  operators  out  of  business,  practically,  down  in  Arkansas, 
unless  it  be  for  the  last  two  years,  concerning  which  I  am  not  informed. 
Previous  to  that  time  all  the  mine  operators  who  were  not  financially 
able  to  withstand  the  evils  of  the  mine  run  law  went  to  the  wall,  and 
those  who  were  able  to  stand  it  were  simply  holding  their  heads  above 
water.  It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  go  into  the  reasons,  and  state  to 
this  body  of  men  why  the  mine  run  law  should  not  obtain. 

There  is  another  reason  why  I  take  this  opportunity  of  speaking  for 
Arkansas,  and  that  is  I  think  probably  that  I  can  settle  the  controversy 
between  the  gentleman  from  Missouri  and  the  gentleman  from  Kansas. 
I  think  I  can  settle  it  in  this  way.  When  the  gentleman  from  Missouri 
spoke  about  the  dirt  that  they  were  receiving  from  the  Kansas  coal 
mines  he  meant  the  dirt  they  were  receiving  from  the  Ar-Kansas 
mines.  (Applause.)  That  comes  from  the  mine  run  law. 

When  the  Secretary  of  this  Congress  suggested  to  me  by  letter  that 
he  would  like  to  have  me  prepare  a  resolution  to  present  before  the 
Congress  relating  to  the  greatest  needs  of  the  mining  industry  in 
Tennessee  I  took  the  matter  pretty  seriously  and  addressed  letters  to 
most  of  the  mine  operators  of  the  State  and  asked  each  man  what  he 
considered  the  greatest  need  of  the  mining  industry  in  Tennessee.  The 


28  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

mining  industry  in  Tennessee  is  very  varied.  We  produce  perhaps  as 
big  a  variety  of  mineral  products  as  any  other  State  in  the  Union,  but 
the  greatest  single  industry  is  the  coal  mining  industry  and  it  is  from  the 
coal  mine  operators  that  I  received  nearly  all  of  the  responses.  It  was 
from  those  responses  that  I  have  prepared  this  very  brief  resolution. 
To  let  you  know  that  the  opinions  expressed  in  this  resolution  were  not 
borrowed  from  those  that  have  been  expressed  heretofore  in  this  meet- 
.ing,  I  wish  to  say  that  I  prepared  the  resolution  before  I  left  Nashville. 
The  opinions  expressed  in  the  resolution  being  in  accordance  with  those 
that  have  been  expressed  heretofore  in  this  meeting  only  indicate  the 
uniformity  of  opinion  relating  to  the  necessity  of  co-operation  among 
coal  miners. 

We  have  in  Tennessee  a  condition  that  perhaps  does  not  obtain  in 
other  states  in  that  the  State  owns  coal  mines  and  operates  those  mines 
with  the  convicts  from  the  State  prison.  The  output  of  those  mines 
comes  into  competition,  of  course,  with  the  output  of  mines  where  men 
have  invested  their  capital. 

"Resolved,  that  the  greatest  needs  of  the  mining  industry  in  Ten- 
nessee are:  Co-operation  among  coal  mining  operators  under  proper 
control,  for  the  purpose  of  securing  reasonable  prices;  the  removal  of 
the  state  convicts  from  the  mines  or  the  state  becoming  a  party  to  the 
proposed  co-operation;  a  uniform  system  of  cost  accounting  for  the 
operators;  improved  railroad  facilities  into  the  coal  field,  and  the  area 
to  the  south  and  southeast,  including  the  seaboard;  and  the  development 
of  the  state's  manufacturing  industries  to  provide  a  home  market  for  its 
mineral  resources."  (Applause.) 

THE  PRESIDENT:  We  will  now  call  for  a  response  from  Texas. 
No  one  seems  to  be  here  from  Texas.  Utah  is  ably  represented  by  a 
number  of  gentlemen.  Dr.  Talmage,  will  you  respond  for  Utah,  please? 

DR.  JAMES  E.  TALMAGE:  Mr.  President,  I  am  not  informed  as  to 
the  number  of  my  colleagues  who  are  present  from  Utah;  but  I  have 
the  honor  to  say  that  Utah  sends  greetings  to  the  American  Mining 
Congress,  and  is  pleased  to  express  satisfaction  and  full  appreciation  for 
the  splendid  reception  accorded  us  here.  The  city  by  the  Great  Salt  Sea 
felicitates  the  city  by  the  Great  Lakes. 

The  mines  in  Utah  are  working  overtime.  There  is  very  general 
prosperity  in  mining  circles.  Utah,  together  with  other  Rocky  Mountain 
states,  is  becoming  more  and  more  important  as  a  source  of  non-metallif- 
erous products,  aside  from  coal,  and  as  a  producer  of  some  of  the  rare 
metals,  and  of  elements  not  usually  classed  as  metals  in  the  market. 
Utah  stands  with  her  sister  states  ready  to  further  every  effort  in 
promoting  the  development  of  the  mining  industry.  If  she  has  any 
specific  resolution  to  present,  or  determination  to  express,  it  is  that  she 
asks  for  just  taxation  of  mines  and  mining  products;  and,  in  that  respect, 
she  feels  that  she  is  in  accord  with  all  other  states  interested  in  mining. 

Utah  is  proud  of  the  work  already  accomplished,  and  that  now 
being  carried  on,  by  our  local  Chapter  of  this  great  organization.  We 
heartily  commend  the  establishment  of  chapters  in  the  several  states. 

We  have  nothing  to  complain  of;  and  we  are  looking  for  a  con- 
tinuation of  prosperity  with  the  feeling  that  if  there  has  been  or  is  to  be 
any  upsetting  of  ordinary  conditions,  we  can  blame  all  that  upon  the 
war. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Is  there  anyone  here  from  Vermont?  Virginia? 

MR.  LONG  (Virginia):  Mr.  President,  we  have  no  troubles  par- 
ticularly. We  stand  ready  to  co-operate  with  the  gentlemen  generally 
with  reference  to  things  which  will  benefit  us,  particularly  in  any  which 
will  result  in  the  establishment  of  better  prices  for  our  product.  We  are 
interested  particularly  at  this  time  also  in  the  subject  of  workmen's 
compensation.  Our  Governor  recently  appointed  a  Commission  whose 
duty  it  will  be  to  submit  a  bill  to  the  next  general  assembly  which  is  to 
convene  in  January,  1918,  and  we  hope  by  the  time  that  this  general 
assembly  meets  that  we  will  have  the  benefit  of  the  experience  of  other 
states  which  have  recently  passed  workmen's  compensation  legislation. 


AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS  29 

I  have  not  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  you  gentlemen  before  and  it 
affords  me  great  pleasure  to  be  with  you  on  this  occasion.  (Applause.) 

THE  PRESIDENT:  We  shall  now  hear  from  the  State  of  Wash- 
ington, Mr.  Sidney  Norman. 

Mr.  NORMAN:  Mr.  President  and  gentlemen  of  the  convention — 
I  have  a  resolution  to  present  to  this  convention  from  the  Northwest 
Mining  Association,  which  endeavors  to  represent  the  mining  interests 
of  the  Northwest.  The  resolution  was  adopted  at  the  regular  weekly 
meeting  last  Thursday. 

"Delegates  from  Spokane,  bearing  credentials  of  the  State  of  Wash- 
ington, City  of  Spokane,  and  Northwest  Mining  Association,  the  latter 
representing  allied  mining  interests  of  Northwestern  States  and  British 
Columbia,  bring  to  this  convention  a  tale  of  great  prosperity. 

"Dividends  for  1916,  from  mines  of  Idaho  and  British  Columbia, 
will  closely  approximate  $14,000,000,  of  which  the  Coeur  d'Alene  dis- 
trict, greatest  producer  of  lead-silver-zinc  on  the  continent,  contributes 
over  $10,500,000,  and  British  Columbia  $3,000,000.  Since  records  have 
been  kept,  the  Coeur  d'Alene  district  has  paid  $61,558,714  in  dividends 
and  British  Columbia  $16,578,911.  Gross  output  for  1916  is  estimated  at 
$70,000,000,  while  the  total  gross  output  since  discovery  has  approxi- 
mated $500,000,000. 

"This  area  stands  today  as  one  of  the  greatest  producers  of  diyeri- 
fied  metals  in  the  world  and,  in  the  opinion  of  your  delegates,  the  high- 
water  mark  has  not  yet  been  reached.  New  mines  are  being  developed 
and  old  ones  revived.  Wages  are  high  and  prosperity  visible  in  every 
direction. 

"The  most  important  development  during  the  past  year  is  the  fact 
that  electrolytic  smelting  of  zinc  ores  has  passed  the  experimental  stage 
and  is  now  upon  a  commercial  basis.  Plans  are  now  in  operation  at 
Trail,  B.  C,  and  at  Great  Falls,  Mont.,  thus  providing  a  greatly  in- 
creased market  and  insuring  even  greater  prosperity  in  Northwestern 
districts  for  many  years  to  come. 

"Knowing  the  great  part  played  by  the  American  Mining  Congress 
in  the  successful  fight  for  recognition  of  the  mining  industry  by  the 
establishment  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  your  delegates  call  attention  to 
the  adverse  criticism  aroused  in  the  Northwest  by  some  unfortunate 
circumstances  concerning  location  of  the  Northwest  Mine  Station.  We 
believe  that  this  is  a  subject  that  might  properly  be  discussed  at  length, 
in  order  that  conclusions  may  be  drawn  that  would  tend  to  remove 
prevalent  friction  and  thus  restore  the  high  opinion  formed  of  the 
Bureau  under  the  ideals  that  have  governed  its  conduct  in  the  past. 

"Spokane  does  not  appear  here  as  a  contender  for  that  honor.  It 
does,  however,  ask  the  aid  of  this  convention  in  furthering  any  legiti- 
mate plan  that  will  insure  location  of  that  site  at  some  point  in  close 
touch  with  the  great  Coeur  d'Alene  and  other  districts  in  Northern 
Idaho,  Western  Montana  and  Eastern  Washington.  The  isolation  of  the 
station  at  a  point  far  removed  from  these  districts  would  defeat  the 
very  object  it  is  intended  to  attain  and  would  at  the  same  time  destroy 
the  growing  value  and  influence  of  the  Bureau." 

I  thank  you.    (Applause.) 

THE  PRESIDENT:  I  will  now  call  my  native  State  by  adoption, 
West  Virginia.  Dr.  I.  C.  White. 

DR.  WHITE:  Mr.  President,  I  am  not  the  official  delegate  from 
West  Virginia,  but  I  will  say  that  West  Virginia  wants  cars.  She  is 
long  on  coal  but  short  on  cars.  My  friend  Dr.  Parker  here  has  criticized 
West  Virginia  for  not  consuming  more  of  her  own  coal.  In  fact,  we 
have  so  much  natural  gas  there  in  use  for  fuel  that  as  Dr.  Parker  has 
recently  said  the  most  of  the  coal  that  we  burn  in  West  Virginia  is 
consumed  by  the  locomotives  hauling  its  coal  out  of  the  State.  I  pre- 
sume West  Virginia  sends  coal  to  more  States  than  any  other  State  in 
the  Union,  more  than  does  Pennsylvania,  and  by  the  way,  in  about  five 
years  at  the  present  rate  of  increase  we  will  produce  more  bituminous 


30  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

coal  than  Pennsylvania.  We  will  this  year  produce,  Mr.  President, 
somewhere  in  the  nineties  of  millions,  whether  it  be  ninety  million  or  a 
few  more  will  not  be  known  until  the  statistics  are  all  in.  But  we  are 
forging  to  the  front.  As  you  well  know,  Illinois,  which  has  more  coal 
than  any  other  State,  formerly  alternated  with  West  Virginia,  one  year 
Illinois  being  second  and  the  next  year  West  Virginia,  but  about  four  or 
five  years  ago  we  apparently  left  Illinois  far  in  the  rear  and  it  will  be 
many  years  before  Illinois  will  catch  up  with  us. 

I  hear  many  of  you  speak  about  cost  accounting.  West  Virginia 
had  the  honor  of  presenting  that  matter  to  the  national  body.  As  you 
all  know,  there  is  such  a  thing  as  the  United  States  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce. One  of  its  most  important  committees  is  headed  by  a  gentleman 
from  Chicago,  the  Hon.  Harry  A.  Wheeler,  one  of  the  first  presidents 
of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  United  States  of  America.  When 
the  Federal  Trade  Commission  was  appointed,  it  was  realized  that  the 
commission  needed  a  steering  committee  and  hence  the  United  States 
Chamber  of  Commerce  appointed  the  Federal  Trade  Committee  from 
its  members.  There  are  two  of  those  members  residing  in  Chicago, 
Mr.  Wheeler  and  Mr.  R.  C.  Butler,  four  in  New  York  City,  one  in 
West  Virginia,  one  in  Virginia,  and  I  think  another  in  Georgia.  Through 
Mr.  Wheeler  that  committee  was  enabled  to  meet  the  Federal  Trade 
Commission  in  Washington  at  its  first  regular  session.  The  Federal  Trade 
Commission  requested  suggestions  from  this  committee.  Your  speaker 
had  the  honor  of  presenting  what  all  seem  now  to  recognize  as  one 
of  the  necessities  in  the  coal  business.  I  know  that  in  West  Virginia 
not  one  operator  out  of  a  hundred  knew  within  fifty  cents  a  ton  what 
his  coal  was  costing  him,  and  it  occurred  to  your  speaker  that  that 
would  be  a  good  subject  for  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  to  take  up. 
They  have  the  power  there,  just  as  much  as  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission  have  the  power  to  compel  the  railways  to  adopt  a  uniform 
system  of  accounting,  and  it  was  suggested  by  myself  to  this  Federal 
Trade  Commission  at  the  joint  meeting  referred  to,  where  Mr.  Hurley 
was  a  very  eager  and  attentive  listener,  that  this  subject  of  proper  cost 
accounting  was  one  of  the  things  that  would  benefit  the  great  coal 
industry  especially,  and  I  am  glad  to  say  that  the  seed  fell  upon  fertile 
soil.  Therefore,  you  see  that  West  Virginia,  although  one  of  the  smaller 
States,  but  one  of  the  largest  in  the  coal  industry,  has  been  doing 
something  for  the  benefit  of  the  coal  industry. 

I  thank  you.    (Applause.) 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Is  there  any  other  state  that  has  not  been 
called  or  who  has  a  representative  here?  Is  there?  If  not,  the  Secretary 
has  some  announcements  to  make. 

MR.  H.  O.  GRANBERG  (Oshkosh,  Wisconsin):  Mr.  President,  I 
am  here  from  Wisconsin,  but  that  state  has  not  been  called. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Wisconsin  is  called  now  and  I  will  ask  that 
you  speak  for  Wisconsin. 

MR.  GRANBERG:  Mr.  President  and  members  of  the  American 
Mining  Congress — I  will  just  say  this  in  regard  to  Wisconsin  that  it 
will  co-operate  with  full  knowledge  and  enthusiasm  with  the  Mining 
Congress  to  dp  that  which  the  Congress  .may  find  necessary  in  the 
adoption  of  uniform  laws  and  better  conditions  in  the  mining  industry. 
Wisconsin  has  some  considerable  mining.  In  the  southern  part  we  have 
lead  and  zinc.  Along  the  Mississippi  river  we  find  pearls.  Along  the 
northern  waters  we  have  iron,  the  same  as  our  sister  States  of  Michigan 
and  Minnesota. 

I  have  nothing  further  to  say,  except  that  we  will  join  in  a  hearty 
co-operation  with  the  Mining  Congress  in  any  ^measures  that  will  im- 
prove and  better  the  conditions  of  the  mining  industry  generally.  We 
have  no  grievances.  We  are  prosperous  in  our  state,  as  far  as  the 
mining  business  is  concerned.  We  have  one  of  the  best  workmen's 
compensation  laws  in  force  in  any  of  the  states.  In  fact,  Wisconsin  was 
one  of  the' first  states  to  adopt  that  principle,  and  some  of  the  sister 


AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS  31 

states  have  seen  fit  to  adopt  Wisconsin's  law  or  to  take  our  compensa- 
tion law  as  a  model.  So  we  are  fair  and  well,  living  in  prosperity  and 
under  good  conditions,  and  trying  to  do  better.  (Applause.) 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Is  there  anyone  here  from  Wyoming?  If  not, 
that  closes  the  list  of  the  states. 

I  would  like  to  add  that  at  no  meeting  of  the  Mining  Congress  which 
I  have  attended  heretofore  have  the  responses  been  so  gratifying  because 
they  speak  of  prosperity  from  every  corner  of  the  United  States. 

I  will  now  call  on  the  Secretary  to  make  some  announcements  which 
will  be  of  interest  to  all  of  you. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  I  desire  first  to  call  attention  to 
the  illustrated  lecture  this  evening,  to  ask  all  of  you  to  be  present  and 
bring  your  friends. 

Please  do  not  forget  to  visit  the  exhibitors  on  the  seventeenth  floor 
who  are  contributing  in  their  way  to  the  success  of  this  convention. 

The  next  thing  in  order  is  the  selection  of  the  Resolutions  Com- 
mittee. The  Resolutions  Committee  is  composed  of  one  man  from  each 
state  and  selected  by  the  delegates  present  from  that  state.  The  organ- 
ization proper  has  no  influence  whatever  in  the  selection  of  the  Resolu- 
tions Committee.  The  Resolutions  Committee  does  the  most  important 
work  at  the  convention.  I  trust  that  in  the  selection  of  your  members 
for  that  committee  that  you  will  select  your  best  men  and  that  the  work 
of  doing  this  will  be  as  prompt  as  possible.  Upon  the  program  the 
resolutions  are  called  for  at  the  morning  sessions,  both  tomorrow  and 
the  next  day.  We  would  like  to  have  you  prepare  resolutions  and  have 
them  introduced  at  that  time.  In  the  meantime  select  your  members 
of  the  Resolutions  Committee.  The  delegates  from  each  state  should 
meet  for  that  purpose: 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Will  Alabama  select  her  member  of  the 
Committee,  or  shall  we  take  a  few  minutes'  recess  and  ask  each  delega- 
tion to  get  together. 

MR.  W.  W.  BIXLEY:  Mr.  President,  on  behalf  of  Washington,  I 
believe  we  are  about  ready  to  suggest  our  member  of  the  Committee, 
Mr.  Sidney  Norman. 

DR.  J.  E.  TALMAGE:  I  see  that  provisions  made  on  the  program 
for  the  selection  of  a  Committee  on  Resolutions  at  tomorrow  morning's 
session  and  I  think  that  representatives  from  many  of  the  states  may 
have  taken  the  view,  as  I  took  the  view,  that  the  nominations  would  not 
be  called  for  at  this  meeting.  Moreover,  there  are  very  few  compara- 
tively at  present  in  the  room  and  I  venture  to  suggest  that  the  result 
may  be  more  satisfactory  if  the  selection  of  the  Committee  of  Resolu- 
tions be  deferred  until  the  morning  session,  as  the  program  announces 
to  be  the  case. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Is  there  a  motion,  Dr.  Talmage,  that  you 
wish  to  make? 

DR.  TALMAGE:  If  it  be  in  order,  Mr.  President,  I  make  it  as  a 
motion. 

MR.  EUGENE  THOMAS  (Idaho):   I  second  the  motion. 
Upon  the  motion  being  put  by  the  President  it  was  declared  carried. 
THE    PRESIDENT:     Is    there    any   further    business    before    this 
session: 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  President,  let  me  urge  each 
state  delegation  to  get  together  promptly  and  nominate  its  member  of 
the  Resolutions  Committee  and  be  ready  to  report  at  the  session  tomor- 
row morning. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  I  want  to  add  to  the  Secretary's  announce- 
ment that  the  illustrated  lectures,  including  moving  pictures,  will  be 
shown  in  this  room  tonight  at  8  o'clock. 

If  there  is  no  further  business  this  meeting  is  herewith  adjourned. 


32  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

TUESDAY,  NOVEMBER  14,  1916. 
General  (Morning)  Session. 

President  Carl  Scholz  called  the  meeting  to  order  at  10:20  a.  m. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Gentlemen,  the  meeting  will  please  come  to 
order.  If  there  are  any  resolutions  that  any  gentlemen  have  to  offer 
we  will  be  glad  to  have  them  sent  forward  to  be  read  by  the  Secretary. 

THE  SECRETARY:  Mr.  President,  the  program  by  mistake  pro- 
vides for  the  selection  of  the  Resolutions  Committee  at  the  close  of  this 
meeting.  It  also  provides  for  its  selection  at  the  close  of  the  meeting 
held  yesterday  afternoon.  I  am  the  guilty  party  and  I  have  to  so  plead. 
Whether  it  be  better  to  take  up  the  selection  of  the  Resolutions 
Committee  now  or  leave  it  to  the  close  of  this  meeting  is  a  matter  for 
the  convention  to  determine. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  If  it  meets  with  your  approval  we  will  leave 
the  selection  of  the  Resolutions  Committee  to  the  end  of  the  meeting. 

Are  there  any  other  announcements  you  have  to  make  now,  Mr. 
Secretary,  before  we  start  in  with  the  regular  program? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Because  of  the  fact  that  a  smoker 
has  been  arranged  by  the  Chicago  Committee  for  this  evening,  it  has 
been  thought  wise  that  the  members  meet  at  7:30  o'clock  tonight  in 
accordance  with  the  by-laws,  select  a  Nominating  Committee  and 
adjourn  until  tomorrow  night  at  7:30.  At  the  adj.ourned  meeting  tomor- 
row evening,  the  regular  members'  meeting  will  be  held,  at  which  time 
the  report  of  the  Nominating  Committee  can  be  brought  in  and  the 
election  follow. 

I  might  also  say  that  we  have  had  printed  a  volume  as  a  memorial 
to  the  late  Dr.  Joseph  A.  Holmes.  The  samples  of  that  will  be  here 
sometime  today.  This  was  printed  as  a  result  of  a  number  of  private 
subscriptions  but  not  quite  enough  to  cover  the  expense  of  publication. 
There  will  be  four  classes  of  books,  one  bound  in  leather,  and  it  is 
thought  wise  that  we  shall  ask  six  dollars  a  volume  from  those  of  you 
who  may  desire  to  have  it,  with  your  name  on  the  front  cover  in  gold 
letters.  Without  the  name  it  will  be  five  dollars.  Bound  in  cloth  with 
the  name  it  will  be  four  dollars,  and  bound  in  cloth  without  the  name 
three  dollars.  Any  of  you  gentlemen  who  desire  to  get  this  volume  will 
have  an  opportunity  of  these  terms.  I  am  sure  that  many  of  you  will 
be  glad  to  get  it.  It  is  a  rather  elaborate  volume  and  I  am  sure  it  is  a 
nice  appreciation  of  this  organization  to  Dr.  Holmes. 

May  I  say  in  reference  to  the  smoker  this  evening  that  the  official 
program  fixed  it  at  6:30.  The  banquet  is  at  6:30  on  Thursday  night  but 
the  smoker  tonight  will  be  at  8  o'clock  in  this  room.  Please  remember 
that. 

Let  me  say  about  the  banquet  on  Thursday  night  that  Colonel 
George  Pope  of  Connecticut,  President  of  the  National  Manufacturers' 
Association,  will  be  one  of  the  principal  speakers  and  will  discuss  the 
questions  of  labor  and  capital,  one  of  the  most  vital  questions  before  the 
people  of  this  country  today.  The  plan  is  that  it  shall  be  discussed  from 
an  absolutely  fair  standpoint,  discussing  and  criticising  both  capital  and 
labor  wherever  they  may  be  wrong,  giving  opportunity  to  both  sides 
to  be  heard.  The  desire  is  to  find  the  points  of  contact  and  not  points 
of  difference  and  to  bring  into  closer  co-operation  the  real  forces  of 
production  in  the  mining  industries.  I  am  sure  you  will  all  be  interested 
in  Col.  Pope's  address.  Another  address  will  be  by  Judge  Short  of  Cali- 
fornia upon  the  question  of  the  oil  situation  and  the  public  lands  question 
of  the  west.  I  know  you  will  all  enjoy  that  address.  There  is  another 
ad.dress  that  we  have  in  mind  which  I  do  not  care  to  announce  at  this 
time  but  in  which  you  will  be  particularly  interested.  Those  of  you  who 
desire  banquet  tickets  will  kindly  arrange  for  them  as  soon  as  possible 
in  order  that  we  may  know  what  seating  capacity  will  be  required. 

Heretofore  we  have  sent  the  annual  proceedings  to  all  delegates, 
whether  members  of  the  Congress  or  not.  This  year  the  proceedings 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  33 

will  be  sent  to  all  the  members  of  the  Mining  Congress  without  addi- 
tional charge.  Those  of  you  who  are  not  members  and  who  desire 
the  proceedings,  may  obtain  them  by  paying  about  the  cost  of  the 
printing  which  we  have  estimated  to  be  one  dollar.  Those  of  you  who 
are  not  members,  who  desire  the  proceedings,  may  order  from  the  clerk 
at  the  desk. 

Let  me  call  attention  to  the  exhibits  on  the  seventeenth  floor.  Those 
gentlemen  have  hired  rooms  and  are  contributing  towards  the  expense 
of  this  convention.  The  La  Salle  Hotel  contributed  those  rooms  to  the 
Chicago  Committee  and  the  rental  of  the  rooms  is  going  into  the 
general  convention  fund.  Therefore,  I  hope  that  you  will  consider  them 
as  friends  of  the  Mining  Congress  and  that  you  will  go  down  and  view 
their  exhibits.  Among  other  things  there  will  be  a  moving  picture 
exhibit  of  core  drilling.  The  University  of  Arizona  will  have  a  splendid 
exhibit  of  safety  appliances  and  the  other  exhibits  of  a  commercial 
nature  are  such  as  ought  to  interest  you  all.  I  hope  you  will  make  it 
your  business  to  go  down  and  view  the  exhibits. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Gentlemen,  when  I  assumed  the  chair  yester- 
day I  told  you  that  I  felt  that  a  prophet  is  not  of  much  account  in  his 
own  country  and  I  applied  that  remark  entirely  to  myself.  There  is  a 
man  with  us  today  who  has  proven  that  he  is  of  great  deal  of  account 
to  his  country  and  to  the  nation  as  a  whole.  The  speaker  of  the  morning 
does  not  require  any  introduction  to  you  because  he  is  a  Chicago  product 
and  without  any  further  announcement  I  am  going  to  take  pleasure  in 
calling  on  Mr.  E.  N.  Hurley,  the  Chairman  of  the  Federal  Trade 
Commission,  to  deliver  his  address.  Mr.  Hurley.  (Applause.) 

Mr.  Hurley's  address  will  be  found  on  page  442  of  this  report. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Mr.  Hurley  is  in  a  great  hurry  to  leave  and 
as  he  leaves  the  room  I  want  him  to  know  that  every  member  here 
appreciates  fully  just  what  he  has  said.  A  number  of  the  coal  operators 
have  had  very  intimate  relations  with  him  and  I  only  know  that  I  speak 
the  truth  when  I  say  that  he  has  followed  out  in  practice  what  he  has 
spoken  of  in  his  address  this  morning. 

While  he  has  been  looking  ahead  in  what  we  ought  to  do,  the 
Congress  takes  great  anticipation  in  looking  back  at  what  it  has  done 
in  connection  with  the  establishment  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines  and  I  am 
going  to  call  on  Mr.  Albert  H.  Fay,  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of 
Mines,  to  give  us  an  outline  of  the  work  and  a  summary  of  the  records 
of  the  mine  safety  work  conducted  by  the  Bureau.  (Applause.) 

MR.  ALBERT  H.  FAY:  Mr.  President,  gentlemen  of  the  American 
Mining  Congress— Mr.  Callbreath,  your  Secretary,  asked  me  to  prepare 
a  paper  on  "The  Past  and  the  Future  of  Mine  Safety,"  a  rather  large 
subject.  I  notice  he  has  changed  the  title  on  the  program  to  "The 
Record  of  Mine  Safety  Work." 

Your  President  has  stated  that  the  subject  of  my  paper  is  "Mine 
Safety  Work  as  Conducted  by  the  Bureau  of  Mines."  I  have  gone 
back  to  the  beginning  of  the  mine  inspection  service  in  the  United 
States,  so  I  shall  cover  a  broader  field  than  has  been  covered  by  the 
bureau. 

The  United  States  occupies  the  unique  position  of  producing  more 
coal  than  any  other  country  in  the  world;  uses  more  mining  machines 
and  produces  a  larger  percentage  of  coal  by  mining  machines;  produces 
more  coal  per  man  employed  than  does  any  other  country  and  also 
produces  more  coal  per  fatality.  But,  unfortunately,  we  produce  more 
fatalities  per  thousand  men  employed  than  does  any  other  country, 
except  possibly  British  Columbia. 

The  Iroquois  Theater  distaster,  the  burning  /of  the  Brooklyn 
Theater,  the  fire  in  the  Triangle  factory  in  New  York,  have  given  us 
better  and  more  efficient  fire  departments,  laws  and  regulations.  Steam- 
boat inspection  service  is  improved  as  a  result  of  the  burning  of  the 
General  Slocum  and  the  overturning  of  the  Eastland.  The  railroads 


34  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

today  are  made  safer  by  reason  of  derailments  and  collisions  that 
occurred  five  or  ten  years  ago. 

It  often  requires  some  terrible  disaster,  as  a  fire,  flood,  pestilence, 
or  a  disastrous  explosion  in  a  coal  mine  to  awaken  public  sentiment  to 
the  realization  of  the  hazards  in  certain  industries  and  the  perils  that 
beset  us  in  every  walk  of  life. 

Mr.  Fay's  address  will  be  found  on  page  413  of  this  report. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Gentlemen,  I  am  sure  you  are  interested  in 
Mr.  Fay's  most  instructive  paper.  It  will  all  appear  in  the  proceedings. 
The  Mining  Congress  is  proud  to  have  within  its  confines  today  Mr. 
Hurley  and  Mr.  Fay,  men  who  represent  the  heighth  of  their  respective 
callings.  Illinois  is  proud  of  its  undertaking  in  having  established  the 
first  mine  rescue  station.  We  have  with  us  today  Dr.  H.  H.  Stock,  who 
is  going  to  tell  us  what  he  has  accomplished.  Dr.  Stock  needs  no  intro- 
duction. You  all  know  him.  He  has  been  with  us  so  long  that  I  am  just 
going  to  ask  him  to  come  forward  and  address  us. 

MR.  H.  H.  STOEK:  The  Chairman  also  is  giving  me  a  title  to 
which  I  am  not  entitled.  I  am  nothing  but  a  plain  professor. 

THE  PRESIDENT:    I  referred  to  the  program. 

MR.  H.  H.  STOEK:   That  is  Mr.  Callbreath's  fault  also. 

Mr.  Stock's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  275  of  this  report. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  If  this  does  not  result  in  the  establishment  of 
mine  rescue  stations  in  other  states  I  shall  be  very  much  surprised.  It 
has  always  been  the  policy  of  the  Mining  Congress  to  recognize  the  view 
of  different  parties  interested  in  connection  with  any  problem  and  with 
this  in  view  we  will  proceed  to  discuss  the  Responsibilities  and  Duties 
in  Mine  Safety  Work,  as  devolving  upon  the  operator,  the  miner  and 
the  public.  The  first  speaker  on  the  program  will  speak  for  the  operator. 
I  will  call  on  Mr.  Thomas  M.  Gann  from  Knoxville,  to  speak  on  that 
subject. 

MR.  THOMAS  M.  GANN:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  received  an  invitation 
from  the  Secretary  to  prepare  an  address  on  this  subject  at  a  very  recent 
date  and  having  only  a  short  time  in  which  to  prepare  an  address,  what 
I  may  say  will  be  brief. 

Before  getting  down  to  the  subject  as  I  prepared  it,  permit  me  to 
say  that  I  am  pleased  to  be  in  this  convention.  This  is  the  second  time 
in  the  history  of  the  American  Mining  Congress  that  a  representative 
of  the  miners  of  Tennessee  has  been  in  the  convention.  I  am  gratified 
to  see  the  spirit  which  I  had  anticipated  before  coming  here,  the  spirit 
of  co-operation  in  this  work,  iri  conservation,  safety  and  efficiency  in 
mining.  It  takes  co-operation  to  bring  about  the  best  results  and  to 
place  the  coal  mining  industry  in  that  position  in  the  industrial  world 
that  it  should  occupy.  I  can  see  even  from  the  address  of  welcome  right 
down  to  the  present  time  that  spirit  of  co-operation. 

It  is  going  to  be  my  purpose  in  talking  o.n  the  responsibilities  and 
duties  of  the  operator  in  the  mine  safety  work  to  point  out  some  of  the 
greater  things,  the  greater  duties  and  responsibilities  that  rest  upon  the 
operator,  and  in  doing  this  I  do  not  propose  to  do  it  in  a  spirit  of 
antagonism  or  criticism,  but  more  from  the  point  of  view  and  for  the 
purpose  that  the  best  results  may  be  obtained.  Two  very  vital  points 
that  I  want  to  mention,  and  will  mention,  in  the  address  which  I  have 
is  co-operation  and  cheap  coal. 

Mr.  Gann's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  334  of  this  report. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  When  this  program  was  first  written  we  had 
the  thought  that  there  would  be  with  us  today  a  man  who  had  devoted 
the  major  portion  of  his  life  to  compiling  statistical  information  in 
connection  with  the  accidents  in  the  coal  industry  of  Illinois,  but  a 
superior  power  has  intervened  and  Dave  Ross  is  no  longer  with  us. 
He  was  buried  a  fortnight  ago.  Mr.  Ross  had  taken  such  an  active 
interest  in  this  work  that  I  am  going  to  ask  this  audience  to  rise  as 
a  token  of  respect. 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  35 

(An  expression  of  respect  was  given  to  the  memory  of  David  Ross, 
signified  by  the  audience  rising.) 

THE  PRESIDENT:  There  is  with  us  today  a  gentleman  who  has 
been  through  the  various  stages  of  the  industry,  as  a  miner  in  Ohio,  as 
an  official  of  the  miners'  organization  he  occupied  the  highest  place 
available,  and  now  is  connected  with  the  other  side  of  the  industry.  I 
will  ask  Mr.  T.  L.  Lewis  to  talk  on  the  responsibilities  and  duties  of 
the  miner  in  mine  safety  work.  Mr.  Lewis.  (Applause.) 
Thos.  L.  Lewis'  address  will  be  found  on  page  559. 
THE  PRESIDENT:  Many  of  us  knew  Mr.  Lewis  when  he  was 
on  the  other  side  of  the  fence,  when  he  made  some  powerful  arguments, 
but  I  do  not  think  any  of  us  ever  heard  an  argument  presented  by  him 
any  better  than  he  has  today,  and  one  that  we  may  well  heed.  I  want 
to  take  the  responsibility  on  behalf  of  this  audience  of  thanking  Mr. 
Lewis  for  what  he  said  this  morning.  Now,  we  have  heard  what  the 
miner  believes  the  coal  operator  should  do.  We  have  heard  what  the 
operator  thinks  the  miner  should  do  in  this  work  of  safety  and  now 
are  going  to  hear  from  the  third  party,  as  to  what  the  public  thinks  of 
this  undertaking.  I  am  going  to  call  o.n  Dr.  F.  W.  McNair,  of  the 
Michigan  School  of  Mining,  to  represent  the  people.  Dr.  McNair. 
(Applause.) 

Dr.  McNair's  address  will  be  found  on  page  557  of  this  report. 
THE   PRESIDENT:     It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  hour  has  ad- 
vanced so  far  that  we  will  not  be  able  to  have  any  further  discussion 
on  this  subject,  but  it  is  hoped  at  some  future  sessions  this  topic  can 
be  discussed  again. 

The  Secretary  will  call  the  states  and  I  will  ask  that  you  respond 
for  your  respective  state  as  to  your  selection  of  a  member  to  serve  on 
the  Resolutions  Committee. 

On  call  of  the  states  by  the  Secretary  the  following  names  were 
presented  as  members  of  the 

Committee  on  Resolutions. 

Alabama •. W.  E.   Henley 

Alaska Col.  B.  F.  Millard 

Arizona J.    H.    Robinson 

Arkansas A.   H.   Purdue 

California James    N.    Gillett 

Colorado Geo.    E.    Collins 

Idaho Eugene    Thomas 

Indiana W.  S.  Bogle 

Illinois F.    C.    Honnold 

Iowa Joshua   Norwood 

Kansas W.   H.   Skidmore 

Kentucky F.    P.    Wyatt 

Michigan ....F.    W.    McNair 

Minnesota J.    E.    Hodge 

Missouri W.  B.  Shackleford 

Montana James    Needham 

Nevada A.    A.    Codd 

New  Mexico T.  H.  O'Brien 

New  York A.  Cressy  Morrison 

North    Carolina H.    E.    E.    Smith 

Ohio W.    R.    Woodford 

Oregon F.    Wallace   White 

Pennsylvania E.  W.  Parker,  S.  A.  Taylor 

South    Carolina F.    W.    Chambers 

South   Dakota Martin   H.   Brede 

Tennessee J.    E.    McCoy 

Utah Jas.    E.    Talmage 

Virginia J.    S.    Grasty 

Washington Sidney    Norman 

West   Virginia T.    L.    Lewis 


36  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  The  Resolutions  Committee  has 
been  assigned  to  room  1809.  It  will  be  advisable  for  the  Committee  to 
get  together  in  that  room  between  this  and  the  opening  of  the  after- 
noon session  and  organize  by  the  election  of  a  chairman  and  secretary. 
There  are  some  resolutions  in  hand  which  should  be  referred  immedi- 
ately to  that  Committee. 

Resolutions  presented  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Resolu- 
tions: 

Resolution  No.  1,  Introduced  by  Geo.  E.  Collins  of  Colorado. 

Whereas,  The  Federal  Income  Tax  Law,  as  it  applies  to  the 
output  of  mines,  has  been  so  construed  by  the  Internal  Revenue 
Department  of  the  Federal  Government  as  to  work  a  grave  injus- 
tice to  operators,  in  that  the  deductions  allowed  from  the  gross 
income  on  account  of  depletion  are  not  based  on  the  gross  value, 
but  on  what  is  virtually  the  .net  value  of  the  ore  produced. 

Whereas,  Congress,  by  a  later  amendment  to  the  Act,  has  shown 
its  intention  to  permit  more  conservative  deductions  to  be  made  on 
account  of  depletion  of  mines  than  was  permitted  under  the  Law 
of  1913.  Now,  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  this  Congress  expresses  appreciation  of  the 
intent  of  the  Congress  to  be  fair  to  the  mining  industry.  And  be  it 
further 

Resolved,  That  this  question  be  referred  to  the  regular  Mining 
Taxation  Committee  of  this  Congress  for  investigation  and  recom- 
mendation. And  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  such  Committee  be  instructed  to  take  proper 
means  to  see  that  the  construction  placed  upon  this  law  by  the 
Internal  Revenue  Department  shall  be  in  accordance  with  the  plain 
intention  of  Congress  in  enacting  the  Act. 

Resolution  No.  2,  Introduced  by  the  Denver  Civic  and  Commercial 

Association.. 

Whereas,  The  public  domain  in  the  eleven  states  situated  to 
the  west  of  Kansas  comprises  471,000,000  acres  of  land,  amounting 
to  about  62  per  cent  of  these  states,  and  the  policy  of  the  Federal 
Government  as  to  the  disposal  and  utilization  of  this  area,  and  the 
natural  resources  therein  contained,  is  of  vital  importance  to  the 
people,  and  the  local  governments  of  these  eleven  states;  and, 

Whereas,  The  basic  principle  of  the  so-called  Ferris  Bills  before 
Congress  is  the  permanent  retention  of  title  to  certain  of  the  nat- 
ural resources  upon  this  public  domain  in  the  Federal  Government, 
and  this  principle  may,  and  we  fear  will,  be  extended  to  cover  all 
the  natural  resources  and  the  land  itself;  and, 

Whereas,  Under  this  principle  the  future  population  occupying 
these  lands  and  developing  the  resources  thereupon  cannot  be  other 
than  a  tenantry;  and, 

Whereas,  The  members  of  a  desirable  citizenry  should  possess 
the  laudable  ambition  to  become  owners  of  those  properties  and  in- 
dustries, to  the  development  of  which  their  lives  and  fortunes  are 
devoted;  and, 

Whereas,  Only  by  the  conversion  of  these  lands  and  resources 
to  private  ownership  can  they  be  directly  subjected  to  the  taxing 
powers  of  the  states,  and  made  to  contribute  their  fair  proportion 
of  the  cost  of  the  benefits  of  local  government,  and  it  is  manifestly 
unfair  that  the  states  should  forever  bear  the  expense  of  local  gov- 
ernment over  an  area  of  which  less  than  40  per  cent  is  subject  to 
their  taxing  powers;  and, 

'  Whereas,  Throughout  the  civilized  world  the  impossibility  of 
successfully  establishing  and  maintaining  a  prosperous  and  con- 
tented population  in  districts  where  great  tracts  of  the  country  are 
held  in  private  ownership  by  one  or  a  few  owners,  has  repeatedly 
been  shown,  and  when  the  ownership  of  such  great  tracts  of  land  is 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  37 

by  an  entity  holding  itself  superior  to  a.nd  beyond  the  laws  and 
customs  of  the  community  wherein  the  land  is  located,  it  is  even 
more  obnoxious;  and, 

Whereas,  The  claims  of  the  Federal  Government,  already  made, 
that  easements  over  the  public  domain,  for  uses  devoted  entirely 
to  the  public  service  of  the  citizens  of  the  state,  can  be  acquired 
only  upon  compliance  with  conditions  prescribed  by  the  Federal 
Government,  are  inherently  antagonistic  to  the  power  of  this  state 
to  enforce  its  own  policies  with  respect  to  its  own  internal  develop- 
ment, in  accordance  with  its  own  eminent  domain;  and, 

Whereas,  The  plan  to  retain  ownership  in  these  resources,  and 
permit  their  utilization  only  upon  a  leasing  basis,  has  heretofore 
on  several  occasions  unsuccessfully  been  attempted  by  the  Federal 
Government  and  resulted  in  each  instance  in  almost  complete  cessa- 
tion of  development  of  such  resources;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  American  Mining  Congress  is  squarely  op- 
posed to  any  policy  with  respect  to  the  public  domain  designed  to 
retain  perpetually  in  the  Federal  Government  title  to  these  lands, 
and  their  resources,  a.nd  can  only  support  a  policy  whereby  the 
title  to  these  lands  and  resources  ultimately  will  pass  to  those  who 
devote  their  lives  and  efforts  to  the  conversion  of  these  resources 
from  the  mere  potentialities  which  they  now  are  into  actual  factors 
of  production  of  the  wealth  of  the  country;  and,  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  while  the  American  Mining  Congress  does  not 
at  this  time  say  that  there  should  be  no  change  in  the  terms  and 
conditions  upon  which  the  Federal  Government  shall  convey  these 
lands  and  resources  to  the  people  and  will  not  oppose  such  changes 
in  the  existing  laws  a.nd  departmental  regulations,  as  may  reason- 
ably assure  to  the  Government  a  fair  compensation,  and  the  actual 
and  proper  development  and  utilization  of  these  lands  and  re- 
sources within  a  reasonable  time,  we  desire  nevertheless  to  point 
out,  with  emphasis,  that  the  cost  of  these  lands  to  the  United 
States  was,  on  the  average,  considerably  less  than  50  cents  per  acre 
thereof,  with  no  further  consideration  for  deposits  of  oils  and  min- 
erals, growths  of  timber,  waterpower  sites  and  other  so-called 
resources,  and  we  also  desire  to  point  out  that  any  increment  in  the 
value  of  these  lands  and  resources  is  largely  the  result  of  economic 
and  industrial  growth  of  the  territory  within  which  this  public 
domain  is  located,  and  that  this  growth  has  been  brought  about  by 
the  citizens  of  these  western  states,  and  the  hardships,  efforts  and 
risks  that  they  and  their  forbears  have  undergone  in  removing  their 
homes  and  activities  from  the  more  settled  districts  in  the  eastern 
states  to  a  new  and  strange  country,  and  we  cannot  believe  the 
people  of  the  eastern  states  can  mean  by  their  support  of  the 
so-called  conservation  movement  now  consciously  to  deny  to  the 
people  of  the  western  states  the  benefits  of  successful  pioneering 
and  colonization.  Be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  we  are  firmly  of  the  opinion  that  in  denying 
to  the  western  states  the  right  to  develop  these  lands  and  resources, 
to  settle  thereupon  a  prosperous  and  contented  community  of  prop- 
erty owners,  the  Federal  Government  denies  us  our  constitutional 
right  of  equality  in  all  respects  with  the  older  states  forming  part 
of  that  Government. 

Resolution  No.  3,  Introduced  by  the  Denver  Civic  and  Commercial 

Association. 

Whereas,  As  the  Federal  mining  laws  now  in  force  have 
resulted  in  controversy,  litigation  and  expense,  together  with  the 
retardation  of  mining  development  during  long  periods  of  litigation, 
as  exemplified  in  all  mining  districts  where  these  laws  are  enforced; 
and 


38  .  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

Whereas,  A  notable  effort  has  been  made  by  the  American 
Institute  of  Mining  Engineers  and  the  Mining  and  Metallurgical 
Society  of  America  and  the  American  Mining  Congress,  to  secure 
comprehensive,  intelligent  investigation  of  the  conditions  that  have 
arisen  from  evils  in  the  existing  federal  statutes;  and 

Whereas,  The  situation  is  one  so  complicated  that  a  thorough 
and  intelligent  investigation  is  an  essential  preliminary  to  the 
modification  of  the  mining  laws;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  American  Mining  Congress  heartily  concur 
in  and  subscribe  to  the  movement  to  bring  about  such  an  investiga- 
tion by  a  competent,  non-political  commission,  to  be  appointed  by 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  to  consist  of  three  men,  all 
of  whom  shall  serve  without  pay;  one  of  the  commission  to  be 
a  mining  attorney,  another  a  mining  engineer,  and  the  third  a 
prominent  mine  owner;  all  of  whom  shall  be  thoroughly  familiar 
with  the  defects  in  and  the  operation  of  the  present  mining  laws. 
This  commission,  after  thoroughly  investigating  the  defects  of  the 
present  law,  shall  formulate  the  necessary  remedial  legislation  for 
the  benefit  of  Congress,  and  hold  itself  an  advisory  body  during  the 
consideration  of  such  legislation  by  Congress. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  I  have  some  letters  of  invitation 
here,  and  there  are  some  that  I  have  received  that  are  not  here.  We 
have  a  very  earnest  invitation  from  Carson  Pirie  Scott  &  Company  to 
visit  their  plant  some  distance  out  of  town.  They  will  provide  luncheon 
and  transportation.  I  told  them  that  the  convention  would  not  be  able 
to  devote  a  half  day  to  that  purpose.  I  have  also  an  invitation  from  the 
Ford  Motor  Company  by  which  the  members  of  the  organization  are 
invited  out  to  visit  their  plant.  I  have  one  here  that  I  will  read  in  its 
entirety,  because  it  is  of  interest  to  all  the  members  of  the  organization. 
This  is  a  letter  from  the  Powdered  Coal  &  Engineering  Company. 

Will  the  gentlemen  who  desire  to  go  kindly  hand  in  their  cards  so 
that  we  can  turn  them  over  to  their  representative  in  order  that  he  may 
provide  the  necessary  automobiles  for  transportation. 

I  have  a  telegram  from  the  Governor  of  Nevada  addressed  to  one 
of  our  members,  Mr.  L.  A.  Friedman,  who  is  one  of  our  directors  and 
who  very  unfortunately  before  he  arrived  in  Chica-go  on  Friday  last 
was  taken  ill  and  is  now  in  the  hotel  but  very  much  improved.  He 
hopes  that  he  may  be  able  to  attend  the  session  tomorrow.  Mr.  Fried- 
man has  been  of  very  great  service  in  the  work  of  the  Mining  Congress 
and  I  am  sure  we  all  sympathize  with  him  in  his  sickness. 

The  telegram  is  as  follows: 

Carson,  Nev.,  Nov.  13,  1916. 
Mr.  L.  A.  Friedman, 

Care  American  Mining  Congress,  Hotel  La  Salle, 

Chicago,    Illinois. 

Please  convey  to  the  American  Mining  Congress  the  best  wishes 
of  the  people  of  the  State  of  Nevada  for  a  pleasant  and  profitable 
meeting.  Nevada  is  a  State  in  which  mining  is  and  has  been 
the  paramount  industry,  and  the  intelligent  interchange  of  views  on 
mining  subjects  made  possible  by  the  Congress  unquestionably 
makes  for  the  promotion  of  our  leading  industry  here.  In  particular 
Nevadans  will  take  the  liveliest  interest  in  your  discussions  and 
recommendations  on  amendments  or  changes  in  the  Federal  Mining 
laws  and  will,  I  believe,  welcome  changes  calculated  to  reduce  the 
litigation  growing  out  of  the  extralateral  right  theory. 

(Signed)     EMMET  D.  BOYLE, 

Governor. 


AMERICAN     MINTNG    CONGRESS  39 

You  may  not  know  that  Governor  Boyle  is  a  mining  engineer  of 

high  standing  in  the  profession  and  in  the  mining  industry  of  his  state. 

I  have  also  a  telegram  from  the  Manufacturers'  Record  of  Baltimore. 

Baltimore,  Md.,  Nov.  14,  1916. 
J.  F.  Callbreath, 

Secretary  American    Mining   Congress, 

Care  Hotel  La  Salle,  Chicago,  Illinois. 

The  Manufacturers'  Record  would  strongly  urge  that  the 
American  Mining  Congress  hold  its  next  meeting  in  the  South  which 
is  the  richest  undeveloped  mineral  region  of  the  United  States. 
The  ablest  experts  in  the  country  testify  as  to  the  vast  potentialities 
of  the  South  for  mining  and  kindred  operations.  As  yet  these 
resources  are  only  in  the  infancy  of  development  as  compared  with 
what  the  future  will  show.  Nowhere  else  in  the  United  States  could 
the  members  of  the  American  Mining  Congress  find  more  of  interest 
and  of  value  in  their  work  than  in  the  South  if  the  Congress  will 
agree  to  hold  its  next  meeting.  At  some  Central  Southern  point  it 
will  have  a  great  effect  in  concentrating  the  attention  of  the  nation 
to  the  vast  mineral  resources  of  this  section,  the  development  of 
which  would  add  enormously  to  national  wealth  and  open  limitless 
opportunities  for  mining  engineers  and  all  others  connected  with 
the  development  of  the  industrial  potentialities  of  the  South.  Such 
a  meeting  would  be  certain  to  arouse  a  widespread  interest  in  the 
South  and  largely  increase  your  Southern  membership.  In  behalf  of 
this  section  and  not  speaking  for  any  particular  city  I  would  press 
upon  the  attention  of  the  Mining  Congress  the  desirability  from 
individual  and  from  the  national  standpoint  of  holding  your  next 
meeting  in  the  South. 

(Signed)     RICHARD   H.    EDMONDS, 

Editor  Manufacturers'  Record. 

May  I  make  one  or  two  announcements?  The  members'  meeting 
scheduled  for  this  evening  will  be  in  session  long  enough  to  select  a 
Nominating  Committee  and  will  then  adjourn  until  tomorrow  evening, 
when  the  members'  meeting  will  be  held.  We  hope  that  all  members 
who  are  present,  that  everybody  who  is  interested  in  the  work  of  the 
Mining  Congress  will  attend  this  meeting.  The  members  only  can  vote 
but  everybody  is  invited  to  attend  the  meeting. 

Do  not  forget  the  exhibitors  on  the  seventeenth  floor.  They  are 
contributing  toward  the  convention  fund.  They  are  your  friends  and 
they  will  be  glad  to  see  you. 

MR.  HENLEY:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  would  suggest,  inasmuch  as  my 
name  is  first  on  the  Resolutions  Committee,  as  being  from  Alabama, 
that  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  meet  immediately  before  any  other 
business  is  started  in  room  1809.  I  just  make  that  as  a  suggestion. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  It  is  requested  that  the  Committee 
on  Resolutions  shall  meet  immediately  in  room  1809  for  organization 
purposes. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  If  there  is  no  further  business  a  motion  to 
adjourn  will  be  in  order. 

Motion  to  adjourn  was  made,  seconded  and  carried. 

WEDNESDAY,  NOVEMBER  15,  1916. 
General   (Morning)   Session. 

Dr.  James  E.  Talmage,  of  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  presided  as 
Chairman,  and  called  the  meeting  to  order  at  10:15  o'clock. 

CHAIRMAN  TALMAGE:  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  the  time  for 
the  opening  of  this  session  has  arrived.  Technically  speaking,  it  has 
already  passed.  But  we  will  say,  however,  it  is  10  o'clock,  whatever  may 
be  the  real  time  of  day. 

I  regret  to  announce  the  absence  of  Mr.  L.  A.  Friedman  of  Love- 
lock, Nevada,  who  if  present  would  have  been  your  presiding  officer  this 
morning.  Mr.  Friedman  is  indisposed  and  while  considerably  improved 


40  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

it  has  been  thought  to  be  indiscreet  for  him  to  be  here  on  this  occasion. 

The  first  thing  in  order  this  morning  will  be  the  introduction  of 
resolutions.  If  no  resolutions  are  to  be  presented,  we  will  pass  to  the 
next  order  of  business. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  There  are  some  resolutions  to  be 
presented  but  they  have  not  been  handed  to  me. 

CHAIRMAN  TALMAGE:  Is  there  any  report  of  progress  to  be 
made  by  the  Resolutions  Committee? 

E.  W.  PARKER:  Mr.  Chairman,  we  just  had  two  or  three  resolu- 
tions referred  to  us  by  the  Secretary  but  the  Committee  has  not  taken 
any  action  on  them.  We  didn't  get  them  until  a  few  moments  ago. 
There  were  some  handed  in  yesterday  but  I  didn't  think  it  would  be 
worth  while  bringing  them  up  before  this  meeting  on  account  of  the 
short  time  that  we  have  had  for  consideration  of  these  resolutions. 

CHAIRMAN  TALMAGE:  The  Secretary  has  some  announcements 
to  make. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  I  wish  to  announce  that  the  mem- 
bers' meeting  this  evening  will  be  in  the  red  room  at  the  other  end  of 
this  floor.  I  want  to  call  your  attention  again  to  the  banquet  to  be 
held  on  Thursday  night  and  to  say  that  two  of  the  most  important 
problems  which  confront  the  American  people  will  be  the  special  sub- 
jects for  discussion.  The  first  will  be  the  public  lands  question  of  the 
West  by  Judge  Short  of  California,  who  has  made  a  special  study  of 
these  problems,  is  a  very  able  lawyer  and  will  deliver  an  address  that 
is  worth  hearing.  The  second  is  an  address  by  Colonel  George  Pope, 
the  President  of  the  National  Manufacturers'  Association,  upon  the 
relation  of  labor  and  capital,  one  of  the  most  important  questions  before 
the  American  public  today.  The  plan  of  this  discussion  is  not  to 
create  antagonism  but  to  bring  in  closer  co-operation  the  various  produc- 
tive forces;  not  with  the  idea  of  seeking  points  of  difference,  but  of 
seeking  points  of  contact.  I  am  sure  you  will  be  greatly  delighted  and 
pleased,  and  the  cause  will  be  served  by  the  address  of  Colonel  Pope 
on  Thursday  evening. 

We  have  a  special  invitation  from  the  University  of  Illinois  to  those 
of  our  members  who  desire  to  go  to  Champaign,  together  with  the 
statement  that  it  is  only  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  away.  The 
Department  of  Mining  Engineering  requests  everybody  to  visit  the 
University. 

I  want  to  again  call  attention  to  the  exhibits  upon  the  seventeenth 
floor  and  to  state  that  the  people  who  have  paid  their  money  for  the 
use  of  those  rooms  have  paid  it  into  the  convention  fund  of  the  local 
committee,  thereby  supporting  and  helping  this  work. 

CHAIRMAN  TALMAGE:  One  of  the  committees  of  this  Congress 
is  known  as  the  Joseph  A.  Holmes  Memorial  Committee.  Dr.  David  T. 
Day  is  Chairman  of  that  Committee  and  he  is  also  the  Secretary  of  the 
Joseph  A.  Holmes  Safety  Association.  We  are  to  be  favored  with  a 
report  of  that  Committee  by  Dr.  David  T.  Day  of  Washington. 
(Applause.) 

DR.  DAVID  T.  DAY  (Washington,  D.  C.) :  Mr.  Chairman  and 
ladies  and  gentlemen:  At  the  meeting  of  this  Congress  a  year  ago  you 
appointed  a  committee  which  conferred  with  a  similar  committee  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers  to  organize  a  suitable  memorial 
for  Dr.  Joseph  A.  Holmes,  first  Director  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines. 

The  two  committees  agreed  that  the  most  suitable  memorial  would 
consist  in  perpetuating  Dr.  Holmes'  work  of  benefiting  mining  by  an 
organization  having  such  a  purpose,  and  we  found  all  the  national  societies 
glad  to  join  in  a  national  safety  movement.  The  year  has  been  spent  in 
bringing  them  into  an  organization.  They  are  now  joined  in  the  Joseph 
A.  Holmes  Safety  Association. 

In  the  November  4th  issue  of  the  Mining  and  Engineering  World 
you  will  find  Dr.  Holmes'  own  recognition  of  what  the  Bureau  of 
Mines  owes  to  the  Mining  Congress  in  the  organization  of  that  Bureau: 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  41 

"This  movement  for  appropriate  recognition  and  aid  for  the  mining 
industry  from  the  National  Government  has  been  under  way  for  many 
years.  Among  its  early  and  most  active  supporters  have  been  the  Cali- 
fornia Miners'  Association  and  the  American  Mining  Congress.  It  is, 
therefore,  eminently  appropriate  that  at  the  first  session  of  the  Amer- 
ican Mining  Congress,  following  the  creation  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines, 
at  a  session  held  in  California,  something  should  be  said  of  the  policy 
and  purposes  of  the  new  Bureau." 

I  believe  that  the  American  Mining  Congress  by  the  way  that  it 
stood  for  the  Federal  recognition  of  mining  from  the  beginning  of  the 
Congress  really  is  more  the  father  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines  than  any 
other  organization  in  the  United  States  and  can  point  to  that  magnifi- 
cent Bureau  as  more  its  child  than  that  of  any  other  organization. 

We  found  that  all  national  societies  were  glad  to  come  into  a 
co-operative  movement  which  would  benefit  mining  in  the  same  way  that 
Dr.  Holmes  had  undertaken  to  make  that  his  life  work.  That  was  very 
gratifying.  We  got  representatives  of  these  societies  together,  alto- 
gether twenty-two  of  them.  The  representatives  of  these  different  na- 
tional societies  were  chosen  with  a  great  deal  of  care,  forming  a  mag- 
nificent body  as  the  foundation  of  this  organization.  From  that  body 
they  chose  as  officers  the  director  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines  as  president 
and  thereby  secured  at  once  the  co-operation  of  that  great  bureau  in 
our  work,  and  also  made  it  easy  to  avoid  any  duplication  of  work  which 
could  be  carried  out  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Bureau  of 
Mines.  As  vice-presidents  they  chose  Dr.  Charles  D.  Walcott,  the 
former  director  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey,  and  now  the 
secretary  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute,  and  Mr.  Gompers,  president 
of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor.  Thereby,  we  laid  the  possibility 
at  once  for  such  co-operation  in  this  work  with  labor  itself  as  would 
enable  us  to  begin  right  at  the  bottom  of  the  difficulties  of  safeguard- 
ing mining.  The  miner's  greatest  enemy,  as  we  all  must  admit,  as  the 
miner  himself  will  admit,  is  the  miner;  and  we  have  gone  to  these 
miners  in  a  very  practical  way.  The  Federation  of  Labor  is  going  to 
them  and  getting  each  miner  in  the  country  to  contribute  something 
toward  the  fund  of  this  association,  a  permanent  fund,  the  interest 
from  which  is  to  carry  on  the  work  of  the  organization.  Now,  so  soon 
as  a  miner  has  invested  fifty  cents  or  a  dollar  in  something  and  has 
received  a  statement,  a  certificate  of  membership,  he  is  not  going  to 
forget  to  inquire  what  became  of  that  money  and  where  he  gets  some- 
thing back;  and  just  as  soon  as  he  does  that  his  education  in  safety 
has  begun,  and  we  have  a  means  of  getting  at  that  man  to  keep  up  his 
education.  If  this  association  could  succeed  simply  in  making  each 
miner  a  little  safer  to  his  fellow  miner,  then  what  a  great  step  forward 
this  national  movement  would  have  accomplished.  And  then  when  we 
think  that  by  the  appointment  of  this  committee  last  year  this  asso- 
ciation becomes  the  father  of  this  new  movement,  you  can  recognize 
that  only  second  to  the  formation  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines  itself  is  the 
initiative  taken  by  this  body  in  forming  the  Joseph  A.  Holmes  Safety 
Association.  We  have  here,  in  other  words,  an  association  by  the  name 
of  which  we  honor  Dr.  Holmes,  by  the  purposes  of  which  we  are  going 
ahead  to  make  mining  safer. 

How  are  we  going  to  do  it?  That  is  a  matter  which  is  shown  very 
well  in  an  announcement  which  all  of  you  will  receive,  a  copy  of  which 
I  hold  in  my  hand.  It  is  an  announcement  of  the  membership,  the 
officers  and  such  purposes  as  have  been  decided  upon  at  the  present 
time  as  the  work  of  this  association.  We  propose  to  make  mining 
safer  by  bestowing  on  any  man  or  any  number  of  men  a  prize  for 
anything  contributed  in  the  way  of  safety  in  mining.  I  have  an  example 
in  mind,  without  mentioning  any  names,  of  a  man  in  Illinois  who  was 
formerly  a  coal  miner  and  has  become  the  superintendent  of  a  mine. 
That  man  posted  a  notice  in  letters  about  six  inches  in  height,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  mine,  that  a  certain  man  had  been  injured.  It  stated 


42  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

the  injury  and  it  stated  the  way  it  happened.  Next  it  stated  that  the 
man  would  be  compensated  in  due  course,  his  illness  would  be  taken 
care  of,  his  family  would  be  taken  care  of  as  best  they  could  and  the 
man  would  return  to  work  in  as  fit  condition  as  they  could  make  him; 
but  nothing  they  could  do  would  compensate  him  for  the  pain  he  had 
actually  suffered,  for  the  shock  to  his  family  and  for  the  permanent  loss 
of  efficiency  when  he  went  back  to  work  with  one  arm.  That  was  all. 
There  was  not  a  word  of  moral.  There  was.n't  any  preaching.  There 
wasn't  any  scolding.  But  that  notice  has  been  talked  about  by  the 
miners  on  the  street  cars  and  elsewhere  in  that  town  more  than  any- 
thing else  that  has  been  posted  of  that  sort  for  a  long  time.  The  idea 
of  posting  such  a  notice  is  to  my  notion  something  well  worthy  of  a 
prize  as  being  a  contribution  to  safety  in  mining.  It  does  not  mean 
that  a  man  has  to  get  up  a  new  safety  cage  or  some  device  for  stopping 
a  cage  if  it  happens  to  get  loose  going  down  the  shaft. 

We  propose  also  to  give  a  medal  to  any  man  or  any  hundreds  of 
men  where  one  man  contributes  to  the  safety  of  another  miner  at  the 
risk  of  his  own  safety,  and  we  are  giving  that  a  definition  of  a  hero  for 
the  purposes  of  this  organization;  and  we  believe  that  when  such  a 
man  has  received  some  recognition  of  that  sort  and  his  fellow  workers 
recognize  it  that  we  can  also  take  that  man  (as  has  been  suggested  in 
California,  where  this  association  was  discussed  a  few  days  ago)  and 
send  him  around  to  his  fellows  in  his  own  part  of  the  country  and  by 
his  own  talks — we  hope  that  he  will  not  be  a  good  lecturer;  we  believe 
that  he  will  be  just  a  plain  talker,  and  heroes  are  not  usually  very  much 
on  talking — we  believe  by  his  own  talks  that  he  will  further  the  move- 
ment of  safety  in  mining.  Now,  we  propose  that  that  man  shall  spread 
the  ideas  of  safety  that  he  has  received  by  a  visit  to  us  in  Washington 
to  receive  this  medal.  In  beginning  that  way  we  can  really  get  at  the 
miners  themselves. 

So  far  has  the  association  gone.  This  is  no  more  than  equivalent 
to  the  announcement  which  you  will  receive,  and  is  the  report  of  your 
committee  at  the  present  time.  To  this  report  I  wish  to  add  this 
statement:  The  purposes  as  far  as  they  have  gone  have  been  set  forth. 
The  further  purposes,  what  shall  be  done  by  this  association,  are  in  the 
hands  of  those  who  compose  it,  the  members  of  the  American  Mining 
Congress,  the  mining  engineers  and  the  other  composing  bodies.  We 
will  carry  out,  and  I  believe  these  men  who  are  certainly  well  chosen 
as  national  officers  will  carry  out  well  the  work  that  you  entrust  to 
them. 

To  carry  it  out,  it  must  be  supported.  There  must  be  a  fund,  and 
here  is  where  we  come  to  that  question.  What  that  fund  shall  be,  how 
much  it  shall  be,  how  little  it  shall  be.  That  is  to  be  measured  by  your 
idea  of  what  a  national  organization  to  represent  the  great  mining 
interests  of  the  United  States  shall  have.  You  can  make  it  large  or 
small,  according  to  what  you  think  it  should  do.  To  do  that,  in  the 
first  place,  our  primary  fund  will  be  obtained  by  the  personal  contribu- 
tion of  the  members  of  the  American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers, 
the  members  of  the  American  Mining  Congress  and  others,  and  there 
will  come  to  you  in  due  course  a  small  blank  with  the  announcement  on 
it  that  we  want  your  personal  subscription  for  whatever  you  think  you 
should  give.  Now,  how  much  will  the  people  give?  Everybody  will  give 
something.  Now,  how  much?  I  can't  give  you  any  tip  as  to  how  much 
you  should  give.  This  matter  is  in  your  hands,  to  make  this  association 
large  or  small,  as  you  please,  but  in  measuring  your  subscriptions,  of 
course,  you  must  think  of  the  many  calls  that  are  made  on  you  in 
other  directions  and  as  to  that  matter  you  must  think  of  what  it  means 
to  you,  perhaps  a  slight  deprivation  of  a  few  dinner  parties  and  a  few 
theatre  parties,  and  then  you  will  be  as  well  off  as  you  were  before. 
That  is  all  that  is  necessary  in  this  subscription,  but  in  giving,  in  making 
up  your  mind  as  to  what  you  should  give,  I  ask  only  one  point  of  view 
and  that  is  to  do  just  as  Dr.  Holmes  would  have  done.  Dr.  Holmes 


AMERICAN    MINING     CONGRESS  43 

gave  all  the  money  he  had  and  he  gave  his  life  for  this  kind  of  work 
to  which  you  are  giving  and  you  are  asked  to  give  such  money  as  you 
feel  the  cause  worth.  Think  of  what  he  would  have  done  under  the 
same  circumstances. 

There  is  another  part  of  the  fund  which  will  follow  this.  We  will 
have  three  kinds  of  subscriptions,  from  the  miners,  from  you  pro- 
fessional men  and  operators  as  individuals  and  as  an  investment  in 
increasing  safety  the  mining  companies  of  the  United  States,  the  metal- 
lurgical companies  and  chemical  industries  will  be  asked  to  give.  A 
careful  canvass  of  that  matter  has  shown  that  it  is  wise  for  us  to  give 
ourselves  to  this  fund;  then  on  the  basis  of  that  will  the  operators  as 
companies  aid  this  work.  If  it  is  going  to  be  large,  their  subscriptions 
will  be  large.  Therefore,  we  leave  the  matter  with  you,  with  the  full 
belief  that  this  Mining  Congress  will  by  this  means  give  as  great  a 
gain,  as  great  a  benefit,  will  have  as  big  a  monument  to  itself  as  it  would 
get  in  any  other  way. 

I  thank  you.     (Applause.) 

CHAIRMAN  TALMAGE:  The  subject  of  Dr.  Day's  report  is  one 
I  am  sure  that  will  appeal  to  the  deep  interests  of  all  of  us.  What  is 
your  wish  as  to  the  disposal  of  this  report? 

MR.  RICE:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  move  you  that  this  report  be  ac- 
cepted. 

DR.  E.  W.  PARKER:     I  second  the  motion. 

CHAIRMAN  TALMAGE:  It  is  moved  and  seconded  that  this 
report  be  accepted,  and  doubtless  that  means  adopted  and  made  the 
sense  of  the  Congress. 

I  think,  in  view  of  the  importance  of  this  subject,  opportunity 
should  be  given  for  discussion.  Remarks,  therefore,  bearing  upon  the 
report  of  this  Committee  will  be  in  order. 

DR.  DAY:  Mr.  Chairman,  may  I  add  one  word  to  what  I  have 
already  inflicted  upon  you? 

CHAIRMAN   TALMAGE:      Certainly. 

DR.  DAY:  Possibly  there  is  a  little  confusion  arising  as  regards 
the  multiplicity  of  memorials  which  are  being  erected  to  Dr.  Holmes. 
In  the  first  place,  the  Bureau  of  Mines  is  preparing  a  tablet  for  the 
new  building  in  Pittsburgh  and  another  tablet  for  the  new  building 
in  Washington,  a  matter  largely  in  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  and -the 
intimate  friends  of  Dr.  Holmes.  Mr.  Callbreath,  with  his  usual 
indefatigable  energy,  has  prepared  a  volume  memorial  to  Dr.  Holmes 
to  which  many  of  you  have  contributed.  Then  comes  the  final  and  the 
permanent  memorial  in  the  form  of  this  association.  I  hope  the  dis- 
tinction of  these  three  will  be  clear. 

CHAIRMAN  TALMAGE:  Mr.  Callbreath,  may  we  hear  from 
you  on  this  subject? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen:  I 
am  glad  that  Dr.  Day  has  pointed  out  to  you  the  distinction  between  the 
different  efforts  which  have  been  made  in  recognition  of  the  life  work 
of  Dr.  Holmes.  The  effort  to  create  a  memorial  volume  is  a  trifling 
affair.  It  is  a  matter  of  sentiment  and  has  no  far-reaching  effect  other 
than  that  we  may  make  a  record  of  the  sentiments  of  a  few  of  his 
closest  friends  and  those  who  were  able  to  attend  the  memorial 
services  at  San  Francisco  last  year.  I  had  hoped  that  volume  would  be 
ready  this  morning.  Its  publication  is  rather  an  elaborate  work.  Its 
publication  was  made  possible  by  the  generous  subscription  of  a  few  of 
the  friends  of  Dr.  Holmes,  but  has  cost  perhaps  a  hundred  or  two  hun- 
dred dollars  more  than  the  contributions  have  amounted  to.  The  book 
will  be  bound  in  leather  with  the  name  of  Dr.  Holmes  upon  the 
front  cover  in  gold.  It  will  have  an  insert  with  a  photograph  of  Dr. 
Holmes.  It  will  have  in  the  center  a  photo-engraving  of  those  who  were 
present  at  the  San  Francisco  service  last  year.  It  is  a  handsome  volume 
and  we  think  in  order  to  make  up  the  cost  that  we  should  ask  those 
who  care  to  have  a  copy  of  the  volume  to  contribute  something  toward 


44  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

the  cost  of  it.  The  subscriber  who  wants  to  have  his  name  in  gold  on 
the  front  of  the  copy,  bound  in  leather,  can  have  it  for  six  dollars;  in 
leather  without  gold  lettering  five  dollars;  and  bound  in  cloth  with  gold 
lettering  four  dollars;  and  bound  in  cloth  without  lettering  three  dollars. 
The  principal  public  libraries  will  be  supplied  with  copies  of  this  volume 
without  charge. 

The  great  work  which  we  hope  may  be  accomplished  through  the 
new  Joseph  A.  Holmes  Safety  Association  is  not  to  pay  tribute  to  Dr. 
Holmes.  Dr.  Holmes'  work  is  finished.  It1  speaks  for  itself.  But  in  order 
to  make  effective  that  work  to  which  he  devoted  his  life  we  believe  that 
the  work  should  be  carried  on  continuously  and  that  in  order  to  do  that 
there  should  be  an  association  through  which  effort  may  be  made  to 
bring  home  to  every  individual  in  the  country  and  particularly  to  those 
interested  in  the  mining  industry  that  safety  in  mining  operations  is  a 
matter  of  vital  importance.  This  question  appeals  to  every  humanitarian 
instinct  within  our  hearts.  We  must  not,  however,  entirely  forget  that 
this  has  an  industrial  side.  If  you  should  undertake  to  compute  the  dif- 
ference between  the  number  of  lives  which  were  being  lost  in  coal 
mining  alone  in  this  country  at  the  time  this  work  was  begun  and  the 
saving  up  to  this  time  and  put  that  in  dollars  and  cents  at  the  lowest 
price  which  any  jury  will  fix  as  the  value  of  a  man's  life,  $5,000,  and  put 
that  money  at  interest  you  would  have  enough  to  support  the  work  of 
the  Joseph  A.  Holmes  Safety  Association  a  thousand  times  over. 
(Applause.)  Now,  it  is  to  insure  this  work  that  this  Association  has  been 
formed  and  I  feel  that  the  Mining  Congress  should  exert  every  possible 
effort  to  forward  that  work,  not  only  in  raising  the  fund  but  in  super- 
vising and  following  up  that  work  in  order  that  the  value  of  its  effort 
should  be  brought  home  to  every  miner  and  to  every  operator,  to  every- 
one who  has  anything  to  do  with  the  business  of  mining,  appealing  to 
the  humanitarian  side  first,  but  if  that  fails  let  us  appeal  to  the  industrial 
side  and  show  that  this  is  an  economic  question,  show  that  it  makes  for 
efficiency,  that  it  makes  for  cheaper  production,  that  it  makes  for  every- 
thing for  which  the  American  Mining  Congress  stands.  I  hope  that 
everyone  of  you  will  put  your  shoulder  to  the  wheel  and  back  up  this 
Association  and  push  it  just  as  far  as  you  possibly  can. 

Mr.  H.  M.  WILSON:  Mr.  Chairman,  it  is  a  fact  that  two  of  the 
great  relative  purposes  and  forms  of  the  Joseph  A.  Holmes  Memorials 
have  been  fully  and  ably  stated  here  and  will  thus  go  before  all  of  the 
members  of  the  Congress  through  your  transactions.  It  seems  to  me 
almost  essential  that  you  should  have  an  equally  full  statement  regard- 
ing the  third,  of  which  Dr.  Day  spoke,  the  memorial  tablets  to  be 
erected  by  the  Bureau  of  Mines.  I,  therefore,  suggest  that  you  call  upon 
the  Director  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  who  is  here  present,  to  tell  those 
members  assembled  here  and  delegates,  and  those  who  will  receive  your 
transactions,  something  of  the  wonderful  architectural  sentiments  which 
those  tables  are  to  present  to  the  citizens  of  Washington  and  Pittsburgh. 
It  is  not  inappropriate  to  say  that  those  architectural  monuments  were 
in  a  large  measure  conceived  by  Dr.  Holmes  himself. 

CHAIRMAN  TALMAGE:  I  am  sure  the  Congress  will  feel  highly 
favored  if  Mr.  Manning  will  act  upon  the  suggestion  and  request  of  Mr. 
Wilson. 

MR.  MANNING:  Mr.  Chairman,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  it  will  be 
of  interest,  I  think,  to  the  members  of  the  American  Mining  Congress 
to  know  a  little  something  of  the  history  of  this  new  building  in  which 
it  is  proposed  to  place  this  tablet  in  honor  of  Dr.  Holmes.  It  is  not 
necessary  for  me  to  tell  you  what  Dr.  Holmes  accomplished  in  connec- 
tion with  this  work  for  the  Bureau  of  Mines.  When  he  was  looking  for 
a  site  for  the  buildings  in  Pittsburgh,  it  happened  that  the  grounds  which 
we  now  occupy,  some  twenty  odd  acres,  were  owned  by  the  War 
Department.  After  several  ineffectual  attempts  to  get  Congress  to 
authorize  an  exchange  of  that  property  for  property  contiguous  to  the 
Carnegie  Technical  School,  Dr.  Holmes  went  to  the  President  of  the 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  45 

United  States  and  asked  him  to  lend  his  influence  toward  effecting  that 
exchange.  After  President  Taft  had  taken  up  the  matter  with  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Interior  and  the  War  Department  and  had  been  unsuccessful, 
upon  the  further  insistence  of  Dr.  Holmes,  President  Taft  again  called 
the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  and  the  Secretary  of  War  into  conference, 
and  said,  "You  might  as  well  give  this  land  to  Holmes.  He  will  get  it 
sooner  or  later."  A  short  time  later  a  transfer  of  thirteen  acres  of  the 
property  owned  by  the  War  Department  was  authorized  for  an  equiva- 
lent tract  of  ground  contiguous  to  the  Carnegie  Technical  School.  Dr. 
Holmes  did  not  stop  his  efforts  there.  After  he  had  secured  the  grounds 
he  wanted  the  buildings.  Before  getting  those  buildings  he  went  to  the 
Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  and  asked  for  an  appropriation  to  prepare 
the  architectural  designs  for  these  buildings.  The  State  Legislature  of 
Pennsylvania  responded  very  cheerfully  and  appropriated  $25,000  to 
prepare  the  designs  and  appointed  a  commission  and  paid  the  expenses 
of  the  architect.  Dr.  Holmes  then  went  to  Congress  and  that  body 
appropriated  $500,000  for  the  buildings.  Considering  the  valuation  of  the 
ground  and  the  buildings  themselves,  the  property  which  will  be  the 
home  of  the  Pittsburgh  station  will  have  a  value  of  about  a  million 
dollars. 

After  Dr.  Holmes'  untimely  death,  the  idea  was  conceived  by  his 
associates  in  the  Bureau  of  Mines  at  Pittsburgh  that  they  should  erect 
a  tablet  to  his  memory.  Notices  were  sent  out  and  opportunity  given  to 
every  employe  and  official  to  subscribe  his  mite  for  this  purpose.  The 
total  of  that  subscription  will  be  in  the  neighborhood  of  $800,  which  is 
to  be  the  cost  of  the  tablet  to  be  erected  there. 

Congress  some  years  ago  appropriated  money  for  a  building  tp 
house  in  part  the  Bureau  of  Mines  in  Washington,  taking  in  several 
other  branches  of  the  Interior  Department.  And  while  the  idea  for  a 
tablet  originated  in  Pittsburgh,  we  felt  that  there  should  also  be  a  tablet 
in  the  new  building  in  Washington,  and  we  endeavored  to  raise  a 
similar  amount  for  that  purpose.  To  that  end  letters  were  sent  out  to 
all  employes  of  the  Bureau,  including  the  consulting  engineers  who  are 
not  continuously  in  the  employ  of  the  bureau.  There  is  nothing  more 
that  I  can  add. 

Gentlemen,  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  speak  of  Dr.  Holmes  and 
his  work  in  connection  with  the  Bureau  of  Mines.  His  great  efforts  are 
known  to  all  of  you.  I  feel  that  it  is  my  duty  to  make  my  report  to  the 
American  Mining  Congress  from  time  to  time  of  the  work  that  has 
been  done  since  his  death,  which  I  will  do  when  I  deliver  the  address 
I  am  scheduled  to  make.  I  hope  that  Dr.  Holmes'  work  may  succeed 
and  serve  the  purpose  of  the  Mining  Congress.  We  need  the  entire 
industry  back  of  us  and  I  am  quite  sure  we  have  it.  Constructive 
criticism  of  the  work  is  appreciated.  It  is  the  man  who  tries  to  destroy 
the  ideal  that  we  are  building  up  that  I  do  not  want  to  come  in  contact 
with,  but  criticism  in  a  constructive  way,  will  always  be  appreciated. 

I  want  to  thank  you  for  this  opportunity  of  saying  something  about 
the  memorial  to  be  erected  to  Dr.  Holmes.  I  want  to  ask  in  behalf  of 
the  Association  of  which  I  am  President,  that  you  give  it  your  support 
and  make  it  worth  while  as  an  association  of  this  kind. 

I  thank  you.    (Applause.) 

CHAIRMAN  TALMAGE:  Are  there  further  remarks  or  are  you 
ready  for  the  question? 

MR.  HENRY  I.  SEEMAN  (Colorado):  I  want  to  ask  what  this 
embraces,  the  coal  mining  section  or  all  of  the  mining  industry,  metal 
mining  as  well  as  the  oil  section? 

DR.  DAY:  All  mining,  coal  mining,  metal  mining,  metallurgy  and 
the  chemical  industries. 

MR.  SEEMAN:    I  thank  you  very  much. 

DR.  DAY:    Mining  in  its  most  general  sense. 


46  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

CHAIRMAN  TALMAGE:  It  is  moved  and  seconded  that  the 
report  made  by  Dr.  Day  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  be  adopted. 

Upon  the  motion  being  put  by  the  Chairman  it  was  carried 
unanimously. 

CHAIRMAN  TALMAGE:  The  report  is  adopted.  At  the  opening 
session  of  this  Congress  we  were  impressed  with  the  statements  made 
that  among  our  principal  topics  to  be  considered  at  the  several  general 
sessions  and  the  sectional  meetings  the  subject  of  efficiency  and  the 
subject  of  co-operation  would  receive  adequate  treatment.  The  par- 
ticular subject  for  this  session,  to  the  elucidation  of  which  the  several 
papers  arranged  are  all  directed,  combines  these  two  important  topics 
and,  as  you  read  upon  your  program,  it  is  expressed  as  follows: 
"Efficiency  in  Mining  Operations  Through  Co-operation."  We  are, 
therefore,  confronted  this  morning  with  a  splendid  correlation  of  the 
main  topics,  and  the  first  paper  under  this  general  heading  is  entitled, 
"Federal  Aid  to  Mining  Efficiency,"  which  is  to  be  delivered  by  the 
gentleman  to  whom  we  just  had  the  pleasure  of  listening,  Mr.  Van  H. 
Manning,  director  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines.  He  is  not  to  be  introduced 
but  simply  announced.  (Applause.) 

Mr.  Manning's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  339  of  this  report. 

CHAIRMAN  TALMAGE:  The  discussion  of  this  interesting  and 
instructive  paper  is  now  in  order. 

MR.  W.  R.  DE  ARMIT:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  move  you  that  this 
report  be  accepted. 

CHAIRMAN  TALMAGE:  This  was  not  in  the  nature  of  a  report 
from  a  committee  but  is  a  paper  presented  according  to  program.  There- 
fore, it  will  be  incorporated  in  the  proceedings  without  motion. 

A  related  subject,  "Co-operation,  Conservation  and  Competition  in 
Coal,"  by  E.  W.  Parker,  of  Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania.  Mr.  Parker  is 
Secretary  of  the  Anthracite  Bureau  of  Statistics.  Mr.  Parker.  (Applause.) 

Mr.  Parker's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  241  of  this  report. 

CHAIRMAN  TALMAGE:  I  am  sure  we  all  consider  ourselves 
indebted  to  Mr.  Parker  for  this  very  impartial  and  interesting  treatment 
of  a  very  important  subject  and  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  thanks 
are  due  to  our  Secretary  for  his  several  letters,  as  a  result  of  which  the 
paper  was  made  more  comprehensive  than  it  otherwise  would  have  been. 

The  program  this  morning  provides  for  a  paper  dealing  with  the 
subject  of  the  Sherman  law  and  its  relation  to  mining,  which  should  have 
been  presented  by  Mr.  Glenn  W.  Traer  of  this  city. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  I  would  say,  Mr.  Chairman,  that 
Mr.  Traer  telephoned  me  just  before  the  meeting  that  because  of  a 
severe  cold  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  come  to  the  meeting.  His 
paper  has  been  printed  in  pamphlet  form.  Those  of  you  who  desire  it 
can  get  it  and  it  will  be  printed  in  the  proceedings  later. 

I  might  also  say  that  Mr.  H.  E.  Willard  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  who 
was  to  speak  on  the  subject  of  "Co-operation  in  the  Mining  Industry," 
wired  me  yesterday  morning  that  a  matter  had  come  up  which  prevented 
him  from  being  present.  I  wired  back  to  him  that  he  had  no  business 
more  important  than  being  here,  but  my  wire  did  not  seem  to  have  the 
proper  pulling  power.  His  paper  will  be  in  the  proceedings. 

CHAIRMAN  TALMAGE:  Shall  it  be  understood  that  those  papers 
are  read  by  title  and  they  will  be  published  in  the  printed  transactions? 
If  there  is  no  objection  that  will  be  the  understanding. 

The  introduction  of  resolutions  is  now  in  order. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  I  have  resolution  number  4,  intro- 
duced by  Thomas  L.  Lewis;  resolution  number  5,  introduced  by  Frank 
H.  Short;  resolution  number  6,  introduced  by  James  N.  Gillett,  and 
resolution  number  7,  introduced  by  Carl  Scholz. 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  47 

Resolution  No.  4,  Introduced  by  T.  L.  Lewis  of  West  Virginia. 

Whereas,  In  mine  safety  work,  one  of  the  most  serious  prob- 
lems encountered  is  the  lack  of  personal  co-operation  on  the  part 
of  some  operators  and  also  on  the  part  of  some  miners,  thus  pre- 
venting the  success  of  the  work  of  promoting  mine  safety  and 
reducing  the  number  of  accidents  and  fatalities  in  the  mining  indus- 
try; and 

Whereas,  While  much  has  been  accomplished,  it  is  believed  to 
be  vastly  important  that  every  possible  agency  looking  to  greater 
safety  in  mining  operation  shall  be  enlisted  and  that  efforts  should 
be  made  to  secure  the  active  co-operation  of  those  agencies  which 
thus  far  have  not  voluntarily  given  their  best  support  to  the 
movement.  Now,  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  seven  be  appointed,  which  shall 
investigate  this  important  subject  and  report  its  findings  and  recom- 
mendations to  the  next  annual  convention  of  the  American  Mining 
Congress. 

Resolution  No.  5,  Introduced  by  Frank  H.  Short  of  California. 

Whereas,  The  mining  industry  in  common  with  all  industries  is 
interested  in  the  prompt,  free  and  economic  development  of  hydro- 
electric power.  This  power  whether  developed  on  or  off  the  public 
land  should  be  subject  to  regulation  by  the  states  as  are  all  public 
utilities  and  service,  not  only  as  to  rates,  but  as  to  service,  so  that 
there  can  exist  no  monopolization  of  or  connected  with  this  essen- 
tial public  use;  and 

Whereas,  Any  division  of  authority  in  the  regulation  of  the 
different  kinds  of  public  service  within  a  state  is  bound  to  breed 
confusion,  dissatisfaction  and  result  in  injury  to  the  public  service 
and  public  welfare;  and 

Whereas,  Many  of  the  states  now  have  in  operation  adequate  and 
effective  laws  under  which  the  development,  distribution  and  sale 
of  electric  power  and  other  public  service  is  controlled  and  effectively 
regulated.  Therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  all  states  not  having  laws  regulating  and 
controlling  its  public  services  shall  promptly  enact  and  put  in  force 
similar  laws  properly  safeguarding  the  rights  of  the  public  and  the 
consumer;  and  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  Government  of  the  United  States  shall  not 
in  states,  wherein  there  are  public  lands,  undertake  to  impose  any 
charges  upon  the  development  and  enjoyment  of  this  or  any  other 
industry  or  public  use;  nor  should  it  in  any  manner  interfere  with 
the  complete,  free,  unrestrained  and  economic  development  of  any 
of  the  industries  of  such  states  to  the  end  that  all  such  industries 
shall  be  freely  and  economically  developed  and  operated  under  the 
laws  of  the  respective  states  wherein  they  are  situated  and  under 
the  general  applicable  laws  of  the  United  States  operating  equally 
and  uniformly  within  the  public  land  states  and  all  other  states. 

Resolution  No.  6,  Introduced  by  J.  N.  Gillett  of  California. 

Whereas,  This  Congress  is  deeply  interested  in  the  just  opera- 
tion of  the  mining  laws;  and 

Whereas,  As  a  result  of  certain  land  withdrawal  orders  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States  and  of  legislation  by  Congress, 
many  persons  who  at  great  expense,  and,  as  adjudged  by  the  courts, 
in  good  faith  have  developed  the  oil  lands  of  the  country,  are 
threatened  with  ejectment  and  forfeiture  of  their  developed  lands 
and  their  investments.  Therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  in  all  such  cases  we  urge  prompt  and  appropriate 
legislation  relief  so  that  those  who  have  in  good  faith  developed 
such  lands  shall  be  protected. 


48  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

Resolution  No.  7,  Introduced  by*  Carl  Scholz  of  Illinois. 

Whereas,  The  information  which  the  Federal  Trade  Com- 
mission has  acquired  within  the  time  of  its  existence,  has  placed  it 
in  possession  of  data  and  other  information  on  costs  which  will 
enable  it  to  do  much  toward  the  improvement  in  conditions  of  the 
employes,  aid  the  mine  owners  and  at  the  same  time  subserve  the 
interests  of  the  public;  and 

Whereas,  The  American  Mining  Congress  recognizes  the  many 
difficulties  which  confront  the  mining  industry  and  believes  the 
conservation  of  life  and  mineral  resources  are  vital  to  the  welfare 
of  the  nation.  Therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  we  recommend  that  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States    be   requested   to    enact    such    legislation    as    will    require   all 
mine  owners  and  operators  to  adopt  uniform  accounting  methods 
under  the  direction  of  the  Federal  Trade  Commission. 
CHAIRMAN   TALMAGE:     These   resolutions  will  be   referred   to 

the  Resolutions  Committee  without  debate  at  this  time. 

According  to  the  program,  when  we  adjourn  we  adjourn  to  meet 

again  in  regular  session  tomorrow  afternoon. 

Is    there    any    further    business    to    come    before    this    meeting?      If 

not,  we  will  stand  adjourned  to  meet  again  tomorrow  afternoon. 

THURSDAY,  NOVEMBER  16,  1916. 
General  (Afternoon)  Session. 

Mr.  Samuel  A.  Taylor,  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  presided  as  chair- 
man and  called  the  meeting  to  order  at  2:20  o'clock. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  The  meeting  will  please  come  to  order. 
This  is  the  last  meeting  of  the  general  sessions  of  the  Congress.  We 
have  quite  a  large  program  for  the  afternoon.  Some  of  the  gentlemen 
on  the  program,  I  understand,  are  not  here,  so  that  the  first  number  on 
the  program  is  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  Forest  Relations,  by 
Mr.  Carney  Hartley.  Is  Mr.  Hartley  in  the  room? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  Hartley  is  not  here,  Mr. 
Chairman,  but  we  have  the  report  of  his  committee.  This  report  has 
been  printed  and  is  ready  for  distribution  to  the  members.  I  would 
suggest  that  it  be  read  by  title  and  be  included  in  the  proceedings. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:   It  is  so  ordered. 

This  report  of  the  Forestry  Committee  will  be  found  on  page  261 
of  this  report. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  The  next  is  an  address  on  "Conservation; 
Its  Purpose  and  Effect,"  by  Hon.  F.  H.  Short,  of  Fresno,  California. 
Mr.  Short.  (Applause.) 

Judge  Snort's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  631  of  this  report. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  I  am  sure  we  are  all  very  appreciative  of 
the  address  that  Judge  Short  has  delivered  on  conservation.  I  thank 
him  very  much  for  the  efforts  that  he  has  put  forth  for  us  in  that  behalf. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  The  next  paper  on  the  program  is  by  Dr. 
Purdue,  the  State  Geologist  of  Tennessee,  on  the  subject,  "The  State 
Geologist  and  Conservation." 

Dr.  Purdue's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  193  of  this  report. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  I  think  the  clear  and  concise  way  that 
Dr.  Purdue  has  presented  this  subject  will  put  him  in  the  class  of  those 
geologists  who  can  serve  a  State. 

We  are  going  to  change  the  program  just  a  little  here  and  ask  that 
the  Resolutions  Committee  make  a  partial  report  at  this  time,  as  there 
are  a  ^  number  of  resolutions  which  may  need  some  discussion.  It  is 
more  important  that  the  resolutions  be  thoroughly  discussed,  if  need  be, 
than  to  hear  the  remainder  of  the  papers.  Mr.  Parker,  the  Chairman  of 
the  Resolutions  Committee,  I  understand,  will  be  here  in  a  moment.  There 
is  a  subject  here  which  is  open  for  general  discussion  by  which  we  can 
occupy  the  time  until  Mr.  Parker  comes  in.  We  can  be  considering  the 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  49 

subject  of  "Waste  in  the  Mining  Industry — in  Mining,  in  Distribution, 
and  in  Use — and  the  Relation  of  These  Wastes  to  the  Operator,  the 
Consumer  and  the  Public."  Now,  if  there  is  any  person  present  who 
desires  to  speak  to  this  question  we  will  be  glad  to  hear  from  them. 

I  might  say  a  word  or  two  while  we  are  waiting  for  Mr.  Parker, 
In  the  district  from  which  I  come,  the  Pittsburgh  district,  in  the 
mining  of  coal  the  statement  has  been  frequently  made  that  the  loss  of 
coal  in  the  Pittsburgh  seam  probably  is  fifty  per  cent.  When  this 
statement  is  made  the  operators  in  that  district  usually  make  objection 
to  it.  The  difference  arises  from  the  fact  that  a  large  part  of  the  seam 
is  not  merchantable.  The  upper  portion  of  the  seam  is  filled  with 
laminations,  small  seams  of  slate  and  impurities  that  under  present 
conditions  render  it  impossible  of  mining  and  preparing  in  a  way  that 
would  make  the  coal  marketable  at  a  price  that  would  be  secured  for  it. 
We  have  a  dividing  line,  what  is  called  or  known  as  draw  slate,  in  many 
cases  about  the  middle  of  the  seam,  in  some  others  near  the  top  of 
the  seam,  running  in  some  sections  from  nothing  until  in  other  places 
it  runs  in  the  middle  of  the  seam.  So  that  when  the  entire  district  is 
covered  and  you  speak  of  the  recovery  of  the  coal  from  what  is  known 
as  the  Pittsburgh  seam  probably  fifty  per  cent  of  the  entire  seam  is  all 
that  can  be  recovered.  While  if  you  speak  of  the  recovery  as  of  that 
part  of  the  seam  which  is  merchantable  and  minable  the  recovery  would 
be  well  toward  ninety  per  cent.  This  is  not  a  waste  that  would  neces- 
sarily accrue  under  all  conditions.  The  Bureau  of  Mines  has  made  some 
tests  in  connection  with  this  upper  or  wasted  portion  of  the  seam  and 
they  have  shown  that  the  heat  units  contained  in  that  portion  of  the 
seam  are  almost  identical  with  those  of  the  main  seam,  that  is  the  portion 
of  the  seam  which  is  marketed  at  the  present  time.  But,  on  account  of 
those  impurities  and  on  account  of  the  cost  of  taking  them  out,  the  cost 
of  production  is  rendered  so  high  and  would  be  so  high  on  the  entire 
seam  that  it  would  be  almost  impossible  to  sell  it  and  make  a  profit 
above  the  cost  of  production.  Consequently,  it  is  wasted.  The  Bureau 
of  Mines  has  also  determined  and  shown  by  tests  that  this  same  coal 
which  is  wasted,  if  used  in  a  gas  producer,  will  produce  almost  as  much 
gas  as  will  the  main  body  of  the  seam. 

Conservation  as  it  is  taught  is  not  right  when  conditions  of  that 
kind  are  permitted  or  are  possible,  and  some  condition  should  exist, 
some  remedy  should  be  worked  out  whereby  the  future  generations 
could  have  that  coal.  If  the  present  conditions  continue  there  will  come 
a  time  when  Pittsburgh  and  vicinity  will  have  to  ship  its  fuel  in  from 
other  portions  of  the  country.  In  the  years  gone  by  when  Pittsburgh 
achieved  its  great  name  as  "The  Workshop  of  the  World,"  it  was  largely 
because  fuel  was  cheap  and  they  had  it  practically  at  their  door.  If  this 
waste  continues  to  exist  there  may  come  a  time  in  the  not  distant 
future  when  this  waste  will  mean  added  freight  rates  on  account  of 
shipping  coal  in  that  district.  I  mention  this  not  so  much  to  fill  in  the 
time  as  to  bring  to  your  attention  such  conditions.  These  conditions  do 
not  exist  alone  in  the  Pittsburgh  district.  I  have  mentioned  the  Pitts- 
burgh district  because  that  is  the  one  with  which  I  am  more  familiar.  I 
know  of  other  districts  where  conditions  similar  to  these  exist.  I  hope 
that  sometime  through  the  assistance  of  the  Trade  Commission  some 
sort  of  an  economic  policy  can  be  worked  out,  so  that  sufficient  profit 
can  be  given  to  those  who  operate  these  mines  as  to  pay  them  to  mine 
all  of  this  coal.  When  such  a  condition  as  that  arises  we  believe  we 
will  then  be  practicing  true  conservation  and  that  we  are  preaching  true 
conservation  in  advocating  something  of  that  sort. 

Is  there  any  other  person  who  desires  to  make  any  remarks  on  this 
subject? 

MR.  W.  J.  SNYDER:  Mr.  Chairman,  probably  in  the  most  vital 
sense  the  two  paramount  issues  before  the  American  people  are  con- 
servation and  preparedness.  Now,  to  my  way  of  thinking,  we  have  heard 
of  conservation  for  the  past  fifteen  years.  That  is  about  right,  isn't  it? 


50  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:    Just  about  that. 

MR.  SNYDER:  But  we  have  heard  of  preparedness  only  very  re- 
cently. Now,  the  first  time  I  heard  of  conservation  was  when  I  was  a 
school  boy  and  in  the  study  of  physics,  where  conservation  was  said  to 
be  a  correlation  of  forces.  I  believe  there  is  a  solution  right  in  the 
thought  that  we  talked  about  as  school  boys.  The  scientists  know  a 
great  deal  more  about  it  than  I  do,  but  what  I  am  trying  to  get  at  is — 
why  are  we  hesitating  concerning  a  practical  solution,  both  as  to  con- 
servation and  as  to  preparedness?  It  is  the  price.  It  is  the  cost.  Isn't 
that  the  fact? 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:    I  think  it  is. 

MR.  SNYDER:  We  have  heard  a  great  deal  about  conservation 
during  these  meetings.  I  have  been  reading  and  hearing  a  good  deal  in 
the  past  few  years  about  conservation.  I  know  some  of  it  has  been 
expounded  during  these  meetings  at  various  times.  I  have  heard  of  it 
with  reference  to  forestry  and  with  reference  to  the  timber  lands  of  the 
West.  I  have  heard  the  farmer  speak  of  it.  It  was  just  spoken  about 
here  regarding  the  waste  of  the  soil.  We  heard  Dr.  Purdue  here  talking 
about  the  conservation  of  timber  and  the  conservation  of  the  soil.  I 
have  heard  it  with  reference  to  coal.  I  think  it  is  necessary  for  us  to 
conserve  coal.  If  we  do  not,  it  is  going  to  cost  our  children  and  our 
grandchildren  immensely.  We  seem  to  be  living  as  though  we  were  the 
only  generation  and  that  we  were  going  to  pass  away  and  leave  no 
descendants.  Now,  some  of  us  have  children  and  some  of  us  have 
grandchildren,  and  if  we  are  at  all  concerned  in  the  future  of  our  own 
blood,  I  think  we  should  do  something  right  now  with  regard  to  the 
conservation  of  our  natural  resources.  I  think  that  conservation  and 
preparedness  are  related.  To  conserve  ourselves,  we  must  be  prepared, 
and  to  prepare  ourselves  we  must  conserve  ourselves.  All  things  along 
this  line  seem  to  be  interrelated.  As  school  boys  we  learned  that  con- 
servation was  a  correlation  of  forces.  Now,  how  can  we  apply  the 
correlation  of  forces  to  what  we  are  talking  about?  My  notion  is, 
paraphrasing  what  might  be  a  scientific  expression,  that  the  solution  lies 
in  the  correlation  of  industrial  forces,  social  forces  and  political  forces 
of  which  we  are  all  a  part.  Do  you  see  my  thought?  What  I  mean,  Mr. 
Chairman,  is  that  the  solution  of  this  conservation  program  about  which 
we  are  talking  and  discussing  and  hearing  so  much  about  in  these  United 
States  and  which  we  are  thinking  about,  and  which  we  ought  to  think 
about,  lies  in  the  correlation  of  social,  political  and  industrial  forces.  I 
am  sure  that  every  patriotic  American  believes  in  preparedness  in 
spite  of  the  Bryanistic  ideas.  But  we  don't  get  together.  We  allow 
politicians  to  go  along  in  their  own  way  and  that  is  why  we  do  not 
prepare.  The  chief  reason  is,  we  do  not  want  to  pay  the  cost.  I  am 
speaking  of  the  American  public.  If  we  expect  to  protect  our  blood,  as 
we  should  protect  it,  we  ought  to  be  willing  to  pay  the  cost.  We  ought 
to  be  just  as  interested  in  the  welfare  of  our  children  and  their  children 
and  their  grandchildren,  and  the  future  generation  to  come,  as  we  are 
in  our  own  welfare,  to  see  that  they  have  fuel  and  timber  and  a  fertile 
soil,  just  as  we  should  conserve  them  for  our  own  time.  If  we  are  made 
of  the  right  kind  of  stuff,  if  we  are  red  blooded  American  citizens,  we 
will  be  just  as  much  concerned  in  our  posterity  as  we  are  today  about 
our  own  conditions.  That  means  that  we  must  pay  the  price  and  the 
way  to  do  this  is  to  make  known  to  the  American  public  the  price  of 
conservation  and  the  cost  of  preparedness.  And  unless  we  are  willing 
to  meet  these  prices,  the  cost  of  these  things  that  we  are  talking  about, 
is  going  to  be  much  higher  in  the  future. 

As  to  the  percentage  of  the  coal  mined,  which  question  the  Chairman 
brought  up,  Mr.  Prendergast  asked  me  a  few  moments  ago  as  to  what 
percentage  we  conserve  in  Indiana.  I  said  about  sixty-five  per  cent. 
In  many  mines  located  in  the  Pittsburgh  district  I  understand  they  only 
conserve  fifty  per  cent.  I  heard  Mr.  Scholz  make  the  statement  here  at 
one  of  the  meetings  that  in  Germany  they  conserved  ninety  per  cent. 


AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS  51 

Some  of  you  know  the  exact  figures,  but  in  Germany  they  conserve  about 
ninety  per  cent.  Why  shouldn't  we  here  and  now  conserve  ninety  per 
cent  of  our  mineral  wealth,  of  our  soil  wealth?  What  is  going  to  be  the 
solution  of  this  new  conservation  thought  and  this  new  preparedness 
thought?  I  remember  the  problem,  the  idea  that  I  got,  but  which  I 
didn't  understand  as  a  boy,  that  conservation  is  a  correlation  of  forces. 
To  paraphrase,  it  would  be  the  correlation  of  forces  in  the  industrial, 
social  and  political  fields. 

That  is  why  I  think  that  these  discussions  and  such  conventions  are 
of  great  benefit.  There  should  be  a  great  many  more  of  them.  We 
should  get  these  discussions  and  this  thought  before  the  American 
people  so  that  they  shall  be  convinced,  in  order  that  they  will  pay  the 
price  that  will  enable  us  to  get  ninety  per  cent  of  the  coal  instead  of 
fifty,  sixty  or  sixty-five.  We  ought  to  get  ninety  or  a  hundred  per  cent 
or  as  nearly  as  possible  of  the  wealth  of  our  forests.  We  ought  to  get 
ninety  or  as  close  to  a  hundred  per  cent  as  is  practical  of  the  energy  in 
the  coal  and  the  water  power  in  this  country  of  ours.  These  things  mean 
much.  Conservation  and  preparedness  are  the  two,  great,  practical 
thoughts  before  the  American  people.  Their  solution  lies  in  the  corre- 
lation, in  the  conservation  and  the  preparing  of  our  social  and  our 
industrial  and  our  political  forces  and  not  letting  blind  prejudice  keep 
us  apart  with  reference  to  the  great  idea  of  preparedness.  Let  all  men 
set  aside  their  political  and  social  prejudices  and  meet  squarely  upon 
the  subject,  in  order  that  proper  conservation  may  be  carried  forward 
for  the  protection  of  the  generations  unborn.  (Applause.) 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  The  Secretary  has  an  announcement  to 
make. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  I  desire  to  announce  that  at  the 
meeting  of  the  members  last  night  the  following  members  were  elected 
as  Directors  to  serve  a  term  of  three  years:  Mr.  W.  J.  Richards  of 
Pennsylvania,  Mr.  M.  S.  Kemmerer  of  New  York,  Mr.  George  H.  Crosby 
of  Minnesota,  and  Mr.  Irving  T.  Snyder  of  Colorado.  At  the  Directors' 
meeting  held  this  morning  the  following  officers  were  elected:  President, 
Walter  Douglas;  First  Vice  President,  Charles  M.  Moderwell;  Second 
Vice  President,  George  H.  Crosby;  Third  Vice-President,  L.  A.  Fried- 
man. Executive  Committee,  Walter  Douglas,  Carl  Scholz  and  C.  M. 
Moderwell. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  We  will  now  suspend  the  discussion  be- 
fore the  house  and  take  up  the  report  of  the  Resolutions  Committee. 

MR.  E.  WT.  PARKER:  Gentlemen,  before  presenting  the  detailed 
report  of  the  Resolutions  Committee,  the  Chairman  would  like  to  express 
his  thanks  to  the  individual  members  of  that  Committee  for  the  earnest, 
conscientious  manner  in  which  they  have  tried  to  work  out  the  matters 
that  have  been  submitted  to  them.  It  has  been  a  great  pleasure  to  work 
with  the  members  of  that  Committee. 

Resolution  number  1,  introduced  by  Mr.  George  E.  Collins,  the 
Committee  begs  to  recommend  that  it  pass. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Do  you  desire  to  have  the  resolu- 
tion read,  Mr.  Chairman? 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:    Yes. 

Resolution   No.   1,   Introduced  by  George   E.   Collins   of  Colorado 

(as  Amended  by  Committee). 
"Whereas,  The  Federal  Income  Tax  Law,  as  it  applies  to  the 

output  of  mines,  has  been  so  construed  by  the  International  Revenue 

Department  of  the  Federal  Government  as  to  work  a  grave  injustice 

to  operators,  in  that  the  deductions  allowed  from  the  gross  income 

on  account  of  depletion  are  not  based  on  the  gross  value  but  on 

what  is  virtually  the  net  value  of  the  ore  produced;  and 

Whereas,.  Congress  by  a  later  amendment  of  the  Act  has  shown 

its  intention  to  permit  more  conservative  deductions  to  be  made  on 


52  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

account  of  depletion  of  mines  than  was  permitted  under  the  Law  of 

1913.   Now,  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,    That    this    Congress    expresses    appreciation    of    the 

intent  of  the  Congress  to  be  fair  to  the  mining  industry.   And  be  it 

further 

Resolved,  That  this  question  be  referred  to  the  regular  Mining 

Taxation  Committee  of  this  Congress  for  investigation  and  recom- 
mendation.   And  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That   such   Committee   be  instructed  to   take   proper 

means   to   see   that   the   construction   placed   upon   this   law  by  the 

Internal  Revenue  Department  shall  be  in  accordance  with  the  plain 

intention  of  Congress  in  enacting  the  Act." 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  You  have  heard  the  resolution  read. 
What  is  your  wish? 

DR.  CHANCE:  I  move  the  adoption  of  the  report  of  the  Committee. 

MR.  W.  J.  KELLY:     I  second  the  motion. 

Upon  motion  being  put  by  the  Chairman  it  was  declared  carried. 

MR.  PARKER:  Gentlemen,  resolution  number  2,  introduced  by  the 
Denver  Civic  and  Commercial  Association.  It  is  recommended  by  the 
Committee  that  this  resolution  do  not  pass,  as  the  sense  of  this 
resolution  is  contained  in  much  better  and  simpler  form  in  another 
resolution,  which  will  be  known  as  number  10. 

I  move  the  adoption  of  the  Committee  report. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:    Is  there  a  second  to  the  motion? 

MR.  KELLY:  If  it  has  not  passed  or  met  the  approbation  of  the 
Committee,  I  move  that  it  be  laid  aside. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  And  the  report  of  the  Committee  adopted? 

MR.  KELLY:   The  report  of  the  Committee  adopted. 

MR.  H.  EVSMITH:    I  second  that  motion. 

The  motion  was  carried  unanimously. 

MR.  PARKER:  Resolution  number  3  is  also  from  the  Denver  Civic 
and  Commercial  Association  and  it  is  of  very  much  the  same  import  as 
other  resolutions  which  have  been  passed  by  the  Congress.  The  Com- 
mittee, therefore,  recommends  that  as  the  previous  sessions  of  the 
Mining  Congress  have  passed  resolutions  of  similar  import  that  we 
affirm  the  previous  recommendations. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  The  recommendation  of  the  Committee 
is  that  inasmuch  as  the  congress  has  passed  almost  a  similar  resolution 
to  this  that  they  reaffirm  their  former  action. 

MR.  EVSMITH:    I  move  that  the  report  be  adopted. 

MR.  KELLY:    I  second  it. 

The  motion  was  carried  unanimously. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:   The  next. 

MR.  E.  W.  PARKER:  The  next  resolution,  number  4,  presented  by 
T.  L.  Lewis,  is  recommended  with  a  slight  amendment.  Mr.  Lewis  in  his 
resolution  recommends  that  a  committee  be  designated  to  consider  this 
matter.  The  Resolutions  Committee  recommends  that  there  be  a  stand- 
ing committee,  which  there  does  not  seem  to  be  at  the  present  time,  in 
the  Congress  for  this  purpose.  It  seems  to  me  that  inasmuch  as  the 
work  of  the  Congress  is  very  largely  devoted  to  safety  and  welfare  in 
the  mining  industry,  there  should  be  a  committee  to  be  known  as  the 
Committee  on  Mine  Safety  and  Welfare,  to  be  appointed  by  the 
President.  The  Committee  recommends,  therefore,  the  adoption  of  the 
resolution,  with  the  amendment  that  this  be  made  a  standing  committee 
pf  seven  on  Mine  Safety  and  Welfare, 


AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS  53 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:     You  recommend  the  adoption  of 
the  resolutio.n  with  that  amendment? 
MR.  PARKER:    Yes. 
Resolution  No.  4,  Introduced  by  T.  L.  Lewis  of  West  Virginia. 

(As  Amended  by  the  Committee.) 

Whereas,  In  mine  safety  work,  one  of  the  most  serious  problems 
encountered  is  the  lack  of  personal  co-operation  on  the  part  of 
some  operators  and  also  on  the  part  of  some  miners,  thus  preventing 
the  success  of  the  work  of  promoting  mine  safety  and  reducing  the 
number  of  accidents  and  fatalities  in  the  mining  industry;  and 

Whereas,  While  much  has  been  accomplished,  it  is  believed  to 
be  vastly  important  that  every  possible  agency  looking  to  greater 
safety  in  mining  operations  shall  be  enlisted  a.nd  that  efforts  should 
be  made  to  secure  the  active  co-operation  of  those  agencies  which 
thus  far  have  not  voluntarily  given  their  best  support  to  the  move- 
ment. Now,  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  seven  be  appointed,  which  shall 
investigate  this  important  subject  and  report  its  findings  and  recom- 
mendations to  the  next  annual  convention  of  the  American  Mining 
Congress. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  The  amendment  is  to  the  effect 
that  the  committee  shall  be  made  a  permanent  committee  of  the  Con- 
gress. 

MR.  KELLY:  I  move,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee be  accepted. 

DR.  CHANCE:     I  second  the  motion. 
The  motion  was  unanimously  carried. 

MR.  PARKER:  Resolution  No.  5,  introduced  by  Hon.  Frank  H. 
Short  of  California.  The  Committee  has  considered  this  resolution  very 
carefully  a.nd  in  consultation  with  Mr.  Short  has  prepared  a  substitute 
for  the  original  resolution.  The  substitute,  which  has  been  accepted, 
after  final  amendment,  by  Judge  Short,  is  as  follows: 

Resolution  No.  5,  Introduced  by  Frank  H.  Short  of  California. 
(As  Amended  by  the  Committee.) 

Whereas,  Conflict  of  laws  and  jurisdiction  covering  the  develop- 
ment of  waterpowers  in  the  United  States  makes  the  use  of  vast 
undeveloped  waterpowers  commercially  difficult  if  not  impossible, 
be  it 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  the  American  Mining  Congress 
in  meeting  assembled  at  Chicago,  Illinois,  November  18,  1916,  that 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  of  America  and  the  several 
states  be  urged  to  enact  such  laws  and  regulations  as  shall  facilitate 
to  the  greatest  degree  and  safeguard  the  utilization  of  existing  unde- 
veloped waterpowers  for  industrial  and  domestic  purposes,  thus  con- 
serving and  permitting  the  developing  of  our  natural  resources;  and 
be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  such  laws  should  encourage  and  permit  develop- 
ment of  this  resource  and  all  of  the  other  resources  of  the  public 
land  states  without  discrimination  and  under  laws  and  conditions  in 
all  respects  as  favorable  as  those  applicable  in  the  states  having  no 
public  lands;  and  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  copies  of  this  resolution  be  transmitted  to  Con- 
gress, the  legislatures  of  the  states  and  the  Government  and  State 
Departments  having  present  jurisdiction. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  You  have  heard  the  Committee's  report; 
what  is  your  pleasure? 

MR.  KELLY:  I  move,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  the  report  of  the  Com- 
mittee be  accepted. 


54  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:    Is  that  motion  seconded? 

MRS.  EMILY  F.  WEEKES:     I  second  the  motion. 

The  motion  was  carried  unanimously. 

MR.  PARKER:  Resolution  No.  6,  introduced  by  Mr.  J.  N.  Gillett, 
is  recommended  for  adoption,  with  slight  amendments.  They  are  shown 
on  the  original  copy  in  ink. 

Resolution  No.  6,  Introduced  by  Mr.  J.  N.  Gillett  of  California. 

(As  Amended  by  the  Committee.) 

Whereas,  This  Congress  is  deeply  interested  in  the  just  opera- 
tjon  of  the  mining  laws;  a.nd 

Whereas,  As  a  result  of  certain  land  withdrawal  orders  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States  and  of  legislation  by  Congress,  many 
persons  who  at  great  expense  and,  as  adjudged  by  the  courts,  have 
in  good  faith  developed  the  oil  lands  of  the  country,  are  threatened 
with  ejectment  and  forfeiture  of  their  developed  lands  and  their 
investments;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  in  all  such  cases  we  urge  prompt  and  appropriate 
legislative  relief  so  that  those  who  have  in  good  faith  developed 
such  lands  shall  be  protected. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  Any  remarks?  What  is  your  pleasure 
with  regard  to  this  resolution? 

HON.  FRANK  H.  SHORT:     I  move  its  adoption. 
MR.  KELLY:    I  second  it. 
Motion  was  unanimously  carried. 

MR.  PARKER:  Mr.  Chairman,  resolution  No.  7,  introduced  by  Mr. 
Carl  Scholz,  has  been  amended  by  the  Committee.  The  amendments 
were  submitted  to  Mr.  Scholz  and  he  has  accepted  them.  It  is  recom- 
mended for  passage  in  its  amended  form. 

Resolution  No.  7,  Introduced  by  Carl  Scholz. 
(As  Amended  by  the  Committee.) 

Whereas,  The  information  which  the  Federal  Trade  Commis- 
sion has  acquired  within  the  time  of  its  existence  has  placed  it  in 
possession  of  data  and  other  information  on  costs  which  will  e.nable 
it  to  do  much  toward  the  improvement  in  conditions  of  the  em- 
ployees, aid  the  mine  owners  and  at  the  same  time  conserve  the 
interests  of  the  public;  and 

Whereas,  The  American  Mining  Congress,  recognizing  the  many 
difficulties  which  confront  the  mining  industry  and  believes  the  con- 
servation of  life  and  mineral  resources  are  vital  to  the  welfare  of 
the  nation;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  we  recommend  that  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  be  requested  to  e.nact  such  legislation  and  make  such  appro- 
priation as  will  enable  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  to  devise  uni- 
form systems  of  accounting  applicable  to  the  different  branches  of 
the  mining  industry. 
CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  You  have  heard  the  resolution;  what  is 

your  wish? 

MR.  SNYDER:     I  move  its  adoption. 

MR.  KELLY:     I  second  the  motion. 

The  motion  was  unanimously  carried. 

MR.    PARKER:      Resolution    No.   8,   originally   introduced   by   Mr. 

Shackleford,  on  behalf  of  the  Missouri  delegation,  has  been  withdrawn. 
Resolution  No.  9  is  a  resolution  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions 

based  upon  the  report  of  the  Uniform  Law  Section. 
The  Secretary  read  the  resolution. 
CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:    You  have  heard  the  resolution;  a  motion 

is  in  order. 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  55 

MR.  A.  J.  MOORSHEAD:  Mr.  Chairman,  the  resolution  as  you 
have  framed  it  there  would  not  be  satisfactory  to  the  organization  that 
I  represent.  They  framed  it  as  they  thought  it  should  be,  just  as  they 
want  it,  and  if  this  Congress  cannot  adopt  it  as  they  sent  it  in,  they  will 
withdraw  it,  Mr.  Chairman,  and  handle  it  themselves.  As  much  of  the 
Committee  as  is  here  now  has  no  authority  to  permit  any  changes  to  be 
made. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  I  believe  that  you  are  the  chairman  of 
that  association,  are  you  not? 

MR.  MOORSHEAD:     Yes. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  I  thi.nk  the  chairman  has  a  right  to 
withdraw  it  if  he  wishes  to. 

MR.  MOORSHEAD:  I  am  not  the  chairman,  but  I  am  the  presi- 
dent of  that  association,  became  the  president  of  it  when  it  was  made 
into  a  permanent  organization. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  The  president  of  the  organization  desires 
to  withdraw  his  resolution. 

MR.  MOORSHEAD:  We  want  the  whole  thing  withdrawn  in  its 
entirety,  and  we  w.ill  try  to  handle  it  ourselves,  Mr.  Chairman. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  Gentlemen,  the  matter  is  up  to  the 
convention,  whether  you  are  willing  to  have  this  resolution  passed  or  to 
permit  the  resolution  to  be  withdrawn  and  no  action  taken  upon  it. 
There  is  no  motion  before  the  house.  A  motion  will  be  considered. 

MR.  MOORSHEAD:  Mr.  Chairman,  we  come  in  here  as  an  entirely 
separate  body  from  the  American  Mining  Congress.  We  are  thankful 
for  the  privileges  and  the  opportunity  of  being  here  and  undertaking 
this  work  here.  It  was  expected  that  this  would  be  the  best  place 
possibly  to  do  it,  but  we,  being  an  entirely  separate  body  now,  feel  that 
if  this  Congress  can't  pass,  it  as  we  have  prepared  it,  -that  we  should 
have  the  privilege  of  withdrawing  it  in  its  entirety  and  that  the  Congress 
take  no  action  whatever. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  I  think,  Mr.  Moorshead,  that  you  have 
the  privilege  of  withdrawing  it.  The  question  of  whether  the  Congress 
would  take  action  on  such  a  matter  is  up  to  the  Congress.  If  they  wish 
to  pass  this  resolution  as  amended  and  as  drawn  by  their  own  Resolu- 
tions Committee,  I  think  it  would  be  perfectly  proper  for  them  to  do  so. 

MR.  KELLY:  Mr.  Chairman,  it  has  been  the  purpose,  as  I  under- 
stand it,  to  have  committees  here  appointed  to  draw  up  such  resolutions 
as  we  think  necessary  to  point  out  the  evils  which  we  desire  corrected. 
These  committees  are  composed  of  the  most  intelligent  men  in  the 
Congress.  This  Resolution  Committee  is  organized  for  the  purpose  of 
passing  on  these  resolutions  and  for  the  purpose  of  suggesting  to  the 
Congress  in  general  whether  or  not  they  are  recommended  for  passage. 
It  would  be  impossible  for  the  entire  body  to  give  the  time  and  thought 
necessary  to  each  of  these  matters.  Therefore,  this  power  has  been 
delegated  to  a  committee.  We  have  placed  this  power  in  their  hands. 
It  is  up  to  us  to  back  up  this  committee.  This  committee  is  a  part  of 
the  great  American  Mining  Congress  and,  therefore,  if  it  recommends 
that  this  resolution  be  passed  in  its  present  form  or  in  its  amended  form, 
I  think  it  is  up  to  the  Congress  to  act  according  to  the  suggestion  and 
recommendation  of  the  Committee.  Therefore,  I  would  move  that  this 
resolution  take  the  same  course  as  the  other  resolutions. 

MR.  MOORSHEAD:  Mr.  Chairman,  the  gentleman  does  not  un- 
derstand the  matter  at  all,  quite  evidently.  This  Congress  did  not 
appoint  any  committee  to  frame  this  resolution.  We  merely  came  in 
here  as  a  separate  body  authorized  by  the  different  states,  met  here  as 
a  separate  body,  and  only  by  courtesy,  Mr.  Chairman,  have  asked  you 
to  support  our  resolution.  If  you  cannot  do  it,  that  is  all  there  is  to  it. 
If  that  was  framed  by  a  committee  that  you  had  apopinted,  it  would  be 
an  entirely  different  thing,  but  this  Congress  had  nothing  whatever  to 
do  with  it. 


56  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

MR.  PARKER:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  do  not  think  that  the  Committee 
on  Resolutions  has  any  desire  to  pass  a  resolution  which  would  be  in 
disfavor  with  the  parties  in  question  who  have  presented  it  to  the  Com- 
mittee for  consideration.  If  it  is  the  desire  of  Mr.  Moorshead  as  chair- 
man of  that  committee  to  withdraw  the  resolution,  I  do  not  think  the 
Committee  on  Resolutions  will  enter  any  objection  to  the  action  of  the 
Congress  if  it  is  withdrawn. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:     There  is  no  motion  on  the  matter. 

MR.  MOORSHEAD:  I  would  like  to  have  it  withdrawn,  Mr. 
Chairman. 

DR.  CHANCE:  I  move  that  the  permission  to  withdraw  it  be 
extended. 

MR.  KELLY:  I  do  not  think  my  motion  was  seconded.  Conse- 
quently, if  it  meets  with  the  approbation  of  the  Chairman  of  this  con- 
ventio.n,  I  will  withdraw  my  motion. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  Motion  is  withdrawn.  What  was  your 
motion,  Dr.  Chance? 

DR.  CHANCE:     That  permission  to  withdraw  be  extended. 
.      CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:     Is  that  motion  seconded? 

MRS.  WEEKES:     I  second  that  motion. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  You  have  heard  the  motion.  The  motion 
is  that  permission  to  withdraw  be  granted  to  the  body  which  presented 
it.  Any  remarks? 

DR.  PURDUE:  To  make  a  motion,  I  think,  is  really  unnecessary. 
I  think  the  gentleman  has  a  right  to  withdraw  it  if  he  wishes  to,  but 
I  believe  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  have  not  withdrawn  their  mo- 
tion. I  believe  it  is  understood  that  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  have 
the  right  to  modify  resolutions  and  to  introduce  them  as  their  own 
resolutions,  if  they  wish  to  do  so. 

MR.  PARKER:  I  was  going  to  suggest,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  the 
Committee  would  be  glad  to  have  that  resolution  recommitted  to  them, 
its  own  resolution  recommitted  to  them  for  further  consideration. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  Before  this  motion  is  put,  I  think  the  whole 
matter  should  be  referred  back  to  the  Resolutions  Committee.  If  there 
is  no  objection,  we  will  take  that  course  with  it,  that  the  resolution  be 
referred  back  to  the  Resolutions  Committee. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  There  is  a  motion  before  the 
convention  which  has  not  been  acted  upon. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  I  realize  that  the  motion  has  not  been 
acted  upon,  but  the  purpose  of  the  motion  might  be  better  effected  by 
the  reference  back  to  the  Committee.  If  it  is  possible  for  the  Committee 
to  conform  to  the  desires  of  the  other  committee,  the  motion  could  then 
be  brought  back  for  our  consideration.  The  motion  then  would  be 
unnecessary.  For  that  reason  I  thought  it  would  be  wise  to  recommit 
without  putting  the  motion. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  Chairman,  your  Secretary  is 
charged  with  making  a  correct  record  of  this  meeting.  There  will  be 
doubt  as  to  what  to  do  with  a  resolution  which  has  been  offered  before 
the  Congress  and  referred  to  the  Committee  and  then  turned  in  with 
a  report  recommending  the  amended  resolution,  as  to  just  what  the 
record  should  show. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  My  idea  was  that  the  reference  might 
clarify  that,  that  they  might  desire  to  make  a  new  recommendation  and 
this  would  clarify  the  record,  to  take  the  place  of  the  one  that  has  just 
been  before  the  meeting. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  There  is  a  motion  made  and  sec- 
onded and  not  withdrawn.  I  was  going  to  suggest 

DR.  CHANCE:     Motion  withdrawn. 


AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS  57 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  This  matter  might  be  referred  to 
the  Committee  with  instructions  to  permit  them  to  withdraw  it  if  they 
see  fit. 

DR.  CHANCE:     I  make  a  motion  to  that  effect. 

MR.  KELLY:     I   second  it. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  You  have  heard  the  motion.  The  motion 
is  that  the  resolution  be  returned  to  the  Committee,  which  shall  have 
the  power  to  permit  the  body  to  withdraw  it. 

The  motion  was  carried  unanimously. 

MR.  PARKER:  The  next  resolution  is  one  that  the  Committee 
reported  as  embodying  the  contents  of  resolution  No.  2.  This  resolution 
is  introduced  by  Mr.  L.  W.  Trumbull  and  it  is  recommended  that  it  pass 
with  the  slight  amendment  made  to  it  by  the  Committee,  which  amend- 
ment has  been  accepted  by  Mr.  TrumDull  and  which  is  embodied  in 
the  copy. 

Resolution  No.  10,  Introduced  by  L.  W.  Trumbull. 
(As  Amended  by  the  Committee.) 

Whereas,  the  increasing  expense  of  courts,  schools,  asylums, 
hospitals  and  other  state  institutions,  the  building  and  maintenance 
of  roads,  and  the  administration  of  law  over  its  whole  area,  cannot 
be  supported  by  a  tax  levied  upon  less  than  one-half  of  the  area 
of  the  several  states  without  u.ndue  and  unfair  burden;  and 

Whereas,  the  policy  laid  down  by  Abraham  Lincoln  that  "The 
public  lands  are  an  impermanent  national  possession  held  in  trust 
for  the  maturing  states,"  and  the  liberal  administration  of  laws 
framed  to  make  such  policy  effective  have  worked  great  advantage 
to  the  West  and  to  the  nation;  and 

Whereas,  The  recent  restrictive  administration  of  the  public 
land  laws  and  the  efforts  to  make  more  difficult  the  acquisition  of 
title  to  mineral  and  other  public  lands  in  the  West  have  been  largely 
instrumental  in  preventing  settlement,  in  restricting  development 
and  hampering  the  progress  of  the  mining  industry  and  preventing 
it  from  keeping  pace  with  industrial  advancement  in  other  lines 
of  effort;  and 

Whereas,  The  proposed  policy  for  the  Federal  leasing  of  min- 
eral and  other  lands  will  keep  from  the  state  taxing  power  valuable 
property  which  should  contribute  to  the  support  of  state  institu- 
tions, will  prevent  investment,  restrict  development,  foster  monop- 
oly in  the  hands  of  those  who  have  already  acquired  title  to  the 
public  domain  and  make  necessary  a  System  of  Federal  control  and 
espionage  subversive  of  free  institutions,  expensive  of  administra- 
tion and  repugnant  to  the  feelings  of  a  free  people;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  we  urge  upon  the  Department  of  Interior  of 
the  United  States  a  more  liberal  administration  of  our  public  land 
laws,  that  we  disfavor  the  adoption  at  this  time  of  any  system  of 
Federal  leasing  of  mineral  and  other  lands,  or  the  enactment  by 
Congress  of  any  laws  relating  to  public  lands  having  a  tendency 
to  restrict  the  development  of  the  West. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  You  have  heard  the  resolution.  What 
is  your  desire? 

MR.  KELLY:     I  move  the  adoption  of  this,  because  it  is  one  of 
the  most  important  subjects  that  we  have  before  us.     It  is  of  the  great- 
est importance  to  our  country.     I  therefore  move  its  adoption. 
CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:     Motion  seconded? 
DR.  CHANCE:     I  second  it. 
The  motion  was  carried  unanimously. 

MR.  PARKER:  Mr.  Chairman,  Resolution  No.  11  has  not  received 
the  approval  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions. 


58  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

SECRETARY   CALLBREATH:     What  is  your  recommendation? 

MR.  PARKER:     We  recommend  that  it  do  not  pass. 

Secretary  Callbreath  read  Resolution  Number  11. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:     A  motion  is  in  order. 

MR.  MOORSHEAD:  Mr.  Chairman,  might  I  ask  upon  what  ground 
that  resolution  has  been  rejected? 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  Yes  sir;  that  question  is  perfectly  proper, 
if  you  want  to  ask  it. 

MR.  KELLY:  That  is  a  good  question  to  ask.  That  is  a  good 
resolution. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  Mr.  Parker,  the  question  has  been  asked 
if  the  Committee  would  desire  to  make  a.  statement  as  to  why  they  don't 
approve  of  that  resolution. 

MR.  PARKER:  Mr. '  Chairman,  it  seemed  as  if  it  was  a  matter 
of  placing  the  Mining  Congress  on  record  as  to  what  might  seem  to 
be  a  political  discussion.  There  was  no  particular  objection  to  the  fact 
that  the  Mine  Inspection  Departments  should  be  kept  out  of  politics. 
In  some  states-  they  approve  of  the  fact  that  the  Mine  Inspector  should 
be  elected  rather  than  appointed.  However,  the  final  paragraph  of  that 
resolution,  if  it  is  passed  at  this  time,  "because  of  recent  changes  in  ad- 
ministration," didn't  seem  to  strike  the  Committee  quite  favorably  and, 
therefore,  could  not  recommend  its  passage  to  the  Congress. 

Of  course,  the  committee  does  not  expect  at  any  time  that  what  it 
recommends  is  an  order  to  the  Congress.  If  the  Congress  desires  to 
pass  a  resolution  over  the  committee's  recommendation  it  certainly  has 
a  right  to  do  so. 

MR.  MOORSHEAD:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  not  the  framer  of  the 
resolution.  I  never  thought  of  it  or  had  anything  whatever  to  do  with 
it,  excepting  that  I  was  president  of  the  meeting  and  was  one  of  those 
that  approved  of  it.  I  don't  know  how  it  is  in  other  states,  but  I  do 
know  in  Illinois  that  with  the  change  of  every  administration  our  mine 
inspectors  are  removed  practically  in  a  body.  We  have  had  a  change 
from  the  Democratic  to  the  Republicam  in  the  State  of  Illinois  in  this 
last  election,  and  we  know  what  is  going  to  happen.  We  know,  further- 
more, that  in  an  industry  like  ours  that  nothing  could  be  more  serious 
than  the  changing  of  mine  examiners  who  have  proven  to  be  good 
men.  That  is  the  reason  why  I  am  in  sympathy  with  the  framer  of 
that  resolution.  If  it  is  felt  by  this  Congress  that  they  can't  pass  it, 
I  would  say  that  we  should  in  some  manner,  if  it  can  be  done,  voice 
our  sentiments  against  political  administrations  making  changes  just 
as  the  political  complexions  of  the  different  states  change.  There  is 
nothing  more  harmful,  nothing  more  disastrous,  nothing  in  a  business 
way,  I  would  say,  more  insane. 

MR.  KELLY:  Mr.  Chairman,  the  gentleman  has  voiced  my  senti- 
ments exactly.  I  think 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  If  the  gentleman  will  permit  me,  there 
is  no  motion  before  the  house. 

MR.  KELLY:  I  am  extremely  sorry,  Mr.  Chairman,  if  I  have  vio- 
lated your  rules,  but  I  would  like  to  have  the  permission  to  discuss  this 
question. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:     But  there  is  no  motion  before  the  house. 

MR.  KELLY:  I  understood  you  were  discussing  the  question,  Mr. 
Chairman. 

MR.  MOORSHEAD:     There  is  a  motion  to  reject  it. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  Was  there  a  motion?  If  there  was  I 
didn't  hear  it. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  It  is  understood  that  the  chair- 
man moves  the  adoption  of  the  committee's  report. 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  59 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  All  right.  I  didn't  understand  there  was 
a  motion  at  all.  Was  the  motion  seconded? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  The  motion  does  not  require  a 
second. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:     Well,  it  might  be  well  to  discuss  it. 

MR.  KELLY:  My  only  reasons  for  qualifying  the  remarks  of  my 
friend  are  that  I  have  had  considerable  experience  along  this  line.  If 
this  were  left  in  the  hands  of  the  people  of  the  various  states,  if  the 
mine  inspectors  were  elected  at  every  election,  it  would  involve  this 
department  of  the  service  very  deeply  in  politics.  Some  states  are 
Republican  and  others  are  Democratic.  The  facts  -would  be  that  no 
matter  what  party  you  had  in  power  the  inspectors  would  be  just  as 
crooked,  or  more  so,  than  if  appointed  from  Washington.  I  hope  that 
this  resolution  will  be  passed,  so  that  the  mine  inspectors  may  be  ap- 
pointed and  not  elected  in  the  various  states.  That  is  the  purpose  of 
the  resolution,  as  I  take  it.  If  the  various  states  elected  their  own  in- 
spectors it  would  be  very  detrimental,  I  believe,  to  the  mining  interests 
of  the  country.  I  am  in  favor  of  having  Washington  appoint  these 
men.  We  have  other  men  appointed  from  Washington  and  I  think  it 
would  be  well  to  have  our  mine  inspectors  also  appointed  from  Wash- 
ington. We  haven't  always  got  a  Democratic  administration  in  Wash- 
ington, nor  is  it  always  Republican,  but  either  one  of  them  is  good 
enough  to  appoint  such  men.  I  presume  they  both  work  impartially. 
I  presume  they  work  for  the  general  interests  of  the  country.  I  would 
be  in  favor  that  that  resolution  pass. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  do  not  like  to 
talk  upon  a  resolution,  but  I  am  afraid  we  are  getting  far  afield  in  this 
matter.  This  resolution  if  passed  in  its  present  form  would  not  do  very 
much  good.  I  believe  that  this  convention  is  unanimously  in  favor  of 
the  real  inward  meaning  of  that  resolution.  That  is  to  say,  that  proper 
mine  inspectors  who  are  experienced,  competent  and  fair,  should  not 
be  displaced  because  there  has  been  a  change  in  the  administration  of 
the  state  government.  (Applause.)  But,  upon  the  other  hand,  I  feel 
that  it  may  be  considered  impertinent  and  certainly  without  effect  if 
we  should  appeal  to  a  dominant  party  who  has  succeeded  in  the  elec- 
tion to  not  change  the  administration  in  the  way  of  mine  inspectors, 
if  in  their  judgment  the  prior  administration  has  filled  its  offices  with 
Republicans  and  the  next  administration  happens  to  be  Democratic. 
They  will  say,  now  it  is  time  for  us  to  get  some  of  our  friends  in 
office.  The  great  dominant  legislation  in  this  country  which  was 
framed  to  prevent  changes  with  every  election  is  based  upon  civil 
service.  Now,  the  real  intent  of  this  resolution  is  to  have  an  imme- 
diate good  performed,  but,  underlying  that  is  that  the  mine  inspection 
service  should  be  placed  under  civil  service,  so  that  a  man  who  is  com- 
petent, who  is  experienced,  who  has  done  his  duty  well,  may  be  kept 
4n  office  without  respect  to  the  administration.  And  it  seems  to  me 
that  the  sooner  we  get  to  the  point  whereby  we  will  manage  our  state 
and  our  municipal  affairs  the  same  way  as  a  great  corporation  man- 
ages its  affairs  so  that  a  competent  man  in  a  position  shall  be  contin- 
ued in  that  position  just  as  long  as  he  performs  his  duty  and  just  as 
soon  as  he  fails  to  perform  his  duty  he  loses  his  job,  the  sooner  we 
will  get  to  efficiency  in  government.  The  civil  service  laws  in  this 
country  have  not  always  been  what  they  ought  to  have  been.  They 
have  kept  in  office  many  men  who  ought  to  have  been  removed  and 
many  men  who  would  have  been  removed  had  they  been  in  the  employ 
of  a  business  corporation.  But  the  evil  effects  of  that,  while  we  should 
strive  to  prevent  their  continuance,  if  possible,  have  been  more  than 
offset  by  the  good  results  which  have  been  obtained  in  keeping  good 
men  in  office  without  reference  to  political  complexion  of  the  adminis- 
tration. I  believe  that  this  resolution,  instead  of  being  worded  in  this 
form,  should  be  to  the  effect  that  we  make  an  effort  to  see  to  it  that 


60  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

the  civil  service  laws  of  the  several  states  shall  apply  to  the  mine  inspec- 
tion service.  (Applause.) 

MR.  CHANCE:  I  move  the  adoption  of  the  report  of  the  Reso- 
lutions Committee^ 

MR.  KELLY:'   I  will  second  that,  Mr.  Chairman. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  You  have  heard  the  motion.  That  is 
not  going  to  reach  very  far,  though. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:     Yes;  they  .say  it  shall  not  pass. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  I  don't  think  that  the  mover  understood 
it  that  way.  t 

MR.  KELLY:  I  would  like  to  understand  that  motion.  Will  you 
put  it  again. 

MR.  DESOLLER:  I  move  that  the  report  of  the  Committee  on 
Resolutions  be  accepted. 

MR.  KELLY:  I  withdraw  my  second.  I  move  as  an  amendment 
that  we  refer  it  to  the  Congress  to  be  passed  on  the  basis  of  the  civil 
service  system. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  Well,  that  would  hardly  be  in  order, 
Mr.  Kelly,  because  what  this  has  reference  to  is  the  state  mine  in- 
spector. 

MR.  KELLY:     That  is  what  I  mean. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  Which  is  under  the  police  powers  of  the 
state  delegated  by  the  constitution  to  the  state. 

MR.  KELLY:  Well,  I  would  move  that  that  be  sent  to  the  state 
legislature. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  So  that  it  would  not  be  quite  in  order 
to  ask  the  government  to  do  that. 

MR.  KELLY:  Well,  I  mean  to  have  the  state  legislature  pass  that 
bill,  to  have  it  referred  to  the  state  legislatures  instead  of  to  Congress 
to  have  the  mine  inspectors  put  under  civil  service. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  The  substance,  I  take  it,  of  your  motion 
is  that  the  Congress  go  on  record  that  they  favor  civil  service  for  the 
mine  inspection  departments? 

MR.  KELLY:     Yes,  sir. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:     Is  that  acceptable  to  the  convention? 

MR.   DESOLLER:     That  is  acceptable. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  I  suggest  that  in  order  to  meet 
the  situation  that  this  resolution  should  be  recommitted  to  the  com- 
mittee, with  instructions. 

MR.  W.  J.  SNYDER:  I  think  that  is  the  proper  way  to  get  at 
it,  that  we  recommit  this  with  instructions  that  they  do  just  what  you 
stated.  There  is  a  motion  before  the  house,  though. 

MR.  PARKER:  Before  the  committee  takes  advantage  of  that, 
we  would  like  to  hear  from  the  chairman  of  the  Uniform  Mining 
Legislation  Section,  whether  it  is  to  be  passed  exactly  as  worded,  or 
whether  the  committee  have  a  right  to  amend.  (Laughter.) 

MR.   KELLY:     Mr.   Secretary,  will  you  read  that  over  again? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  You  mean  read  the  resolution 
again? 

MR.  KELLY:  Yes,  so  that  we  can  see  how  much  of  it  they  can 
amend  or  will  amend  or  that  we  will  ask  them  to  amend. 

Secretary  Callbreath  re-read  the  resolution. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  '  If  you  will  pardon  me,  the  mo- 
tion that  I  think  would  embody  that  thought  is  that  this  resolution 
should  be  re-committed  to  the  Committee  on  Resolutions,  with  instruc- 
tions to  make  it  provide  that  the  mine  inspection  service  of  the  several 
states  shall  be  put  under  the  civil  service. 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  61 

MR.  KELLY:  That  was  the  sense  of  my  amendment  to  the  mo- 
tion. 

MR.  SNYDER:     That  is  what  I  wanted,  too. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  There  is  a  little  confusion  here.  The 
motion  was  to  re-commit. 

MR.  KELLY:     I  think  we  should  vote  on  the  amendment  first. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  The  amendment  is  that  this  be  re-com- 
mitted to  the  Committee  with  the  understanding  that  they  draw  up  a 
resolution  recommending  that  the  mine  inspection  service  go  under 
civil  service  rules.  Is.  that  the  correct  statement  of  it? 

MR.  KELLY:     That  is  the  sense  of  my  amendment. 

MR.  STOEK:  Mr.  Chairman,  I. think  in  the  minds  of  a  good  many 
of  us  here  there  is  a  great  deal  of  difference  between  being  taken  out  of 
politics  and  being  put  under  civil  service.  Civil  service  in  theory  is  a 
most  excellent  thing,  but  sometimes  in  practice  it  is  a  most  abom- 
inable thing  and  leads  to  a  great  deal  of  loss  in  efficiency.  It  depends 
on  what  the  civil  service  law  is,  but  if  you  know  what  civil  service 
it  is  going  to  be  put  under,  well  and  good.  But  I  would  be  very  much 
adverse  to  saying  that  it  goes  under  civil  service.  There  are  a  great 
many  kinds  of  civil  service;  some  are  very  good  and  some  are  awful. 

MR.  MOORSHEAD:  The  gentleman  intended  to  say  most  un- 
civil in  Illinois. 

MR.  E.  T.  BENT:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  know  that  the  gentlemen  who 
have  talked  here  know  a  great  deal  more  about  civil  service  law  and  its 
operation  in  connection  with  inspectors  than  I  do.  I  think  the  real 
thing  that  some  of  us  want  to  get  at  is  the  passage  of  this,  resolution 
as  it  was  originally  framed.  I  do  not  care  whether  it  is  passed  in  that 
form  or  not.  But  does  the  Congress  wish  to  do  anything  at  this  time 
to  prevent  the  removal  of  competent  inspectors  because  they  happen 
to  belong  to  the  party  that  is  not  dominant  or  is  not  to  be  dominant? 
I  don't  care  whether  we  are  in  favor  of  civil  service  or  not.  I  agree 
with  Professor  Stock,  if  we  get  the  real  article  that  we  are  for  it,  but 
simply  because  competent  Republican  mine  inspectors  in  Illinois  went 
into  the  discard  a  few  years  ago  is  no  reason  why  competent  Democrats 
should  now  go  into  the  discard.  We  are  business  men.  We  are  not 
politicians.  I  think  that  this  resolution,  instead  of  being  a  political 
resolution,  is  an  anti-political  resolution.  We  want  good  inspectors  in 
the  service,  to  remain  in  the  service,  and  the  Congress  could  very  well 
say  yes  or  no  to  that  question. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  Chairman,  may  I  ask  Mr. 
Bent  a  question? 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:     Certainly. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Do  you  think  that  the  passage 
of  a  resolution  of  this  kind  would  alter  the  acts  of  the  party  that  is 
about  to  come  into  power  in  this  state? 

MR.  BENT:  I  have  very  little  hope  that  it  would.  I  have  a  little 
hope  or  I  wouldn't  want  it  presented,  but  it  is  a  very  little  hope. 

MR.  JOHN  DUNLAP:  May  I  say  a  little  word  in  regard  to  this 
matter?  Now,  Mr.  Stock  knows  something  about  the  inspectors  in  Illi- 
nois. I  used  to  be  one  myself.  Now,  just  as  soon  as  a  state  ^  officer 
is  elected  and  the  new  attorney-general  takes  office,  especially  if  it  is 
in  Illinois,  he  at  once  removes  the  mine  inspectors  of  Illinois  who  are 
of  the  opposite  party  and  not  under  civil  service.  That  is_  the  first 
thing  that  will  be  done.  Now,  Mr.  Stock  has  said  something  about 
the  matter  of  civil  service  which  also  is  particularly  true.  The  civil 
service  is  composed  of  two  Democrats  and  one  Republican.  I  don't 
care  whether  your  Congress  at  this  time  passes  the  resolution  or  not. 
I  do  not  believe  it  will  have  any  effect  in  Illinois,  because  there  are  a 
number  of  the  old  men  who  are  in  the  inspection  service  before  who 


62  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

have  been  working  in  politics  for  the  last  three  months.  The  present 
inspectors  as  well  have  been  working  in  politics  for  the  last  six  months 
to  retain  their  jobs.  Now,  that  is  a  fact.  So  I  do  not  think  this  resolu- 
tion at  this  time  will  do  any  good.  I  would  rather  it  would  come  per- 
haps a  year  later,  but  not  at  this  time  for  the  purpose  of  retaining  the 
inspectors  who  are  now  in.  I  would  rather  that  this  resolution  be  re- 
committed to  the  Committee. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  I  would  like  to  ask  Mr.  Stock  whether  the 
matter  of  how  to  keep  it  out  of  politics  was  discussed.  Was  there  any 
move  suggested? 

MR.  STOEK:    No. 

MR.  SNYDER:  As  I  understand  this,  we  are  not  trying  to  single 
out  any  one  state,  but  to  correct  the  abuse  in  all  states.  My  under- 
standing is  that  this  Congress  is  expressing  an  opinion  as  to  how  to  con- 
duct the  inspection  of  our  properties? 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:     Surely. 

MR.  SNYDER:  And  to  get  it  away  from  politics  as  far  as  possible. 
Now,  we  are  not  going  to  cure  it  all.  We  are  not  going  to  cure  the 
situation  all  at  once,  but  we  ought  to  be  given  the  greatest  latitude  and 
not  be  afraid  to  express  our  opinions.  As  I  understand  it,  that  is  the 
purpose  of  this  resolution.  We  do  not  expect  that  this  abuse,  that  this 
situation  in  Illinois  or  in  any  other  state  will  be  corrected  by  the  pas- 
sage of  this  resolution,  but  we  do  hope  to  express  a  conviction  with  ref- 
erence to  this  matter  of  inspection,  and  we  ought  to  be  large  enough 
to  express  that  conviction,  which  is  to  take  the  inspection  service  out 
of  politics  as  far  as  possible  and  make  inspection  what  it  ought  to  be. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:    Are  there  any  further  remarks? 

MR.  STOEK:  May  I  just  offer  a  suggestion?  I  agree  fully  with 
what  the  gentleman  has  just  said.  It  ought  not  to  be  thought  of  as  a 
local  matter.  And  as  a  suggestion,  would  it  take  away  what  seems 
to  be  a  local  flavor  if  we  take  out  that  last  reference  to  the  recent 
election,  and  simply  state  the  principle  that  the  Congress  is  not  in  favor 
of  regulating  mine  inspection  service  in  accordance  with  or  as  a  re- 
ward for  political  doings.  As  Mr.  Dunlap  said,  I  do  not  think  it  will 
make  any  difference  in  Illinois  one  way  or  the  other. 

MR.  DUNLAP:     This  will  just  get  us  on  record. 

MR.  STOEK:  Yes,  this  just  gets  us  on  record  as  being  opposed 
to  the  spoils  .system  as  far  as  it  affects  mine  inspection.  I  offer  that 
as  a  suggestion,  if  that  would  take  away  any  of  the  apparent  local  flavor. 
I  would  offer  it  as  an  amendment. 

DR.  CHANCE:  I  think  if  the  stenographer  has  reported  the  re- 
marks of  the  various  gentlemen  from  Illinois,  Illinois  has  gone  on  rec- 
ord and  we  know  where  she  stands.  The  way  in  which  it  is  confessed 
that  this  resolution  was  drawn  I  think  was  with  reference  to  this  specific 
instance  which  they  have  in  mind  of  a  possible  change  in  efficient  in- 
spectors due  to  a  result  of  this  last  election.  Now,  the  deliberations 
of  the  Congress,  it  seems  to  me,  should  be  confined,  so  far  as  possible, 
to  matters  of  national  interest  and  not  those  of  local  interest.  In  cover- 
ing those  matters  of  national  interest  it  will  eventually  cover  efficiently 
matters  of  local  interest.  And,  for  those  reasons,  it  seems  to  me,  es- 
pecially as  this  resolution  provides  no  efficient  means  for  accomplish- 
ing the  object  sought  to  be  done,  that  the  report  of  the  Committee 
ought  to  be  concurred  in.  We  are  all  of  one  mind  in  this  regard.  There 
is  no  question  at  all  but  that  we  all  believe  that  inspectors  should  be 
retained  in  office  so  long  as  they  perform  their  duties  efficiently.  But 
this  resolution  provides  no  efficient  means  for  carrying  that  out  and, 
therefore,  it  seems  to  me  it  would  be  without  effect  and  the  Resolutions 
Committee  has  confessedly  made  no  attempt  to  revise  or  remodel  this 
resolution.  They  reported  with  a  negative  recommendation.  There- 
fore, it  is  not  before  us  in  a  definite  form  and  it  seems  to  me  that  the 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  63 

correct  procedure  in  this  case  will  be  to  refer  it  back  to  the  Committee 
on  Resolutions  for  possible  action  at  some  Congress  in  the  future. 

MR.  KELLY:     I  second  the  motion. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  No,  there  is  a  motion  to  that  effect. 
Any  further  remarks? 

MR.  MOORSHEAD:    There  is  an  amendment  to  the  motion. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:     The  amendment  is  before  the  house. 

MR.  MOORSHEAD:     That  should  go  as  a  motion.. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:     We  will  vote  on  the  motion  first. 

MR.  MOORSHEAD:  The  amendment  should  go  as  a  substitute 
motion. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  The  motion  has  been  withdrawn 
and  the  amendment  remains. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  The  amendment  prevails  now  as  a  mo- 
tion. 

DR.  CHANCE:     The  motion  has  been  withdrawn. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  No,  the  motion  that  is  now  before  the 
house  is  that  this  be  referred  back  to  the  Committee  on  Resolutions. 

DR.  CHANCE:     I  call  for  the  question. 

The  motion  was  carried  unanimously. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  Are  there  any  other  resolutions,  Mr. 
Chairman? 

MR.  PARKER:  Finally,  Mr.  Chairman,  the  Committee  on  Reso- 
lutions desires  to  offer  two  resolutions  of  its  own,  one  being  to  the  fol- 
lowing effect;  that 

Whereas,    The    Nineteenth    Session    of    the    American    Mining 

Congress,    one   of   the    most    successful    in   its   history,   is   this    day 

drawing  to  a  close;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved  by  the  Congress  in  session,     That  we  extend  to  the 

exhibitors   and   advertisers,   who   have    come   here  to  bring  to   our 

attention   their   respective   products,   our   deep  appreciation;   to   the 

La  Salle  Hotel  our  thanks  for  the  uniform  courtesy  extended  to  all 

of   our  members;    to   the   committees  who   have   diligently   labored 

for  the  best  interest  of  the   Congress  our  sincere  appreciation;  to 

the  coal  operators  of  this  state  our  heartfelt  esteem  for  the  many 

and  continued  courtesies  they  have  shown  us. 

I  know  from  experience  that  this  has  been  one  of  the  most  suc- 
cessful sessions  in  the  history  of  the  American  Mining  Congress.  I 
know  that  from  experience.  I  have  been  attending  the  sessions  of  the 
Congress  for  nineteen  years  and  this  is  one  of  the  most,  if  not  the 
most,  successful  session  the  Congress  has  held. 

The  Chairman  of  the  Committee  desires  to  thank  the  members  of 
the  committees  who  have  devoted  so  much  of  their  time,  not  only  their 
time,  but  to  a  considerable  extent  of  their  pocketbook  for  the  enter- 
tainment of  this  Congress.  We  feel  that  there  is  a  sincere  appreciation 
of  what  they  have  done.  We  would  like  to  extend  this  resolution  a  little 
bit  and  would  like  to  have  the  action  of  the  Congress  unanimously  on 
this  resolution. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  You  have  heard  the  resolution,  covering 
in  a  general  way  the  thanks  to  the  various  bodies  and  persons.  What 
is  your  desire? 

MR.  J.  E.  WILLIAMS:     I  move  its  adoption. 

MR.  KELLY:     I  second  it. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  I  would  suggest  when  we  take  action 
on  this  that  it  be  by  a  rising  vote  of  thanks. 

A  rising  vote  of  thanks  was  tendered  to  the  parties  participating  in 
the  success  of  the  convention. 


64  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

MR.  PARKER:  Mr.  Chairman,  the  next  resolution  is  one  which 
we  always  dislike  to  have  go  out. 

Whereas,  During  the  past  year  several  members  of  this  Asso- 
ciation have  been  called  to  the  Great  Beyond;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,     That  this   Congress  wishes  to   express,  through  its 

secretary,  to  the  families  of  the  deceased  the  condolence  and  sym- 
pathy of  this  Congress. 

MR.  MOORSHEAD:     I  move  its  adoption. 

MR.  KELLY:     I  second  it. 

The  motion  was  carried  unanimously. 

MR.  PARKER:  The  members  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions 
are  requested  to  meet  in  Room  1809  at  once  to  consider  the  two  resolu- 
tions that  have  been  re-committed  to  it. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  While  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  is 
out  reconsidering  the  resolutions  referred  to  them,  we  are  going  to  ask 
Mr.  Callbreath  to  give  us  a  brief  resume  of  Dr.  Henry  S.  Drinker's 
paper,  which  is  very  lengthy,  but  a  very  able  paper.  There  are  some 
interesting  statements  made  in  there.  The  doctor  was  unable  to  be 
here. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  As  suggested  by  your  Chairman, 
this  is  very  lengthy,  but  a  very  able  paper.  There  are  two  or  three 
points  in  this  paper  which  I  think  should  be  particularly  referred  to. 
Reference  to  the  acreage  now  owned  by  the  Federal  Government  in 
Western  States  will  be  astonishing  to  those  of  you  who  have  not  before 
considered  them.  In  the  State  of  Arizona  ninety-two  per  cent  of  its 
total  area  is  owned  and  controlled  by  the  Federal  Government,  leaving 
eight  per  cent  subject  to  the  taxing  power  of  the  state.  In  California 
52  per  cent,  Colorado  56  per  cent,  Idaho  83  per  cent,  Monta.na  65  per 
cent,  Nevada  87  per  cent,  New  Mexico  62  per  cent,  Oregon  51  per  cent, 
Utah  80  per  cent,  Washington  40  per  cent,  and  Wyoming  68  per  cent. 
It  will  readily  be  seen  why  the  people  of  the  West  believe,  as  is  em- 
bodied in  one  of  the  resolutions  which  have  been  passed  by  this  conven- 
tion that  that  property  should  go  under  the  state  taxing  power  in  order 
that  these  states  might  have  the  advantage  of  that  in  the  support  of 
their  state  institutions. 

Dr.  Drinker's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  371  of  this  report. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  We  have  another  paper,  but  I  under- 
stand that  the  author  is  not  present.  This  is  a  paper  on  the  "Practical 
Significance  of  Pure  Research,"  by  Dr.  W.  R.  Whitney  of  Schenectady, 
New  York.  Is  Dr.  Whitney  in  the  room? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Dr.  Whitney  is  not  here.  He 
wired  that  he  could  not  be  here.  His  paper  is  here.  I  think  we  have 
it  printed. 

Dr.  Whitney's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  205  of  this  report. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  While  we  are  waiting  for  the  Committee 
to  come  in  we  can  continue  the  open  discussion  on  this  subject,  "Waste 
in  the  Mining  Industry — in  Mining,  in  Distribution,  and  in  Use — and 
the  Relation  of  These  Wastes  to  the  Operator,  the  Consumers  and  the 
Public." 

MR.  WILLIAM  J.  KELLY.  Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  This 
is  a  very  broad  subject,  which  would  require  a  great  deal  of  time  to  dis- 
cuss so  properly  and  intelligently  as' to  win  the _ approbation  of  all  of 
you,  because  it  goes  into  the  very  roots  of  the  miningjndustry.  There 
are  many  points  made  by  the  previous  speakers  which  are  perfectly 
true.  We  have  lost  a  great  deal  through  dishonest  mining.  There  are 
many  things  which  we  could  say  about  the  viciousness  of  certain  ficti- 
tious mining  schemes.  We  all  know  of  the  prospective  miners  who  get 
up  a  company,  go  out  and  dig  a  small  hole  in  the  ground,  and  then 
incorporate  themselves  into  large  concerns  and  go  through  ^the  cities 
of  the  country  selling  stock  which  is  bogus  from  start  to  finish.  As  a 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  65 

result  of  practices  like  this,  mining,  in  the  eyes  of  many  people  who 
could  help  it,  is  degraded. 

There  are  many  people  who  have  mining  stock  in  their  safes  and 
strong-boxes  who,  if  you  attempt  to  talk  to  them  about  valuable  stock 
in  a  really  safe  and  proper  mine  in  which  you  desire  them  to  invest, 
will  say: 

"No  mining  stock  for  me!  I  have  got  a  lot  of  it  in  the  last  few 
years;  the  names  of  the  companies  I  invested  in  are  no  longer  in 
existence." 

That  may  be  true,  but  that  is  no  reason  why  that  same  man  who 
has  the  capital  should  not  be  interested  in  valuable  mines,  and  help  to 
carry  them  along.  I  hope  that  the  men  who  are  responsible  for  this 
condition  of  things  can  be  made  amenable  to  Federal  law.  I  hope  that 
the  day  will  come  when  a  penalty  will  be  placed  on  the  head  of  that 
man  who  will  try  to  sell  a  stock  that  has  no  fundamental  basis.  I  con^ 
sider  this  a  subject  of  the  utmost  importance,  and  one  that  the  American 
Mining  Congress  could  take  up  with  advantage.  There  are  men  who 
live  in  cheap  hotels  in  New  York  and  sell  mining  stock  in  every  city 
of  the  country — stock  that  has  absolutely  no  merit.  This  does  a  great 
injury  to  legitimate  miners.  It  is  greatly  to  be  hoped  that  the  Mining 
Congress  of  America  will  see  that  those  men  who  dare  to  delude  the 
people  and  misrepresent  what  they  have  in  order  to  sell  bogus  stock  are 
put  behind  the  bars,  where  the  real  miners  of  America  can  laugh  at 
them. 

We  will  increase  the  value  of  the  mining  industry  by  so  doing.  We 
will  have  men  who  will  gladly  purchase  mining  stock  in  the  various 
mines  of  America  which  have  a  basis  to  them  that  is  sound  and  good. 
They  will  be  glad  to  invest  their  money.  It  will  be  an  inspiration  to  the 
miners  of  the  country,  and  will  make  many  mines  valuable;  for  it  takes 
money  to  start  a  mine,  and  it  takes  capital  to  run  it. 

I  hope  that  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  we  will  properly  take 
this  up  before  our  National  Congress  at  Washington,  and  that  Federal 
laws  will  be  passed  by  which  these  sellers  of  bogus  mining  stock  will 
be  put  where  they  belong,  and  that  is  behind  the  bars  of  the  Federal 
penitentiaries. 

MR.  PARKER.  Gentlemen  of  the  Congress:  The  Committee  on 
Resolutions  was  waited  upon  by  Mr.  Moorshead  and  two  other  mem- 
bers of  the  Legislative  Section  who  requested  that  the  two  reports  that 
they  had  made  to  the  Congress  be  withdrawn  and  that  the  matter  be 
considered  as  not  having  been  presented  before  the  Congress.  The 
Committee  on  Resolutions  makes  the  recommendation  that  these  re- 
ports be  withdrawn  and  cut  out  of  the  records. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  You  have  heard  the  report  of  the  Com- 
mittee, that  this  matter  be  not  considered. 

MR.  GRANBERG:  I  move  that  the  report  of  the  Committee  be 
approved. 

MR.  DESOLLERS:     I  second  the  motion. 

The  motion  was  carried  unanimously. 

CHAIRMAN  TAYLOR:  That  ends  the  work  of  the  session.  We 
will  now  stand  adjourned. 

COAL  SECTION. 
Tuesday,  November  14,  1916. 
AFTERNOON  SESSION. 

Mr.  C.  M.  Moderwell,  of  Chicago,  presided  and  Mr.  Alexander 
Blair  acted  as  secretary. 

Chairman  Moderwell  called  the  meeting  to  order  at  2:20  p.  m. 

CHAIRMAN  MODERWELL:  Gentlemen,  I  understand  that  you 
heard  a  very  interesting  address  this  morning  from  the  chairman  of  the 
Federal  Trades  Commission.  I  unfortunately  happened  to  be  out  of 
town  and  was  unable  to  be  here.  I  have  no  doubt  that  he  told  you  a 


66  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

great  many  things  that  were  of  interest  and  that  you  will  remember  for 
a  long  time.  It  seems  as  though  a  new  era  has  dawned  in  the  coal 
trade  and  as  though  we  were  at  least  on  the  doorstep  of  better  times. 
I  am  not  speaking  now  of  today  but  of  next  year.  The  gentleman  who 
is  to  speak  first  this  afternoon  regarding  mining  accounting  is  occupied 
in  another  committee  just  at  present  and  I  am  going  to  take  the  liberty 
of  changing  the  program  somewhat  and  introduce  to  you  another  speak- 
er. Those  of  you  who  are  familiar  with  the  coal  trade  know  that  one 
of  the  earliest  efforts  at  co-operation  among  the  coal  trade  was  made 
in  Franklin  County  in.  Southern  Illinois.  That  came  by  reason  of  our 
having  learned  of  something  of  this  kind  that  had  been  done  in  other 
lines  of  industry.  The  gentleman  who  is  familiar  with  the  other  lines  of 
industry  and  who  brought  the  good  tidings  to  Franklin  County  is  with 
us  today,  Mr.  Ralph  Crews.  I  take  great  pleasure  in  introducing  Mr. 
Crews,  who  will  speak  to  you.  (Applause.)  Before  Mr.  Crews  speaks 
I  would  like  to  say  that  he  will  be  very  glad  indeed  to  have  you  ask 
him  any  questions  you  desire  and  which  he  can  answer  after  he  has 
finished. 

Mr.  Crews'  address  will  be  found  on  page  184  of  this  report. 

CHAIRMAN  MODERWELL:  If  any  of  you  have  any  questions 
to  ask  Mr.  Crews  will  be  very  glad  to  answer  them  as  far  as  he  is  able, 
and  now  is  the  time  to  ask.  If  you  have  any  language  stored  up  in  you 
that  you  want  to  get  rid  of  now  is  the  opportunity. 

The  bituminous  coal  industry  in  which  most  of  us  are  engaged  has 
had  no  greater  message  given  to  it  in  my  opinion  than  the  one  that 
has  just  been  touched  on  by  Mr.  Crews.  This  subject  of  co-operation 
has  a  pleasant  sound  to  the  ears  of  bituminous  coal  operators  and  those 
who  sell  the  product.  We  have  had  all  that  we  want,  I  think,  of  com- 
petition, certainly  of  the  kind  of  competition  that  has  existed  in  the  coal 
industry  in  the  time  that  I  have  been  connected  with  it.  Now,  we  have 
with  us  today  a  number  of  gentlemen  who  have  been  connected  with 
various  associations  which  have  been  carrying  out  the  principles  re- 
ferred to  by  Mr.  Crews  in  their  associations.  There  are  a  number  of 
associations  of  coal  operators  over  the  country  who  have  adopted  this 
principle  of  intelligent  co-operation  and  I  notice  that  there  are  a  num- 
ber of  gentlemen  here  today  who  are  connected  with  those  associations 
and  we  are  going  to  allow  them  to  take  a  little  time  to  tell  us,  if  they 
will,  what  in  a  practical  way  has  been  done  along  these  lines.  The  first 
one  on  the  list  is  Dr.  Fred  C.  Honnold  of  Illinois,  who  is  the  secretary 
of  the  Franklin  County,  Illinois,  Coal  Operators'  Association.  Dr. 
Honnold.  Applause.) 

DR.  HONNOLD.  Mr.  Chairman,  Gentlemen  of  the  Congress:  Jt 
had  not  been  my  understanding  that  I  was  to  speak  to  the  Congress. 
I  had  expected  that  task  would  fall  to  the  lot  of  my  friend  White  and 
others  of  the  coal  trade  secretaries.  I  had  thought  1  made  perfectly 
good  arrangements  with  Mr.  Callbreath  to  let  me  escape  speech. 

There  is  nothing  I  can  talk  to  you  about  that  would  probably 
especially  interest  you,  except  the  Franklin  County  Association.  We 
sometimes  feel  we  are  entitled  to  claim  that  we  are  pioneers  in  asso- 
ciation work,  that  is,  coal  trade  association  work,  by  reason  of  the 
fact  that  we  started  first.  The  notion,  however,  was  well  established 
in  the  minds  of  many  groups  of  operators  throughout  the  country  long 
before  we  were  organized. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  make  clear  to  you  in  a  few  moments'  talk, 
first,  what  we  do,  a.nd  next,  what  we  accomplish.  The  essential  purpose 
of  a  coal  trade  association,  according  to  our  notion,  embraces  three 
particular  functions.  First,  the  development  of  a  more  thorough,  inti- 
mate and  friendly  relationship  among  the  operators  that  make  up  the 
group;  second,  the  careful  daily,  weekly  and  monthly  compilation  and 
publication  of  data,  FACTS,  for  our  guidance  in  determining  our  policy 
from  day  to  day  and  from  month  to  month.  These  reports  cover  not 
only  the  matter  of  sales  and  distribution  of  coal,  but  the  operation  of 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  67 

our  properties,  including  a  joint  study  of  costs.  Our  third  function 
is  of  a  general  type  or  character,  contemplating  the  extension  of  our 
markets,  the  improvement  of  our  general  conditions  as  to  the  recovery 
of  coal  from  the  acreage  that  we  mine,  sometimes  called  conservation, 
the  protection  of  our  workmen  and  the  bettering  of  all  conditions  sur- 
rounding the  production  of  coal.  To  attempt  to  go  into  detail  with 
reference  to  our  efforts  in  any  of  these  departments  would  take  quite 
a  bit  more  than  the  ten  minutes  which  I  note  we  are  allowed.  The 
Shibboleth,  if  you  will,  which  enables  us  to  cross  the  ford  and  legally 
undertake  co-operative  effort  which  ultirnately  contemplates  better 
returns  for  our  product  is  cost  determination,  intelligent  cost  determina- 
tion. Naturally,  we  have  lived  with  that  subject  since  we  started. 
Whether  we  have  lived  righteously  or  not  we  are  to  be  told  later  by 
the  governmental  agency  which  is  established  for  the  purpose  of  advis- 
ing us  i.n  the  premises — the  Federal  Trade  Commission. 

Franklin  County  early  in  its  organization  sought  the  assistance 
of  Professor  Stock,  who  is  in  charge  of  the  mining  department  of  the 
University  of  Illinois.  We  placed  at  his  disposal  engineers  who,  under 
his  direction,  made  a  careful,  physical  survey  of  every  property  in  our 
group.  All  of  the  data  with  reference  to  that  investigation  we  expect 
ultimately  to  publish  and  make  available  to  other  groups  of  operators 
that  may  like  to  see  what  we  have  done.  From  that  investigation  wre 
determined  various  facts  and  from  those  facts  we  arrived  at  certain 
averages  and  the  determination  of  certain  arbitrary  factors  to  make  up 
intelligently,  as  we  believed,  the  so-called  overhead  charges,  the  neglect 
of  which  has  been  the  open  door  through  which  competition  has  become 
abusive  and  destructive.  I  have  in  my  pocket  a  blueprint  that  I  pre- 
pared to  show  where  we  lose  money  in  the  coal  business. 

I  do  not  know  of  anything  that  will  make  the  subject  of  imperfect 
cost  determination  clearer  to  you  in  the  brief  time  allotted  to  me  than 
this  blueprint.  It  will  make  clear  to  you  wherein  the  coal  industry,  not 
alone  in  Illinois  but  all  over  the  country,  has  gone  wrong  through  sins 
of  omission.  I  find  that  average  groups  of  men  are  not  very  greatly 
different  from  a  kindergarten  attendance  in  that  a  picture  goes  farther 
with  them  than  too  many  figures.  This  "hole  in  the  doughnut"  was 
therefore  prepared  with  the  idea  of  giving  at  a  glance  (not  to  any  of 
you  gentlemen  who  are  adept  and  earnest  in  your  efforts  to  improve, 
but  to  many  other  operators  who  do  not  give  cost  study  sufficient 
attention)  a  clear  picture  of  their  delinquency  in  omitting  certain  vital 
items,  proper  and  necessary  to  be  considered  in  determining  sale  price 
on  their  product.  This  should  give  them  the  desired  ideas  at  a  glance. 

The  doughnut  is  made  up  of  the  recognized  items,  items  which  are 
recognized  because  they  must  be  paid  monthly.  There  is  no  escape 
from  the  monthly  labor  and  material  bills.  The  hole  in  the  doughnut, 
the  dough  that  you  cut  out  and  which  you  usually  throw  away  or  use 
to  make  more  doughnuts,  is  supposed  to  represent  the  unrecognized 
items  because  their  payment  is  deferred  and  in  those  neglected  items, 
the  payment  of  which  is  deferred,  are  the  proper  reserves  for  depreciation 
of  plants  for  the  depletion  of  land,  for  the  provision  of  proper  funds  to 
safely  and  certainly  carry  out  liability  insurance  and  finally,  a  strange, 
almost  unknown  item  in  the  coal  business,  PROFITS. 

We  have  with  us  at  this  time — I  shall  not  ask  them  to  rise  and 
be  identified,  but  they  are  in  our  midst  today — a  couple  of  gentlemen 
from  the  Federal  Trade  Commission,  whose  incidental  purpose  here  is 
to  investigate  the  matter  of  the  Franklin  County  cost  study  report,  but 
in  a  more  general  way  the  industry  as  a  whole  in  Illinois.  We  are  not 
to  be  alone  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  attention  and  inquiry.  In  the  past 
eighteen  months  we  have  had  several  such  gentlemen  out  to  visit  us, 
at  the  direction  of  the  Trade  Commission,  but  as  these  gentlemen  have 
become  presumably  proficient  in  the  matter  of  acquaintance  with  our 
conditions,  they  have  been  called  to  other  departments  in  the  work  of 
the  Federal  Trade  Commission,  so  that  with  Messrs.  David  L.  Wing 


OFFICIAL   PROCEEDINGS 


"  THE    HOLE    m   THE    DOUGHHUT 

Showing  Why  Some  Operators  Do  Not  Make  Money 
Through  Failure  to  Include  ALL  NECESSARY  ITEMS   In  Determining  Proper  Sale   Price, 


Recognized      Items? 

(    Because   Paid  Each  Month) 
Mine  Labor 
Wine  Supplies 
Sales  Expense 
Taxes  &    Insurance 
General  Expense 
Asan.   Assessments 


THE   HOLE    IN   THE  DQyGHKUT: 
Neglected    Items: 

(Because   Payment   is  deferred) 

Plant  Depreciation          MJMJ 
Land  Depletion  •• 

Contingent  Fund  MM) 

Interest   on  Investment  •• 
PROFIT  MM1 


(  you  can  fill  in  your  own  figures) 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  69 

and  R.  L.  Gardiner,  we  now  have  our  second  or  third  set  of  repre- 
sentatives here,  some  one  or  all  of  whom  are,  in  the  early  future,  to 
provide  us — all  of  us,  throughout  all  the  coal  producing  states — a  sched- 
ule, on  which  they  will  ask  us  to  answer  certain  questions  in  reference 
to  our  industry  and  our  own  particular  properties — the  idea  being  that 
through  the  answers  provided  on  this  schedule  they  will  be  able  to  get 
a  general  idea  of  the  actual  condition  that  does  prevail  in  the  industry 
in  the  several  districts,  not  only  in  our  states,  but  in  the  country  as  a 
whole,  with  the  hope  that  from  such  data  they  may  find  basis  for 
friendly  assistance  and  counsel  as  to  methods  of  relief.  With  reference 
to  our  acknowledged  and  repeated  assurance  to  the  Commission  that 
we  are  perfectly  willing  and  ready  to  adopt  a  uniform  system  of  account- 
ing if  in  the  adoption  of  such  system  we  might  find  some  way  to  over- 
come the  unfortunate  competitive  conditions  and  results  that  we  have 
had  to  endure  the  last  several  years,  they  undertook  to  advise  and  I 
trust  later  will  undertake  to  recommend  that  certain  systems  suggested 
by  us  are  acceptable  to  the  Commission.  Meanwhile,  and  pending  some 
definite  recognition  by  the  Commission  on  the  basis  of  submitted  data 
or  plans  suggested  by  some  of  the  present  coal  trade  associations,  it 
certainly  behooves  the  several  groups  of  mine  operators  now  getting 
under  co-operative  organization  guidance  to  give  serious  and  painstaking 
study  to  the  matter  not  only  of  costs,  but  of  various  other  subjects 
equally  vital  to  the  commo.n  interest.  I  feel  disposed  to  insist  that 
although  costs  are  a  very  definite  and  important  factor,  that  having 
determined  a  fair  cost  which  we  can  prove  is  fair  that  we  have  only  gone 
part  of  the  distance  that  a  good  trade  association,  coal  or  otherwise, 
ought  to  go.  A  proper  cost  system  and  the  proper  determination  of 
costs  is  valuable  not  only  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  you  to  practice 
economies  in  your  own  properties  and  by  comparison  with  your  neigh- 
bor to  extend  the  benefit  of  all  the  genius  that  exists  in  your  field  or 
in  your  state,  or  among  the  several  states,  but  proper  cost  knowledge 
is  also  absolutely  essential  for  the  intelligent  determination  of  a  proper 
market  or  sale  price.  It  is  legitimate  and  must  be  legal  that  we  should 
not  be  asked  to  sacrifice  our  coal  at  a  price  which  does  not  safely  cover 
production  cost  and  provide  proper  reserves  for  those  purposes  which 
are  good  not  only  for  the  producing  company,  but  economically  for  the 
commonwealth  in  caring  for  the  men  that  are  injured  or  that  are  killed 
in  our  employ  and  to  encourage  development  of  the  best  class  and  type 
of  mine  plant  that  will  give  us  the  maximum  amount  of  coal  per  acre 
in  the  land  that  we  work,  and  finally,  it  would  seem  equally  sane  and 
equally  legal  to  protect  a  proper  return  on  invested  capital,  and  we 
are  certainly  not  beyond  our  privilege  in  asking  even  beyond  all  these 
items  a  profit  for  our  own  efforts. 

If  there  is  anyone  now  who  wants  to  ask  any  questions  about  the 
Franklin  County  Association,  or  about  our  notion  of  coal  trade  associ- 
ation, I  would  be  glad  to  answer  him,  if  I  can.  Otherwise,  I  am  going 
to  yield  my  place  to  Mr.  White. 

CHAIRMAN  MODERWELL:  I  find,  gentlemen,  that  it  is  not 
safe  to  ask  Dr.  Honnold  any  questions  unless  you  are  prepared  to 
answer  them  yourself,  because  he  will  make  you  answer  them  yourself 
before  he  gets  through. 

DR.   HONNOLD:     I   thank  you,   gentlemen.      (Applause.) 

CHAIRMAN  MODERWELL:  In  addition  to  being  engaged  in 
the  coal  business,  I  took  a  little  time  off  last  spring  and  went  out  to 
preach  the  gospel  and  among  other  places  I  went  to  Cleveland.  I  found 
a  benighted  lot  of  gentlemen  down  there  who  were  willing  to  listen 
to  what  I  had  to  say  and  I  understand  that  Mr.  White  is  here  to  tell 
us  the  result  of  my  mission.  Mr.  C.  P.  White,  of  the  Pittsburgh  Vein 
Operators'  Association  of  Ohio.  (Applause.) 

MR.  C.  P.  WHITE:  I  have  been  much  interested  in  Mr.  Crews' 
address  and  in  Dr.  Honnold's  talk,  first,  because  so  many  coal  men,  as 


70  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

well  as  those  engaged  in  other  lines  of  business,  have  been  giving 
thought  during  the  past  few  years  to  the  possibilities  of  co-operation 
between  industrial  concerns  in  the  same  line  of  business,  largely  through 
such  associations  as  those  of  which  Mr.  Crews  has  spoken.  Secondly, 
because  I  have  had  some  experience  in  this  work  and  it  is  because  of 
this  fact,  I  assume,  that  I  have  been  asked  to  discuss  for  a  few  minutes 
what  you  have  just  heard. 

For  a  number  of  years  prior  to  last  April  I  had  been  in  charge  of 
coal  dock  properties  at  the  head  of  Lake  Superior  and  concerned  in 
the  sale  of  coal  in  that  northwestern  territory.  For  about  a  year  before 
leaving  that  country,  the  corporation  which  I  represented  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Northwestern  Coal  Dock  Operators'  Association,  and  for  the 
latter  part  of  the  term  I  was  a  member  of  its  executive  committee. 
Mr.  Crews  was,  and  still  is,  I  believe,  attorney  for  that  association.  He 
has  had  experience  of  a  year  or  more  in  directing  the  activities  of  the 
Franklin  County  Association  and  keeping  these  good  people  in  the 
straight  and  narrow  path,  within  the  law. 

It  was  a  foregone  conclusion  that  Mr.  Crews'  address  would  fully 
cover  the  ground,  and  he  has  so  nearly  exhausted  the  subject  in  a  theo- 
retical way  that  there  is  little  left,  I  feel,  to  say  on  that  score.  Dr.  Hon- 
nold  has  also  spoken  on  the  subject,  which  leaves  so  much  less  for 
me  to  talk  about  except  possibly  to  corroborate  what  these  gentlemen 
have  said.  Perhaps  I  can,  however,  give  you  some  information  as  to 
the  practical  work  of  such  associations  by  relating  a  little  of  my  own 
experiences  and  outlining  the  results  obtained  in  the  associations  with 
which  I  am  familiar.  I  believe  that  Secretary  Groverman  of  the  Dock 
Association  is  here  and  could  tell  you  of  the  present  conditions  in  their 
territory,  but  while  I  was  in  the  North  I  saw  as  a  result  of  this  associ- 
ation work  confidence  and  business  friendships  take  the  place  of  suspi- 
cion, doubts  and  cut-throat  tactics  previously  forced  upon  the  coal  inter- 
ests in  that  field  by  the  clever  buyer  who  worked  upon  the  seller's 
distrust  of  his  competitor  until  prices  never  made  were  being  met  and 
cut  and  the  whole  industry  was  involved  in  a  struggle  for  individual 
existence.  Entirely  aside  from  the  present  condition  of  abnormally  high 
prices  at  the  mines,  the  members  of  that  association  have  been  educated 
by  joint  meetings  and  proper  discussions  of  common  problems  to  a 
state  of  mind  where  reduced  operating  expenses  and  a  fair  a.nd  reason- 
able return  on  money  invested  seems  assured. 

I  went  to  Cleveland  in  April  of  this  year.  The  operators  of  the 
so-called  number  eight  field  in  eastern  Ohio  had  had  an  association 
for  a  number  of  years,  but  their  activities  had  been  confined  largely 
to  dealings  with  their  miners'  organizations.  This  spring,  however,  a 
number  of  the  operators  deemed  it  advisable  to  establish  such  a  sta- 
tistical bureau  as  you  have  heard  described,  in  connection  with  the 
other  work  of  the  association.  I  was  selected  as  secretary,  and  in 
accepting  was  told  by  my  friends  that  if  I  could  make  a  success  of  the 
work  in  that  field,  could  get  "that  bunch"  together,  I  would  be  entitled 
to  a  .niche  in  the  Hall  of  Fame.  We  now  have  a  membership  comprising 
approximately  50  per  cent  in  numbers  of  the  operators,  with  about  85 
per  cent  of  the  production  of  the  field.  We  exchange  between  our- 
selves and  through  the  medium  of  the  association  office  full  informa- 
tion as  to  sales  and  contracts  made,  give  daily  reports  of  shipments 
from  the  mines,  show  weekly  recapitulation  of  sales  and  of  deliveries, 
with  prices  realized,  grade  by  grade.  We  tabulate  figures  as  to  hours 
worked  and  tonnage  produced,  with  data  as  to  our  supply  a.nd  causes 
of  delay.  We  give  monthly  costs  of  mining  operations  and  a  summary 
of  deliveries  and  realizations  when  the  books  are  closed.  Today,  and 
this  comes  not  from  the  work  of  any  individual,  but  from  the  effects 
of  information  disseminated,  from  regular  meetings,  from  association 
of  the  members  and  from  a  frank,  full  and  lawful  discussion  of  the 
problems  and  conditions  of  the  industry,  I  do  not  believe  that  today  our 
members  could  be  driven  or  persuaded  to  go  back  to  the  methods  of  a 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  71 

year  ago.  I  think  that  we  have  made  the  benefit  of  co-operation  plain 
to  our  members  and  that  others  starting  since  we  began  will  show  their 
several  associations  fully  justified  and  in  the  final  analysis  well  worth 
while.  I  thank  you,  gentlemen.  (Applause.) 

CHAIRMAN  MODERWELL:  I  have  been  surprised  to  see  the 
number  of  coal  men  that  have  been  able  to  get  away  from  their  own 
affairs  to  attend  a  meeting  like  this.  You  all  know  what  the  condition 
of  the  bituminous  coal  industry  is  at  the  present  time.  Nevertheless 
there  are  some  who  have  not  been  able  to  get  here,  and  among  others 
is  my  friend  Mr.  Hord  of  Lexingto.n,  Kentucky.  I  have  not  seen  Mr. 
Hall  in  the  room.  He  is  the  next  speaker  on  the  program.  I  wasn't 
sure  about  him,  but  from  Mr.  Hord  I  had  a  wire  to  the  effect  that  he 
would  be  unable  to  be  here.  Mr.  Barker  also  is  unable  to  be  here. 
Mr.  W.  H.  Huff  of  the  Victor  American  Fuel  Company  of  Colorado 
was  unable  to  come,  but  he  sent  a  letter  which  I  will  ask  the  Secretary 
to  read,  if  he  will.  It  is  a  very  interesting  letter  and  he  puts  his  finger 
on  some  things  that  are  of  interest  in  the  industry  at  the  present  time. 

Mr.  Huff's  letter  was  read  as  follows: 

Denver,  Colorado,  November  11,  1916. 
Mr.  J.  F.  Callbreath, 

Secretary,   American    Mining   Congress, 

Hotel  La  Salle,   Chicago,  Illinois. 
My  Dear  Mr.  Callbreath: 

When  I  wrote  you  a  few  days  ago,  I  did  not  know  I  was  "appointed" 
to  help  the  discussion  of  coal  marketing.  It  is  always  an  interesting 
subject  to  me  and  I  am  disappointed  over  my  inability  to  attend  the 
convention. 

The  address  of  Mr.  Crews  brings  into  view  points  not  heretofore 
altogether  clear  to  many  of  us — the  evolution  of  the  legal  phases  of 
anti-trust  and  trade  laws,  and  although  not  entrely  conclusive  that  some 
zealous  prosecutor  will  not  regard  the  dissemination  of  information  of 
the  character  spoken  of  as  unduly  stimulating  prices,  there  is  whole- 
some encouragement  in  what  a  few  responsible  public  men  have  said 
on  the  point  of  costs.  The  laws  on  combinations  invariably  qualify  by 
saying,  "It  shall  be  illegal  if  it  is  intended  to  restrain  trade  or  has  that 
effect." 

I  wish  to  speak  of  price  lists — price  quotations.  I  think  under  the 
unfair  trade  section  it  is  possible  for  a  case  to  be  made  against  the 
operator  who  makes  secret  prices.  An  operator  in  the  habit  of  publish- 
ing prices  lists,  who  then  makes  low  secret  prices,  is  certainly  guilty 
of  unfair  methods.  His  circular  then  becomes  a  decoy  and  a  subterfuge. 
It  is  the  secret,  hidden  thing  that  offends.  It  was  the  secret  rebate  in  rail- 
roading that  was  condemned  and  it  is  to  be  expected  that  the  man  who 
so  uses  his  circular  shall  lose  caste  with  his  fellows.  It's  a  form  of 
deceit  and  cheating.  In  a  certain  way  my  price  list  is  a  tacit  contract 
with  my  fellow  operators  that  I  am  in  good  faith  quoting  certain  prices. 
The  public  welfare  is  the  foundation  of  all  laws,  so  when  a  law  says  that 
"Unfair  methods  of  trade  are  declared  unlawful,"  it  says  so  to  protect 
the  public,  and  my  fellow  operator  is  as  much  a  part  of  the  public  as 
anyone  else. 

I  am  not  one  of  those  who  doubts  the  honesty  and  good  intentions 
of  mankind.  The  public,  generally,  must  be  honest,  else  we  would  not 
get  on  at  all.  Since  the  major  part  of  all  business  is  doi\e  on  faith  in 
one  another,  men,  as  a  whole,  must  be  essentially  honest. 

I  think  our  chief  difficulty  is  suspicion  of  one  another.  It  was  said 
of  Lincoln  he  demanded  of  himself  strict  accountability  (I  don't  like 
that  expression  any  more),  but  was  lenient  toward  others.  If  we  all 
practiced  that,  all  would  go  well.  I  also  believe  much  of  the  discord  is 
due  to  the  spread  of  gossip.  A  "gossip"  is  one  who  "prates";  one  who 
"tattles"  and  tells  "idle  tales";  he  is  a  destroyer  of  character  and  WE 
MEN  have  stigmatized  gossiping  as  a  practice  peculiarly  characteristic 
of  the  feminine  sex — yet  I  would  wager  almost  every  one  attending  the 


72  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

convention  has  been  guilty  of  gossiping.     Recently  we  sent  our  sales- 
men a  circular  reading: 

"Section  5  of  the  Act  to  create  a  Federal  Trade  Commission 
says:  'UNFAIR  METHODS  OF  COMPETITION  IN  COM- 
MERCE ARE  HEREBY  DECLARED  UNLAWFUL.' 

"Much  mischief  is  done  the  coal  industry  by  the  'peddling'  of 
so-called  misdemeanors  of  other  companies  or  their  salesmen. 

"I  believe  part  of  the  demoralization  that  actually  occurs  is 
the  result  of  the  'loose  talk'  between  competing  salesmen — one  tell- 
ing the  other  of  alleged  cuts;  that  'a  certin  salesman  understood 
that  another  salesman  had  heard  someone  else  had  indulged  in.' 

"There  are  many  men  on  the  road  selling  coal.  They  meet 
Frequently  on  trains,  at  stations,  hotels  and  other  places.  The 
custom  of  talking  'business  scandal,'  'coal  gossip,'  has  grown.  Much, 
and  I  believe  most  of  the  scandal,  is  wholly  without  foundation,  but 
it  circulates  with  all  the  semblance  of  truth. 

"I  am  not  aware  that  you  ever  take  part  in  this.  We  not  only 
discountenance  this  in  our  own  men,  but  we  wish  to  go  further. 
Please  make  it  a  point  to  discourage  with  others  the  spread  of  such 
so-called  information,  on  the  ground  that  untrue  statements  come 
within  the  scope  of  Congressional  Acts  with  respect  to  unfair  trade 
methods.  Where,  unfortunately,  there  is  some  foundation,  they 
are,  I  believe,  isolated  cases  and  will  probably  not  continue  unless 
perpetuated  by  similar  acts  of  others. 

"A  salesman  only  damages  the  interest  of  his  employer  by 
spreading  such  tales.  If  he  cares  at  all  about  the  net  earnings  of 
his  company,  by  what  logic  does  he  'gossip'?  If  this  company  re- 
quires him  to  sell  at  list  prices,  how  can  he  justify  (to  himself, 
even)  spreading  stories  that  make  his  own  selling  more  difficult? 

"We  are  not  satisfied  to  be  only  passively  interested  in  this 
reform.  We  wish  to  be  actively  aggressive.  Leave  no  stone  un- 
turned to  overcome  this  habit  so  productive  of  harm  to  employers, 
and  so  inane  from  the  standpoint  of  the  salesman." 
And  afterwards  I  sent  a  copy  to  each  Colorado  operator  with  the 
following  letter: 

"I  enclose  copy  of  letter  Mr.  Vaughn  has  sent  to  our  sales- 
men. As  it  is  a  plain  statement,  it  needs  no  explanation. 

"Mr.  Hurley  told  us  last  July  his  examination  of  the  industries 
the  country  over  convinced  him  the  troubles  were  largely  due  to 
their  own  lack  of  business  skill. 

"As  to  who  has  been  responsible  for  unfair  methods — that  is, 
'who  started  it,'  it  would  be  difficult  .now  to  tell,  but  any  one  of  us 
can  be  the  pioneer  in  applying  a  remedy. 

"I  am  sending  a  similar  letter  to  all  coal  operators  of  Colorado 
to  ask  their  co-operation  in  stopping  practices  of  this  kind. 

"Please  understand  I  do  not  charge  any  particular  concern  or 
any  group,  and  I  send  this  to  no  one  to  indicate  that  he  has  en- 
dorsed or  forwarded  the  habit,  for  I  believe  much  of  this  sort  of 
thing  is  the  result  of  pur  own  neglect  in  permitting  it  to  go  on; 
but  if  each  concern  will  instruct  its  selling  department  in  similar 
fashion  and  require  observance,  we  will  be  on  the  road  toward 
fair  trade  methods  a.nd  I  hope  you  will  co-operate  in  this  particular 
move. 

"I  am  telling  nothing  new.  We  all  know  what  our  troubles 
are  and  we  all  will  make  a  brain-acknowledgment  thereof,  but  this 
brain-knowledge  has  yet  to  become  a  part  of  our  conscience.  Many 
of  us,  and  perhaps  all,  have  attended  camp  meetings,  revivals  and 
the  like.  At  these  meetings  a  certain  few  become  'co.nvicted.'  Now 
when  they  were  'convicted'  they  acquired  more  than  a  brain- 
knowledge  of  their  shortcomings.  The  drunkard  knows  for  years 
that  he  is  wrong,  but  he  drinks  on — until  one  day  something  hap- 
pens and  he  quits  drinking.  He  has  been  'convicted.'  It's  all  very 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  73 

well  to  devise  cost  sheets — and  I  am  a  hearty  believer  in  them — 
to  entice,  seduce,  or  otherwise  convince  a  man  that  if  he  is  to  have 
profits  he  must  sell  above  cost,  but  it  all  gets  back  to  the  first 
person,  to  the  party  of  the  first  part;  in  other  words,  what  am  I 
doing?  And  these  acts  are  not  so  bad,  perhaps,  if  done  by  the  man 
who  owns  the  mine,  but  what  of  those  who  are  hired  by  persons 
or  corporations?  What  are  they  hired  for?  When  you  were  hired, 
did  your  employer  say,  'I  have  tried  to  get  rid  of  my  property;  to 
wreck  this  business;  but  I'm  too  slow  at  it;  I  need  help;  now  go 
to  it;  smash  it;  kick  it;  kill  it;  and  do  it  rapidly'?  No!  If  he  had 
said  such  a  thing  you  would  have  been  afraid;  afraid  he  couldn't 
pay  you.  Only  clubs  and  fraternal  associations  have  charters  and 
by-laws  that  say,  'This  association  is  not  organized  for  profit.'  If 
your  company's  charter  does  not  say  specifically  it  is  for  profit, 
somewhere  it  says  'and  to  do  such  other  things  as  may  be  necessary 
and  proper  for  the  welfare  of  the  company.'  " 

What  I  am  contending  is  that  the  most  necesasry  thing  now  is 
thorough  and  honest  conversion  to  the  Gospel  of  Fair  Profits.  How  to 
reach  this  end  is  immaterial,  but  until  we  all  have  the  .honest  desire, 
methods  and  plans  are  futile. 

In  a  plea  for  better  methods  of  trade,  I  once  heard  a  quaint  old 
man  say,  "Let's  try  not  to  cut  each  other's  throats;  we  will  make  some 
money  and  maybe  after  we  have  made  a  little  we'll  get  to  like  it." 

We  have  been  fooling  ourselves  and  in  the  general  fight,  who  gets 
the  benefit?  The  buyer!  And  do  you  know  what  he  thinks?  He  thinks 
we  are  fools!  Very  truly  yours, 

W.   H.  HUFF. 

CHAIRMAN  MODERWELL:  I  am  unfortunate  in  not  being 
acquainted  with  the  next  gentleman  on  the  program.  Is  Mr.  James 
E.  McCoy  of  Knoxville,  Tennessee,  present? 

MR.  JAMES  E.  McCOY:  Mr.  Chairma.n  and  gentlemen:  When 
Mr.  Callbreath,  your  able  Secretary,  to  my  great  surprise,  notified  me  that 
I  had  been  put  on  the  program  for  a  ten  minutes'  talk  on  some  phase 
of  the  subject  as  introduced  by  Mr.  Crews'  paper  on  "Co-operation  in 
the  Marketing  of  Coal,"  my  first  impulse  was  to  decline  and  ask  by 
what  authority  this  splendid  body  of  representative  business  men 
should  be  punished  by  having  to  listen  to  me,  especially  when  there 
are  men  here  who  have  devoted  many  years  to  the  general  subject  now 
under  discussion,  many  of  them  men  who  are  known  and  recognized  as 
experts  in  the  business.  Instead  of  discussing  any  one  of  the  different 
phases  of  the  subject,  I  would  be  more  greatly  pleased  to  listen  to 
the  explanations  and  recommendations  of  those  more  experienced  in 
the  business. 

The  subject  of  co-operation  is  one  of  vast  importance  and  I  am 
least  of  all  able  to  suggest  or  offer  anything  .new  on  the  subject.  To 
my  mind,  Mr.  Crews'  paper  suggests  much  more  than  co-operative 
selling,  since  he  gives  you  a  brief  history  of  the  Sherman  or  anti-trust 
law  now  governing  or  controlling  industrial  affairs. 

May  I  not  venture  to  touch  briefly  upon  some  of  the  fundamentals 
of  co-operation?  Before  taking  up  in  detail  the  possibilities,  allow 
me  to  state  what  I  consider  to  be  fundamental  requirements.  They  are 
as  follows: 

(a)  We  must  have  a  co-operative  mind;  that  is,  a  mind  to  co-oper- 
ate plus  confidence  in  our  fellow  men.     Without  these  necessary  attri- 
butes no  plan  devised  by  man  can  succeed. 

(b)  Our  work  must  be  intensive,  being  principally  in  the  interest 
of  its  members. 

(c)  We  must  keep  within  the  law. 

Again,  in  order  to  successfully  co-operate,  we  must  have  uniform 
cost  accounting,  uniform  sales  contract,  uniform  terms,  etc.  Judging 
from  the  public  statements  made  by  the  Hon.  Edward  N.  Hurley,  chair- 
man of  the  Federal  Trade  Commission,  I  feel  safe  in  saying  that  a  lack 


74  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

of  information  pertaining  to  costs  is  largely  responsible  for  the  serious 
condition  now  obtaining  in  the  coal  industry.  I  am  told  that  in  Ger- 
many a  coal  operator  or  manufacturer  can  tell  you  to  the  last  decimal 
point  the  exact  cost  of  his  production,  whatever  it  may  be.  It  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  the  coal  operator  to  know  the  exact  cost  to  produce 
a  tojti  of  coal  before  he  can  properly  fix  the  price  and  hope  to  success- 
fully operate  his  mine. 

The  advantages  in  a  uniform  sales  contract,  terms  of  settlement 
and  so  forth,  are  also  obvious.  To  successfully  market  any  product, 
the  manufacturer  or  coal  operator  should  know  what  the  market  con- 
ditions are.  To  that  end  association  secretaries  should  compile  from 
data  furnished  by  its  members  at  regular  intervals  statistics  that  will 
give  them  this  information.  Trade  associations  of  all  kinds,  particu- 
larly those  i.n  the  coal  industry,  should  work  together  on  freight  rates, 
credits,  abolition  of  trade  abuses,  etc. 

The  question  of  price  is  the  keynote  of  all  association  work  and 
everything  an  association  does  contributes  to  this  end.  Information 
as  regards  production,  cost,  freight  rates,  markets,  labor  conditions,  etc., 
all  have  to  do  ultimately  with  the  matter  of  price.  Therefore,  the  crux 
of  the  matter  is  that  all  these  activities  tend  to  the  stablization  of  prices. 

The  coal  people  must  think  and  act  together  in  all  matters  of  a 
commoji  interest,  first  by  districts  or  fields  representing  a  community 
of  interests,  then  as  a  whole,  which  means  we  should  have  a  national 
coal  association  composed  of  the  several  associations  with  offices  in 
Washington,  D.  C.,  with  a  secretary  and  a  competent  staff  of  helpers, 
able  and  capable  of  handling  the  larger  problems  growing  out  of  legis- 
lation, both  state  and  national,  affecting  the  industry. 

Honest,  broad-minded  men  need  not  agree  upo.n  every  phase  of 
co-operative  association  work,  as  it  is  now  practiced  by  the  several 
coal  associations  in  order  to  work  and  plan  together,  and  I  am  sure  I 
speak  for  all  honest,  forward-thinking  .coal  operators  in  the  southern 
Appalachian  field  when  I  say  that  they  will  gladly  meet  half-way  any 
a.nd  all  who  are  honestly  striving  to  lift  the  coal  industry  to  a  higher 
and  better  level,  placing  it  in  its  rightful  position  economically  and 
otherwise.  No  operator,  regardless  of  his  ability,  application  or  capital, 
can  realize  the  full  measure  of  success  to  which  he  is  entitled  unless 
the  industry  as  a  whole  prospers.  Prosperity  as  a  whole  is  impossible 
without  co-operation. 

I  thank  you.     (Applause.) 

CHAIRMAN  MODERWELL:  My  affections  in  the  coal  Industry 
are  primarily  with  Illinois,  but  I  got  my  start  in  the  coal  business  in 
West  Virginia  and  I  find  a  lingering  affection  for  the  state  of  West 
Virginia.  In  the  days  when  I  was  selling  West  Virginia  coal  it  was  a 
case  of  dog  eat  dog  and  sometimes  we  both  ate  each  other  up.  I  under- 
stand that  they  have  learned  better  down  there  now  and  that  they 
are  willing  to  see  if  they  can't  at  least  get  cost  out  of  their  product. 
The  next  speaker  is  one  who  devoted  a  good  part  of  his  life  to  try  to 
secure  for  the  workingman  in  the  coal  industry  a  living  wage,  and 
while  he  is  doing  a  little  different  work  now,  I  think  he  is  indirectly 
at  least  benefiting  the  men  with  whom  he  used  to  be  associated.  You 
all  know  him,  Mr.  Thomas  L.  Lewis,  Charleston,  West  Virginia. 
(Applause.) 

MR.  THOMAS  L.  LEWIS:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  do  not  know  why 
I  have  been  called  upon  to  explain  a  subject  that  probably  I  do  not 
know  a  great  deal  about.  The  West  Virginia  operators,  I  presume,  are 
very  well  known  the  country  over,  charged  time  and  again  with  being 
the  greatest  price  cutters  in  the  coal  industry.  I  desire  to  state  that 
when  they  asked  me  to  take  charge  of  the  work  of  a  trade  association 
fourteen  months  ago  I  was  very  skeptical  of  my  ability  to  do  a.ny  good 
in  that  state.  I  am  not  sure  yet  that  our  work  is  going  to  be  a  success, 
but  if  we  are  to  judge  by  the  work  of  our  executive  committee  and 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  75 

whatever  I  can  do  to  carry  out  their  plans,  I  think  the  charge  of  cheap 
coal  from  West  Virginia  is  a  matter  of  history. 

You  will  pardon  me  if  I  relate  a  little  of  my  experience  along 
another  line,  but  having  a  direct  bearing  on  the  work  of  all  these  trade 
associations. 

Twenty  years  ago  last  spring  the  mine  workers  of  the  central  com- 
petitive coal  producing  states  were  induced  by  the  operators  of  those 
states  to  accept  a  sweeping  reduction  in  wages,  under  the  plea  that 
times  were  hard,  competition  was  so  keen  that  it  was  impossible  to  sell 
coal  and  give  the  men  an  opportunity  to  earn  any  wages,  much  less  a 
living  wage.  The  mine  workers  at  that  time  accepted  in  good  faith 
the  plea  of  the  operators,  but  we  discovered  very  shortly  after  that, 
after  we  had  accepted  a  reduction  in  wages  of  fifteen  and  twenty  cents 
per  ton,  the  operators  went  out  and  gave  all  of  that  to  the  consumer 
and  a  little  more,  due  entirely  to  the  fact  that  the  operators  then — and 
you  will  pardon  me  if  I  talk  plainly  on  this  subject,  because  that  is  my 
weakness — that  the  operators  then  practiced  methods  that  they  did  for 
several  years  after.  Each  of  them  surrounded  himself  with  a  veil  of 
mystery,  refusing  to  discuss  with  his  neighbor  operator  anything  about 
his  business,  but  passing  the  word  along  to  the  salesmen,  "Get  the 
best  price  you  can  for  the  coal  you  are  going  to  sell,  but  remember 
one  thing,  get  that  contract  regardless  of  the  price."  That  is  the  con- 
dition that  has  kept  the  coal  mining  industry  of  this  country  in  a  posi- 
tion where  it  is  regarded,  and  it  can  be  proven,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  it  is  the  most  important  industry  in  the  United  States,  to  be 
the  cheapest.  It  sacrifices  more  lives  of  human  beings  and  nets  a  less 
return  on  investment  than  any  other  industry  in  the  United  States. 

I  realized  those  things  when  they  asked  me  to  take  the  secretary- 
ship of  the  Splint  and  Gas  Coal  Association  of  West  Virginia.  I  real- 
ized the  jealousies  that  existed  among  the  operators.  I  realized  that 
that  condition  had  to  be  broken  down,  and  I  also  realized  it  was  quite 
a  task  to  harmonize  the  conflicting  interests  a.nd  get  the  operators  to 
believe  what  we  used  to  try  to  make  the  miners  believe,  what  was  good 
for  all  the  operators  must  necessarily  be  good  for  each  operator. '  And 
in  that  line  of  work  we  believe  that  our  executive  committee  has  been 
more  than  successful.  I  regard  myself  as  only  an  individual  carrying 
out  their  plans  in  so  far  as  I  know  how. 

We  find  that  co-operation  in  the  marketing  of  coal  has  for  its 
object,  from  the  standpoint  at  least  of  West  Virginia,  to  prevent  the 
reckless  waste  of  the  fuel  resources  of  that  state,  to  reduce  the  number 
of  fatalities  and  accidents  in  the  mines  of  that  state,  to  make  effective 
workmen's  compensation  laws  and  the  application  of  those  laws  for 
the  benefit  of  the  mine  workers  of  West  Virginia.  We  believe  what  is 
true  of  that  state  is  also  true  of  the  application  of  those  objects  to  every 
other  coal  producing  state  in  the  country. 

We  find  that  the  success  of  the  movement  will  depend  upon  our 
ability  to  eliminate  from  the  operator's  mind  the  petty  jealousies  that 
have  largely  governed  them  in  their  business  affairs  in  the  past,  to 
remove  from  their  minds  any  prejudices  they  might  have  collectively 
or  individually  toward  each  other. 

We  believe  that  every  operator  must  rise  to  the  occasion  and  have 
absolute  confidence  in  each  other's  integrity,  honesty  and  a  desire 
to  do  something  for  the  general  uplift  of  the  coal  mining  industry.  We 
believe  also  that  it  can  be  accomplished,  but  it  will  be  necessary  to 
appeal  to  the  elevating  thought  in  the  human  mind,  not  that  element  of 
human  weakness  which  so  many  of  us  possess,  the  desire  to  do  some- 
thing to  tear  another  man  down. 

We  believe  that  it  is  necessary,  as  has  been  stated  positively,  clearly, 
and,  I  believe,  in  a  convincing  maner  by  the  different  gentlemen  who 
have  addressed  this  Congress,  to  have  a  uniform  cost  accounting  sys- 
tem. The  reason  that  I  believe  there  is  a  necessity  for  the  uniform 
cost  accounting  system  is  the  fact  that  many  operators  actually  believe 


76  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

they  can  take  their  payrolls  and  make  them  show  the  total  cost  of 
production  and  sell  coal  from  that  standard,  and  delude  themselves 
into  the  belief  they  are  making  money.  In  other  words,  if  the  cost  of  the 
labor  in  a  mine  amounts  to  one  dollar  a  ton  and  they  are  selling  coal 
for  a  dollar  and  five  cents  a  ton  they  think  they  are  making  money. 
They  have  ignored  the  fact  that  they  have  invested  a  certain  amount 
of  money  in  the  coal  property,  either  by  paying  royalty  on  the  leases 
or  by  paying  a  certain  amount  per  a,cre  on  their  original  investment. 
They  ignore  the  further  item  of  expense  required  to  build  tipples, 
install  machinery,  etc.,  and  many  other  items  of  expense  which  enter 
into  the  cost  of  production.  There  is  a  great  work  being  done  by  the 
different  trade  associations,  and  especially  by  the  Federal  Trade  Com- 
mission, in  convincing  the  operating  coal  men  of  this  country  they 
know  very  little  about  what  it  actually  costs  to  produce  a  ton  of  coal. 
There  are  corporations  and  there  are  firms  who  have  very  splendid 
cost  accounting  systems,  yet  they  have  discovered  that  in  the  opinion 
of  the  representatives  of  the  Federal  Government  they  have  not  in- 
cluded all  of  the  items  of  expense  that  should  be  charged  against 
producing  coal.  We  find  in  this  work,  if  we  are  to  perfect  it  in  all  of 
its  details,  we  should  know  what  it  costs  to  produce  a  ton  of  coal  in 
order  that  we  could  lay  the  ground  work  for  real  conservation  of  the 
fuel  resources  of  the  United  States. 

We  find  also  there  is  a  necessity  for  the  protection  of  the  lives  of 
the  men  in  the  mines.  There  is  not  any  one  in  our  country  but  who 
will  favor,  in  fact,  strongly  advocate,  having  laws  enacted  to  protect 
the  miners  who  produce  coal,  and  yet  there  has  been  so  little  said  and 
done,  until  within  the  last  year  or  two,  to  convey  to  the  public  mind 
that  one  of  the  real  causes  of  the  actual  destruction  of  life  in  the 
mining  industry  is  the  continual  clamor  for  cheap  fuel.  Once  we  con- 
vince the  coal  consuming  public  they  are  contributing  to  the  enormous 
loss  of  life  in  the  mining  industry,  we  will  discover  that  the  coal 
consumer  will  be  the  quickest  to  lend  assistance  to  the  coal  industry 
of  this  country  to  conserve  human  life.  If  for  no  other  reason,  we 
believe  that  tHe  trade  associations  are  accomplishing  a  splendid  and  a 
permanent  good.  We  find  that  if  the  operators  are  expecting  to  have 
permanent  success  in  the  various  trade  movements  now  organized  we 
must  take  the  coal  consuming  public,  which  is  the  nation,  into  our 
confidence.  We  must  throw  our  business  wide  open  and  show  the  con- 
sumer what  it  actually  costs  to  produce  a  ton  of  coal,  after  every  item 
of  expense  has  been  charged  against  the  cost  of  production.  I  believe 
that  it  is  necessary  for  the  operators  first  to  know  themselves,  and  to  know 
themselves  they  will  have  confidence  in  each  other,  and  when  they  have 
more  confidence  in  each  other  they  will  be  able  to  present  the  cause  of 
the  evils  afflicting  the  coal  mining  industry  to  every  branch  of  business 
in  the  country,  to  every  legislative  body  in  the  United  States,  to  every 
governmental  authority  which  is  investigating  the  coal  business  and 
its  methods,  and  will  be  able  to  convince  the  American  people  that  the 
coal  industry  is  not  only  the  most  important  industry  in  this  country, 
but  that  it  has  received  very  little  consideration  from  the  nation.  If  we 
will  co-operate,  if  we  will  unite,  if  we  will  endeavor  to  understand  each 
other,  the  moment  we  have  accomplished  those  three  things,  then  there 
will  be  no  trouble  in  convincing  the  American  people  that  the  coal  in- 
dustry has  been  ignored,  that  it  has  been  in  one  sense  stultified,  that  it 
has  been  damaged  almost  irreparably,  that  there  have  been  no  returns 
on  investment,  that  the  miners  have  not  received  the  standard  of  wages 
to  which  they  are  entitled,  considering  the  danger  of  their  occupation, 
and  that  the  American  people,  if  not  directly,  are  indirectly  responsible 
for  this  deplorable  condition. 

I  want  to  say  that  we  have  every  reason  to  be  glad,  we  have  every 
reason  to  be  proud,  we  have  every  reason  to  be  hopeful  that  the  mining 
industry  is  finally  coming  into  its  own,  and  the  more  actively  the  differ- 
ent coal  trade  associations  work  to  that  end  the  quicker  success  will 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  77 

crown  all  our  efforts.  All  the  coal  industry  requires  is  the  same  treat- 
ment other  industries  receive — justice. 

I  thank  you.     (Applause.) 

MR.  CARL  J.  FLETCHER:  Mr.  Chairman:  On  account  of  the 
fact  that  I  represent  probably  the  smallest  group  of  operators  that  sup- 
port any  such  association,  I  thought  perhaps  I  would  escape  talking 
to  you. 

We  have  heard  today  a  great  deal  about  co-operation  in  the  mar- 
keting of  coal,  and  all  these  general  policies  are  good.  When  our 
Knox  County  Association  was  formed,  only  six  months  ago,  we  had  no 
trouble  in  outlining  policies  that  were  sound  and  good  and  which  we 
all  wanted  to  follow.  The  application  of  these  policies  to  the  indi- 
vidual is  where  we  had  the  difficulty.  The  work  at  first  was  very  slow, 
but  during  the  six  months  we  have  progressed  a  little  and  have  reached 
a  point  in  co-operation  where  there  is  no  danger  that  this  association 
will  ever  be  abandoned.  I  haven't  anything  to  add  to  the  policies  which 
have  been  outlined  by  the  preceding  secretaries.  I  had  an  idea  that 
perhaps  some  of  the  secretaries  of  the  different  associations  would  tell 
us  more  intimately  what  they  are  doing  a.nd  what  they  have  accom- 
plished towards  obtaining  better  co-operation. 

I  think  it  would  be  of  interest  to  you  to  know  some  of  the  things1 
we  are  trying  to  accomplish.  We  owe  our  life  to  the  Franklin  County 
plan.  The  operators  in  Knox  County  tried  to  organize  under  several 
other  plans,  but  were  not  successful;  in  fact,  three  or  four  months  were 
spent  after  they  decided  to  form  an  association  before  the  Franklin 
County  plan  was  proposed  and  adopted. 

Co-operation  betwreen  the  members  of  our  association  is  the  first 
and  most  important  thing  to  be  accomplished.  We  wanted  voluntary 
co-operation;  co-operation  because  it  was  the  right  thing  to  do,  and 
because  each  member  trusted  his  neighbor.  We  have  not  got  it  yet, 
but  we  have  reached  a  point  now  where  if  one  operator  has  a  strike  the 
other  operators  do  not  regard  it  as  an  opportunity  to  jump  on  him  and 
take  advantage  of  him.  They  realize  that  they  may  have  a  strike  in 
their  own  mines  at  some  time  in  the  future,  and  that  it  is  to  their  own 
best  interest  to  help. 

Since  these  different  operators'  associations  have  been  formed — 
some  22  in  number,  representing  different  districts  all  over  the  country — 
it  would  appear  that  co-operation  in  the  marketing  of  coal  might  mean 
that  all  the  members  of  one  group  were  co-operating  in  selling  their 
coal  against  other  associations  working  in  the  same  way,  instead  of 
selling  their  coal  as  individuals.  In  our  county  we  are  all  mining  the 
same  quality  of  coal,  and  it  has  similar  characteristics.  One  of  our 
purposes  is  to  extend  the  market  for  Knox  County  coal.  The  amount 
of  coal  consumed  is  limited  by  conditions  over  which  we  have  no 
control.  Since  the  amount  of  coal  is  fixed,  it  might  seem  that  if  one 
group  were  more  aggressive  than  another  that  they  might  extend  their 
market  at  the  expense  of  other  associations.  We  desire  to  extend  our 
market  only  as  far  as  we  are  justified  from  an  economic  standpoint;  in 
other  words,  only  as  far  as  it  is  best  for  the  consumer,  because  that  it 
the  only  basis  that  is  permanent  and,  in  a  broad  sense,  advantageous  to 
ourselves.  In  order  to  determine  the  extent  of  this  zone  we  are  study- 
ing our  own  product;  the  characteristics  of  it;  the  way  it  burns  and  the 
kind  of  equipment  to  which  it  is  suited.  This  work  may  be  peculiar  to 
our  association,  but  I  was  an  engineer  before  taking  up  this  work,  which 
probably  accounts  for  the  fact  that  we  are  doing  more  along  this  line 
than  the  other  associations. 

We  are  certain  that  co-operation  does  not  mean  that  it  is  good  policy 
to  go  out  and  sell  some  other  association  off  its  feet  where  we  do  not 
have  any  market. 

Our  co-operation  in  selling  has  been  carried  on  in  other  ways.  We 
produce  and  sell  various  sizes  of  steam  coal.  Different  members  are 
not  able  to  sell  the  sizes  in  the  proportions  produced.  One  operator 


78  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

might  have  an  opportunity  to  sell  more  screenings  than  he  produced. 
He  would  sell  them,  and  then  he  would  spend  the  next  month  trying  to 
catch  one  of  his  fellow  members  in  a  hole  and  tie  him  up  to  a  contract. 

Our  co-operation  has  gone  to  such  an  extent  that  the  members  do 
.not  consider  that  it  is  good  policy  to  sell  coal  which  they  cannot  pro- 
duce, which  has  a  tendency  to  make  the  running  time  of  the  mines  more 
even,  and  at  the  same  time  the  costs  for  the  different  members  more 
uniform. 

I  am  not  prepared  to  outline  more  of  our -policy,  but  it  is  the  appli- 
cation of  the  policy  to  the  individual  that  is  the  difficult  thing,  and  the 
thing  that  will  eventually  save  all  of  us. 

CHAIRMAN  MODERWELL:  I  neglected  to  say  that  Mr.  Fletcher 
represents  the  Knox  County,  Indiana,  Coal  Operators'  Association. 

On  account  of  the  length  of  the  program  and  the  fact  that  time  is 
passing,  I  am  going  to  dispense  with  the  discussion  under  the  five- 
minute  rule  on  this  interesting  subject.  We  have  a  number  of  very  in- 
teresting things  to  come  yet.  The  gentleman  who  was  to  have  spoken 
first  this  afternoon,  but  who  was  not  here  at  the  beginning  of  the  ses- 
sion, has  now  come  into  the  room,  and  we  will  hear  from  Mr.  S.  A. 
Taylor,  with  his  report  from  the  Committee  on  Uniform  Cost  Account- 
ing Systems.  Mr.  S.  A.  Taylor  of  Pittsburgh. 

MR.  S.  A.  TAYLOR:  As  I  see  before  me  today  a  number  of 
faces  who  are  probably  not  familiar  with  the  appointment  of  this  com- 
mittee, I  think  it  might  be  well  to  state  that  this  committee  was  ap- 
pointed as  a  result  of  a  paper  read  by  myself  at  one  of  the  former 
meetings  of  the  Mining  Congress  in  Philadelphia,  pertaining  to  the 
question  of  uniform  reports;  and  in  connection  with  the  uniform  reports 
we  found  out,  after  the  committee  was  appointed,  that  the  most  impor- 
tant one  was  that  of  uniform  accounting.  Subsequently,  therefore,  the 
committee  was  changed  to  that  of  Uniform  Accounting  and  Reports. 

REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  ON  UNIFORM  COST  ACCOUNTING 

AND  REPORTS. 

To  the  American  Mining  Congress. 

Gentlemen:  Your  committee  has  labored,  more  or  less  assidu- 
ously, for  several  years  in  an  endeavor  to  secure  something  definite 
in  connection  with  the  purpose  of  their  appointment. 

Our  efforts,  after  an  attempt  to  get  associations  of  operators 
interested,  were  mainly  devoted  to  the  matter  of  getting  the  Fed- 
eral Trade  Commission  to  authorize  or  recommend  a  uniform  sys- 
tem of  accounting,  believing  that  if  they  could  get  this  accomplished 
it  would  go  a  long  way  toward  the  accomplishment  of  uniform  re- 
ports. We  made  several  attempts  to  interest  the  Federal  Trade 
Commission  in  the  matter,  and  for  some  time  it  seemed  as  though 
our  efforts  were  futile;  but,  whether  or  not  is  was  our  continued 
efforts  in  this  direction,  the  fact  is  that  much  has  been  accom- 
plished through  and  with  Mr.  Hurley,  the  chairman  of  the  Federal 
Trade  Commission,  and  the  work  of  the  Franklin  County  Asso- 
ciation of  Illinois  coal  operators,  who  took  up  the  work  on  a 
somewhat  larger  and  broader  scope,  which  has  been  the  means  of 
accomplishing  more  than  your  committee  were  able  to  do,  acting 
as  a  committee. 

The  work  of  the  Franklin  County  Association  has  been  ?p  suc- 
cessful that  we  understand  there  are  now,  either  formed  or  in  the 
process  of  forming,  some  nineteen  or  twenty  other  associations 
working  along  practically  the  same  lines. 

In  addition  to  the  above  form  of  co-operation,  the  Splint  and 
Gas  Coal  Association  of  Coal  Operators  of  West  Virginia  have 
labored  along  somewhat  similar  lines,  through  an  able  committee 
composed  of  Messrs.  W.  M.  Puckett,  Wm.  S.  Ord  and  C.  H.  Jen- 
kins. This  committee  has  spent  a  great  deal  of  time  on  the  mat- 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  79 

ter  of  a  uniform  system  of  accounting  for  coal  mines,  a  copy  of 
which  is  hereto  attached  and  made  part  of  this  report  by  permis- 
sion of  the  committee  as  a  matter  worthy  of  close  scrutiny  by  mem- 
bers of  the  Congress. 

At  the  present  time  it  seems  an  assured  fact  that  the  first  phase 
of  your  committee's  work  will  be  satisfactorily  solved  by  the  es- 
tablishing of  a  uniform  system  of  cost  accounting;  if  not  for  the 
entire  coal  producing  country,  at  least  a  uniform  system  for  large 
districts,  and  may  in  the  end  result,  through  the  present  help  now 
being  extended  by  the  Federal  Trade  Commission,  in  a  uniform 
system  for  all  coal  companies.  When  this  is  an  accomplished  fact 
we  believe  the  remainder  of  the  work  of  your  committee  will  be 
comparatively  easy,  for  as  soon  as. a  uniform  system  of  accounting 
has  been  secured  we  believe  the  securing  of  national  and  state  co- 
operation toward  a  uniform  method  of  reporting  will  follow  without 
any  such  great  objection  as  had  to  be  overcome  to  get  the  uniform 
accounting  scheme  under  way.  In  fact,  several  officers  of  the 
national  and  some  state  officials  have  stated  to  members  of  yoi$£ 
committee  that  they  are  in  hearty  accord  with  this  work,  and 
realizing  as  they  do  the  advantages  that  would  accrue  to  the  various 
departments  of  government  which  have  to  do  with  compiling  and 
comparing  statistics  from  different  districts  and  states,  which  now 
are  far  from  uniform,  we  believe  we  can  count  on  the  assistance  of 
all  such  officials.  We  wish  also  to  say  that  some  of  the  associations 
of  coal  operators  which  have  been  formed,  and  which  are  now  being 
formed,  have  as  one  of  their  fundamental  purpdses  the  co-operation 
with  national  and  state  officials,  to  the  end  that  this  very  thing  may 
be  accomplished. 

SWAN  SONG. 

In  this  connection  we  wish  to  state  that  the  work  of  this  com- 
mittee has  now  reached  a  stage  where,  like  some  other  committees 
of  the  Congress  in  the  past,  they  have  to  some  extent  done  the 
pioneer  work  and  are  about  through  with  the  work  assigned  them, 
not  because  they  have  been  able  to  accomplish  the  desired  end 
themselves,  but  in  a  roundabout  way  have  gotten  sufficient  interest 
awakened  in  the  subject  through  channels  outside  of  the  Congress 
as  to  carry  the  matter  to  a  successful  conclusion,  and  that  about  all 
that  remains  for  your  committee  to  do  is  to  make  a  summary  of  the 
work  during  the  coming  year  and  possibly  work  up  a  report  on  the 
work  done  by  these  various  organizations,  after  we  see  how  they 
are  handling  the  same,  for  approval  by  the  Congress. 
Respectfully  submitted, 

S.  A.  TAYLOR, 

E.  T.   BENT, 

J.   C.   M'KINLEY, 

Committee. 
MR.  P.   S.  LANDSTREET,  Chairman. 

Executive  Committee  Splint  &  Gas  Coal  Association. 

Bankers  Trust  Building,  New  York  City. 
DEAR  SIR:— 

Your  Committee  appointed  to  draft  a  Uniform  Cost  Sheet  has  experi- 
enced considerable  difficulty  in  arriving:  at  conclusions  which  would  be  prac- 
tical for  all  operations  large  and  small  alike.  In  order  to  approximate  true 
cost,  accounting-  methods  must  be  standardized.  The  object  of  colliery 
accounting  is  to  preserve  a  complete  and  accessible  record  of  every  finan- 
cial transaction,  which  will  so  locate  and  classify  those  transactions  that 
the  cost  of  every  important  item  making  up  the  plant  will  be  accurately 
shown,  and  the  cost  of  the  product  accurately  ascertained. 

Your  Committee  recommends  five  general  classes  of  Accounts,  as 
follows: — 

Financial 
Real  Estate 
Improvement 
Equipment 

While  we  are  directly  concerned  with  the  Operating  Accounts  only,  we  will 
briefly  enumerate  what  we  mean  by  each  one  of  these  classes,  since  they 
Operating 


OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

are  all  interdependent  and  must  work  out  together. 

FINANCIAL  ACCOUNTS  are  intended  to  cover  the   fundamental  ac- 
counts of  the  company: — 
Capital 
Funded  Debt 
Sinking  Fund 
Accruing  Sinking  Fund. 
Sinking  Fund  Trustee 
Surplus 
Bills  Payable 
Bills  Receivable 
Investments 
Cash 

Accounts  Payable 
Accounts  Receivable 
Profit  and  Loss 

The  first  two  accounts  need  no  comment.  They  provide  for  the  secur- 
ities issued  by  the  company. 

The  next  three  accounts,  referring  to  possible  Sinking  Funds,  require 
some  explanation.  Your  Committee  finds  Sinking  Fund  Accounts  treated 
by  coal  operators  in  various  manners.  It  should  be  remembered  that  while 
sinking  fund  is  payable  out  of  earnings,  it  does  not  in  any  way  affect  the 
amount  of  the  earnings,  the  profit  or  the  loss.  It  simply  is  a  provision 
for  the  payment  or  retirement  of  a  previously  incurred  obligation.  A 
Sinking  Fund  generally  requires  the  setting  aside  regularly  of  a  certain 
sum  per  ton  of  output.  It  seems  to  be  generally  payable  at  some  speci- 
fied time,  but  the  date  of  payment  is  generally  several  months  after  the 
period  for  which  that  particular  accounting  is  rendered.  The  accounts 
should  show  accurately  the  accumulating  of  this  Sinking  Fund.  They 
should  also  show  the  balance  of  the  Sinking  Fund,  if  any,  in  the  hands 
of  the  Trustee  from  time  to  time.  No  matter  what  the  terms  of  payment 
are,  the  Accruing  Sinking  Fund  should  be  credited  monthly  with  the  Sink- 
ing Fund  earned  during  the  month  and  Sinking  Fund  should  be  debited. 
These  accounts  will  always  balance  one  another  and  are  merely  intro- 
duced for  purposes  of  record.  When  the  period  during  which  any  install- 
ment of  Sinking  Fund  is  completed,  Sinking  Fund  should  be  credited  and 
Accruing  Sinking  Fund  should  be  debited.  When  payment  to  the  Trustee 
is  made  the  Trustee  must  be  charged  with  the  funds  sent  and  Cash,  of 
course,  must  be  credited.  When  the  Trustee  purchases  bonds  and  these 
are  cancelled  he  should  receive  credit  for  the  actual  amount  expended  by 
him  in  the  purchase  of  the  obligations,  whether  purchased  at,  above,  or 
below  par  value.  The  Funded  Debt  Account  should  be  debited  with  the 
face  value  of  the  obligations  returned  to  the  company,  and  Profit  and  Loss 
should  be  debited  or  credited  with  the  difference  between  the  price  paid 
and  the  face  value  of  the  securities  according  to  whether  they  have  been 
retired  above  or  below  par  value.  In  this  manner  the  Trustee  Account 
shows  at  all  times  any  unexpended  balance  in  his  hands,  and  the  Sinking 
Fund  and  Accruing  Sinking  Fund  Accounts  show  the  accumulation  for  the 
current  term. 

Your  Committee,  realizing  that  financing  is  frequently  accomplished  by 
the  sale  of  securities  at  less  than  their  face  value,  suggests  that  where 
this  is  done  the  difference  between  the  face  value  of  the  obligation  and 
the  amount  received  for  it  is  a  proper  charge  against  the  property  pur- 
chased with  the  proceeds  of  the  obligation,  or  against  any  improvements 
constructed  out  of  them. 

The  Surplus  represents  undistributed  earnings,  and,  added  to  the  cap- 
ital account,  gives  the  book  value  of  the  property. 

The  other  accounts  in  this  class  require  no  comment  whatever. 
REAL  ESTATE.     This  account  should  show  the  value  of  all  real  estate 
owned,   whether  that  real  estate  has  been  paid   for  in  cash,   stock,   notes 
or  other  evidences  of  indebtedness. 

IMPROVEMENT  ACCOUNTS  should  include  an  account  for  each  item 
of  permanent  improvement,  such  as  houses,  store  building's,  railroad 
tracks,  railroad  bridges,  tipples,  tram  roads,  mine  openings,  etc.,  and  upon 
exhaustion  of  the  coal  are  subject  to  no  salvage.  The  value  of  these 
items,  therefore,  varies  from  time  to  time  with  the  amount  of  coal  which 
can  be  won  during  their  service  or  life.  Any  repairs  to  these  improve- 
ments must  be  charged  currently  to  the  corresponding  operating  accounts: 
repairs  to  houses  to  Rent  Account,  repairs  to  tipples,  tracks,  sidings,  etc., 
to  Coal  Account. 

EQUIPMENT  ACCOUNTS  are  intended  to  cover  that  class  of  items 
from  which  at  the  exhaustion  of  the  coal  there  may  be  some  salvage. 
These  accounts  should  be  inventoried  periodically  and  are  all  subject  to 
varying  rates  of  depreciation.  The  depreciation  on  these  equipment  ac- 
counts is  chargeable  to  the  corresponding  operating  account.  The  necessary 
Equipment  Accounts  seem  to  be  as  follows: 

Machinery,  will  include  such  items  as  locomotives,  mining 
machines,  pumps,  fans,  etc.,  but  should  not  include  any  machinery  for 
generating  power  or  any  machinery  in  a  Machine  Shop.  These  items 
will  be  later  taken  care  of. 

Mine  Equipment,  will  include  mine  cars  and  all  the  tools  used 
in  the  mines. 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  81 

Steel  Rails,  will  include  only  steel  rails,  frogs  and  switches. 
Copper  Wire,  will  include  only  that  character  of  copper  which  could 
be  removed  and  would  be  of  salable  value.    Small  sizes  of  wire  have 
practically  no  salvage  value  and  should  be  charged  direct  to  operating 
accounts. 

Stable  Equipment,  will  include  all  live  stock,  wagons,  carts, 
harness,  etc. 

Power  House  Equipment,  will  include  everything  used  in  the 
production  of  power,  and  the  depreciation  upon  this  equipment  is  a 
proper  charge  to  Power. 

Shop  Equipment,  will  include  all  the  machinery  and  tools  used  in 
the  repair  shop,  whether  the  same  be  simply  a  forge  and  anvil  or 
elaborate  equipment  consisting  of  lathes,  shapers,  planers,  etc. 

Recreation  Equipment.  Your  Committee  has  included  this  Account 
on  account  of  the  fact  that  some  companies  have  provided  Moving 
Picture  Houses,  Play  Grounds.  Y.  M'.  C.  A.  buildings,  etc.  All  of 
these  things  must  be  considered  from  a  business  point  of  view  in  their 
cost,  and  the  expense  incident  to  their  operation  must  ultimately  be 
accounted  for  in  the  cost  of  the  product,  provided  they  are  not  self- 
sustaining. 

The  other  Equipment  Accounts  seem  to  indicate  by  their  names  just 
the  character  of  equipment  they  are  intended  to  cover. 

This  brings  us  to  the  last  and  most  important  division — 
OPERATING    ACCOUNTS— Conditions    vary    greatly    at    different    coal 
plants,  and  your  Committee  feels  that  the  best  way  to  meet  these  condi- 
tions is  to  treat  such  account  as  a  separate  and  individual  department.    We 
will  subdivide  these  Operating  Accounts  into  Main  Operating  Accounts  and 
Auxiliary   Operating  Accounts.     The   Main    Operating  Accounts   are   those 
from   which   earnings   are    directly   derived.    They   are,    as   generally   used, 
seven  in  number,  as  follows: 
Coal 
Coke 

Merchandise 
Rent 
Powder 
Commissions 
Interest  and  Discount 

The  Auxiliary  Accounts  cover  those  departments  which  are  not  readily 
assignable  to  any  particular  one  of  the  operating  accounts  but  really  render 
service  to  more  than  one  and  perhaps  even  in  many  cases  to  outside  inter- 
ests altogether.  These  Auxiliary  Accounts  we  will  carry  as  independent 
departments  and  they  should  carry  charge  accounts  with  each  one  of  the 
Main  Operating  Accounts. 

Power  is  one  of  these  accounts.  Every  operator  should  know  what  his 
consumption  of  power  is  and  what  his  power  is  costing  per  K.  W.  hour. 
The  total  cost  of  the  power  produced  should  be  distributed  monthly  by 
crediting  Power  Account  and  debiting  the  various  operating,  accounts 
deriving  benefit  from  it.  It  is  perhaps  impractical  at  most  places  to 
measure  the  power  used  by  the  different  accounts.  The  Committee  recom- 
mends that  this  distribution  be  made  to  Coal,  Coke  and  Rent  Account,  for 
lights,  etc.,  on  the  basis  of  installed  motor  and  light  horse  power. 

Stable  Operation  Account  should  be  charged  with  all  feed  and  supplies 
purchased,  with  time  of  stablemen,  and  depreciation  upon  live  stock, 
wagons,  harness,  etc.  Time  of  all  teams  should  be  kept  and  charged  to 
the  proper  operating  accounts  at  a  rate  sufficient  to  cover  all  cost  of  service, 
Stable  Operation  receiving  credit  for  same.  Coal  Account  should  be  charged 
with  a  fixed  sum  per  month  for  each  mule  used  in  the  mines.  This  should 
be  sufficient  to  cover  cost  of  feeding,  depreciation  and  allowance  for  loss 
of  mules.  At  the  end  of  the  year  there  will  be  some  balance  one  way  or 
the  other  in  this  Account,  and  this  balance  should  be  adjusted  in  proportion 
to  the  amount  which  the  principal  earnings  accounts  have  contributed 
towards  Stable  Operation  credit  throughout  the  year. 

Repair  Shop.  Your  Committee  has  had  a  good  deal  of  trouble  in  arriving 
at  a  fair  method  of  handling  this  account.  Repair  Shops  vary  from  sma.ll 
Blacksmith  Shops  to  elaborately  equipped  Machine  and  Car  Shops,  but  it 
has  concluded  that  the  same  method  should  be  adopted  with  respect  to 
this  that  has  been  applied  to  other  similar  accounts;  that  is,  it  should  be 
treated  as  an  independent  department,  receiving  credit  for  work  done  and 
material  used  and  the  proper  operating  accounts  should  be  debited.  Any 
balance  at  the  end  of  the  year  should  be  handled  as  outlined  in  the  Stable 
Operation  Account.  Where  one  small  Blacksmith  Shop  is  operated  the  same 
result  might  be  obtained  by  charging  all  time  and  material  direct  to  the 
operating  accounts. 

A  Material  &  Supply  Account  is  necessary  and  ail  material  should  be 
charged  out  upon  orders  issued  by  department  foremen  at  an  advance  over 
cost  sufficient  to  pay  the  expense  of  running  the  department.  Any  balance 
at  the  end  of  the  year  should  be  adjusted  as  in  other  accounts. 

Accrued  Taxes.  Coal,  Coke,  Merchandise  and  Rent  should  be  charged 
monthly  with  an  amount,  estimated  to  be  sufficient  to  cover  one-tenth  of  all 
taxes,  corporation,  state,  excise,  personal  and  property,  and  Accruing  Taxes 
should  be  credited  with  this  amount.  When  the  actual  tax  tickets  are 
received  the  necessary  adjustments  can  be  made. 


82  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

Insurance  should  be  charged  monthly  to  the  proper  earning  accounts. 
Unearned  Insurance  should  be  inventoried  at  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year. 
Insurance  upon  houses  should  be  charged  to  Rent  Account,  upon  Tipples, 
Mine  Buildings,  etc.,  to  Coal,  upon  Store  Buildings  to  Merchandise,  upon 
Office  Building  to  General  Expense  Account. 

Workmen's  Compensation  premiums  should  be  currently  charged  as  paid 
to  the  appropriate  operating  accounts. 

Boarding  houses  should  be  self-sustaining,  but  in  the  event  of  loss  it 
should  be  charged  to  the  cost  of  product. 

Liahor  Transportation  is  likewise  a  current  charge  to  the  operating 
account  for  which  the  labor  was  imported. 

Where  land  is  leased,  Coal  and  Coke  will  be  debited  with  all  royalty 
paid. 

Interest  and  Discount.  The  Committee  has  considered  very  fully  the 
propriety  and  justice  of  charging  the  main  earning  accounts  with  interest 
upon  the  total  capital  invested  in  the  business.  There  are  many  plants  in 
the  State  built  largely  on  borrowed  money,  and  some  altogether.  In  such 
cases  it  seems  clear  that  the  interest  paid  is  a  proper  charge  against  the 
product.  This  being  the  case,  if  uniformity  is  to  be  obtained,  it  seems 
logical  that  all  should  charge  coal  and  coke  with  a  reasonable  rate  of 
interest  upon  the  capital  and  surplus  tied  up  in  the  business.  The  general 
result  then  would  show  the  profit  derived  from  operation  in  excess  of  what 
the  money  would  have  brought  invested  in  ordinary  channels.  Your  Com- 
mittee recommends  6  per  cent  for  this  rate. 

This  account  should  receive  credit  for  all  interest  charged  to  the 
operating  accounts  for  the  use  of  capital  and  surplus,  less  investments,  and 
for  all  discounts,  and  should  be  charged  with  any  interest  paid.  It  is 
from  this  that  the  charge  of  interest  to  the  product  does  not  affect  the 
total  net  earnings.  It  simply  transfers  the  amount  so  paid  from  one 
account  to  another,  and,  if  adopted,  results  in  a  uniform  cost  method, 
whether  the  capital  be  borrowed  or  not. 

Depletion  or  Amortization.  A  reserve  for  depletion  or  amortization 
should  be  provided,  which  shall  be  credited  monthly  with  a  sum  eo.ua! 
to  that  proportion  of  the  total  value  of  all  permanent  improvements  not 
subject  to  material  salvage  at  exhaustion  of  property,  and  the  product 
charged  with  a  corresponding  amount,  which  the  coal  mined  during  the 
month  bears  to  the  total  available  coal  at  the  beginning  of  the  month.  This 
reserve  may  be  carried  until  exhaustion  of  property,  or  may  be  written  off 
against  improvements  from  time  to  time  at  will  of  individual.  Of  course, 
current  repairs,  of  whatever  magnitude,  throughout  the  year  should  be 
charged  direct  to  the  main  operating  accounts,  and  these  repairs  contem- 
plate the  maintenance  of  the  property  in  service  until  its  exhaustion. 

Obsolescence.  The  Committee  further  recommends  that  coal  and  coke 
be  charged  currently  with  an  amount  sufficient  to  replace  any  machinery, 
equipment  or  improvement  which  may  become  obsolete.  Obsolescence  re- 
serve to  be  credited.  Any  replacements  made  on  account  of  obsolescence 
will  be  debited  to  this  account,  and  the  Committee  recommends  one  cent 
per  ton  for  this  purpose. 

Depreciation.  A  depreciation  reserve  account  should  be  carried  from 
month  to  month.  Depreciation  should  be  charged  to  Coal  and  Coke,  and 
this  account  credited  monthly.  The  aggregate  of  this  monthly  charge  per 
ton  should  be  sufficient  to  balance  the  actual  depreciation  found  upon 
closing  the  books  at  the  end  of  the  year.  The  Committee  does  not  feel 
competent  to  advise  the  rates  at  which  depreciation  should  be  charged 
upon  the  various  items  constituting  the  Equipment  Accounts.  These  will 
largely  have  to  be  determined  by  individual  experience.  It  submits,  how- 
ever, for  consideration  its  opinion  as  to  what  the  rate  of  depreciation  should 
be  on  a  few  items,  as  follows:  Boilers  10  per  cent,  Engines  and  Generators 
7*£  per  cent,  steel  rails  and  copper  wire  5  per  cent,  mine  locomotives  10  per 
cent,  mining  machines  15  per  cent,  steel  mine  cars  10  per  cent,  wooden 
mine  cars  5  per  cent.  The  wooden  cars  are  subject  to  less  depreciation 
because  they  are  being  continually  renewed. 

The  Committee  further  recommends  that,  for  the  sake  of  uniformity, 
and  for  the  purpose  of  comparison  with  market  quotations,  a  fixed  sum 
per  ton  be  charged  to  coal  and  coke  to  cover  selling  expense.  Where  the 
operator  is  selling  through  an  agency,  this  amount  is  readily  determined. 
Where  the  Selling  Department  is  a  branch  of  the  general  organization,  it 
should  be  credited  with  a  similar  commission  and  the  product  charged. 
This  may  seem  like  a  hardship,  but  it  seems  desirable  for  uniformity,  and, 
even  if  it  demonstrates  that  the  Selling  Department  is  the  money  maker, 
that  fact  should  be  determined. 
This  leaves  only  one  important  account  untouched. 

Expense  Account.  This  account  is  intended  to  cover  all  items  of  a 
general  nature,  office  expenses,  postage,  traveling  expenses,  salaries  of 
officers,  etc.,  and  should  be  distributed  monthly.  Only  an  arbitrary  basis 
can  be  suggested  for  this,  and  your  Committee  suggests  that  it  be 
distributed  amongst  the  principal  earning  accounts  in  proportion  to  the 
monthly  charge  to  each  one  of  these  accounts. 

Your  Committee  believes,  after  very  full  consideration,  that  such  a 
system  of  accounting  as  outlined  above  would  get  as  close  as  it  is  possible 
to  get  to  the  true  and  actual  cost  of  coal  and  coke,  and  it  believes  that  a 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  83 

system  of  this  kind  will  demonstrate   conclusively  that  very  little  coal  is 

mined   in   West  Virginia  at  a  profit. 

Respectfully   submitted, 

W.  M1.  PUCKETT, 
WILLIAM  S.  ORD, 
C.  H.  JENKINS,  Committee. 

That  is  the  swan  song  of  the  committee.     (Applause.) 

I  wish  to  state,  however,  briefly  in  connection  with  the  report  of  the 
Splint  and  Gas  Coal  Association,  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  have  not 
had  a  copy  of  the  report  and  probably  will  not  see  it  in  print  for  some 
time,  that  it  is  a  very  commendable  report.  It  is  made  to  the  chairman  of 
the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Splint  and  Gas  Coal  Association  of 
West  Virginia,  of  which  Mr.  Lewis  is  the  secretary. 

They  have  subdivided  their  accounting  into  five  principal  accounts, 
financial,  real  estate,  improvement,  equipment  and  operating  accounts. 
Under  the  first  head  of  financial  accounts  they  are  intending  to  cover 
the  fundamental  accounts  of  any  operating  company,  and  are  briefly  as 
follows:  Capital,  funded  debt,  sinking  fund,  accruing  sinking  fund,  sink- 
ing fund  trustee,  surplus,  bills  payable,  bills  receivable,  investments, 
cash,  accounts  payable,  accounts  receivable  and  profit  and  loss. 

There  is  a  good  deal  in  this  report  which  I  will  not  take  the  time 
to  read  at  the  present  time,  but  that  will  give  you  an  idea  of  what  it  is. 

The  second  account  of  real  estate  embraces  or  should  show  the 
value  of  all  real  estate  owned,  whether  that  real  estate  has  been  paid  for 
in  cash,  stock,  notes  or  other  evidences  of  indebtedness. 

The  third,  or  the  improvement,  account  is  intended  to  show  and 
include  an  account  for  each  item  of  permanent  improvement,  such  as 
houses,  store  buildings,  railroad  tracks,  railroad  bridges,  tipples,  tram- 
roads,  mine  openings,  and  any  repairs  to  those  buildings,  rent  ac- 
count, etc. 

The  next  is  their  equipment  account,  and  that  is  intended  to  cover 
that  class  of  items  from  which  at  the  exhaustion  of  the  coal  there  may 
be  some  salvage.  These  accounts  should  be  inventoried  periodically, 
a-nd  are  all  subject  to  varying  rates  of  depreciation.  The  depreciation 
on  these  accounts  is  chargeable  to  the  corresponding  operating  account. 
The  equipment  accounts  cover  the  following:  Machinery,  stable  equip- 
ment, power  house  equipment,  shop  equipment,  mine  equipment,  copper 
wires,  rails  and  all  other  incidental  equipment  accounts  that  might  be 
brought  into  your  general  account. 

The  next,  and  probably  one  of  the  methods  of  accounting  which  is 
least  stable,  is  the  operating  account,  and  this  is  taken  to  cover  in  the 
main  all  accounts  and  auxiliary  operating  accounts,  such  as  coal,  coke, 
merchandise,  rent,  powder,  commissions,  interest  and  discounts.  These 
are  subdivided  in  this  report  in  accordance  with  other  things. 

The  one  thing  that  I  think  ought  to  be  brought  out  particularly 
clear  here  is  in  reference  to  the  depletion  or  amortization  account.  We 
find  that  generally,  in  fact,  very  frequently,  few  operators  pay  a.ny  at- 
tention to  their  amortization  account  or  depletion  account. 

Another  is  the  obsolescence.  The  committee  here  further  recom- 
mends that  coal  and  coke  be  charged  concurrently  with  an  amount 
sufficient  to  replace  any  machinery,  equipment  or  improvement  that 
may  become  obsolete.  Obsolescence  reserve  is  to  be  credited.  Any 
replacements  made  on  account  of  obsolescence  will  be  debited  to  this 
account,  and  the  committee  recommends  one  per  cent  per  ton  for  this 
purpose. 

Another  of  very  great  importance,  I  think,  is  the  depreciation  ac- 
count. I  will  read  the  total  of  their  suggestion  on  depreciation:  "A 
depreciation  reserve  account  should  be  carried  from  month  to  month. 
Depreciation  should  be  charged  to  coal  and  coke,  and  this  account 
credited  monthly.  The  aggregate  of  this  monthly  charge  per  ton  should 
be  sufficient  to  balance  the  actual  depreciation  found  upon  closing  the 
books  at  the  end  of  the  year.  The  committee  does  not  feel  competent 
to  advice  the  rates  at  which  depreciation  should  be  charged  upon  the 


84  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

various  items  constituting  the  equipment  account.  These  will  largely 
have  to  be  determined  by  individual  experience.  It  submits,  however, 
for  consideration  its  opinion  as  to  what  the  rate  of  depreciation  should 
be  on  a  few  items,  as  follows,"  and  this  account  I  thought  you  ought  to 
hear,  and  probably  it  would  be  well  to  discuss,  if  you  cared  to,  this  point 
as  to  what  the  rates  of  depreciation  should  be.  It  gives  a  few  items 
here,  as  follows:  "Boilers,  10  per  cent;  engines  and  generators,  7*/2  per 
cent;  steel  rails  and  copper  wire,  5  per  cent;  mine  locomotives,  10  per 
cent;  mining  machines,  15  per  cent;  steel  mine  cars,  10  per  cent;  wooden 
mine  cars,  5  per  cent.  The  wooden  cars  are  subject  to  less  depreciation 
because  they  are  being  constantly  renewed." 

That  is  all  I  have  to  say.     I  thank  you.     (Applause.) 

CHAIRMAN  MODERWELL:  You  have  heard  the  report  of  the 
committee.  What  is  your  pleasure  with  regard  to  it? 

MR.  T.  L.  LEWIS:  I  move  that  the  report  of  the  committee  be 
accepted  and  placed  on  file. 

DR.  F.  C.  HONNOLD:     I  second  the  motion. 

Upon  the  motion  being  put  by  the  chairman  it  was  declared  carried. 

CHAIRMAN  MODERWELL:  Mr.  Lewis,  have  you  a  report  for 
the  Committee  on  Workmen's  Compensation? 

MR.  T.  L.  LEWIS  (West  Virginia):  Mr.  Chairman,  I  regret  to 
state  that  we  were  unable  to  get  the  committee  together  in  order  to 
prepare  a  report.  We  realized  the  importance  of  workmen's  compen- 
sation, and,  not  having  the  views  of  the  members  of  the  committee,  and 
being  unable  to  get  together  to  prepare  a  report  on  the  subject,  I  was 
unwilling  myself  to  prepare  an  individual  report  for  fear  it  might  be 
construed  as  being  my  idea.  Consequently  we  haven't  any  report  to 
submit  on  that  question. 

CHAIRMAN  MODERWELL:  Gentlemen,  we  are  to  have  the 
opportunity  now  to  hear  an  address  on  "The  Cost  of  Coal"  by  Director 
George  Otis  Smith  of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  of  Washington.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

DR,  GEORGE  OTIS  SMITH:  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen,  I  feel 
that  I  am  coming  here  this  afternoon  somewhat  under  false  pretenses. 
I  have  prepared  an  expression  of  opinion  and  also  a  presentation  of, 
some  facts  on  the  subject  addressed  really  to  the  consumer,  to  the  con- 
suming public.  I  did  not  expect  to  have  before  me  so  representative 
a  body  of  operators;  but  I,  of  course,  did  not  intend  to  say  anything 
to  the  consumer  that  I  am  not  willing  to  say  to  the  operator.  How- 
ever, I  think  that  you  will  see  that  some  of  the  things  I  say  are  not 
at  all  new  to  you,  and  as  I  have  heard  the  other  speakers  this  afternoon 
I  realize  that  many  of  the  things  that  I  arn  to  say  have  already  been 
said.  To  me  that  is  a  gain,  because  that  fact  leads  me  to  believe  a  little 
in  some  of  these  things  because  you  have  already  stated  them. 

Dr.  Smith's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  452  of  this  report. 

CHAIRMAN  MODERWELL:  The  chair  will  hazard  the  remark 
that  for  a  spectator  the  speaker  has  a  remarkable  familiarity  with  the 
subject. 

I  want  to  call  your  attention  again  to  the  smoker.  The  tickets  to 
the  smoker  are  yours  for  the  asking,  if  you  will  only  ask  for  them  as 
you  go  out  of  this  room.  The  smoker  begins  at  8  o'clock,  instead  of  at 
6:30.  as  originally  announced. 

The  meeting  is  adjourned. 

COAL  SECTION. 
Wednesday,  November  15,  1916. 

Afternoon  Session. 

Dr.  I.  C.  W'hite  of  Morgantown,  West  Virginia,  presided  as  chair- 
man and  called  the  meeting  to  order  at  2:30  p.  m.  Mr.  Alexande;  Blair, 
Jr.,  acted  as  secretary. 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  85 

CHAIRMAN  WHITE:  The  meeting  will  come  to  order.  I  under- 
stand the  Committee  on  Uniform  Legislation  and  the  Resolutions  Com- 
mittee have  largely  to  do  with  coal  matters.  Those  committees  are 
in  session,  so  that  our  numbers  will  be  small,  but  the  time  is  passing  and 
we  might  as  well  get  started.  The  author  of  the  first  paper,  Mr.  J.  W. 
Paul,  is  absent,  but  he  has  sent  in  his  paper,  which  is  on  "The  Duties 
of  Mine  Inspectors."  This  will  be  read  by  the  secretary,  Mr.  Blair. 

Mr.  Paul's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  433  of  this  report. 

CHAIRMAN  WHITE:  You  have  heard  the  paper.  Are  there  any 
remarks?  If  not,  we  will  pass  to  the  next  paper,  "What  Becomes  of 
the  Benefits  of  Production  Efficiency?",  by  Mr.  George  H.  Gushing  of 
Chicago,  Illinois. 

MR.  GUSHING:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  sorry  this  paper  was  not 
prepared  in  time  to  be  distributed  in  printed  form,  so  that  I  could  follow 
the  rule  of  the  organization,  which  is  to  read  it  by  title  and  give  the 
author  five  minutes  to  explain. 

Mr.  Cushing's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  465  of  this  report. 

Dr.  White's  presence  was  required  in  the  Oil  Section  at  this  point, 
and  Mr.  E.  W.  Parker  presided  in  Dr.  White's  absence  during  the  re- 
mainder of  the  meeting. 

CHAIRMAN  PARKER:  The  chair  regrets  that  there  are  three 
other  sections  of  the  Congress  that  are  in  session  this  afternoon.  I 
think  it  would  have  been  a  good  idea  for  all  of  the  members  of  the 
Congress  to  have  heard  some  of  the  plain  truths  that  have  been  enun- 
ciated by  Mr.  Gushing  in  his  very  interesting  paper.  The  holding  of 
these  different  sections  divides  our  attention  very  uncomfortably.  I 
know  that  the  chairman,  Dr.  White,  would  like  to  have  been  here,  but 
Dr.  White  had  to  go  to  the  Oil  Section.  Mr.  Cushing's  paper  is  now 
open  for  discussion  and  the  chair  would  like  to  hear  from  any  gentle- 
man who  has  something  to  offer  or  any  remarks  to  make  in  regard  to 
the  paper.  Is  there  any  gentleman  here  who  has  some  question  to  ask 
Mr.  Gushing? 

MR.  W.  W.  RISDON  (New  Mexico):  Mr.  Chairman,  in  order  that 
Mr.  Gushing  may  not  feel  that  we  are  disinterested,  it  seems  to  me  that 
his  remarks  are  so  patent,  so  clear,  so  conclusively  the  truth,  that  it 
leaves  no  room  for  discussion. 

CHAIRMAN  PARKER:  If  there  is  no  further  discussion,  we  will 
proceed  to  the  reading  of  the  other  papers.  I  am  informed  by  the  sec- 
retary that  neither  Mr.  Puterbaugh  nor  Mr.  Harry  N.  Taylor  is  present. 

The  next  item  on  the  program  is  an  open  discussion  on  "The  Closed 
Shop  and  the  Check-Off  as  Related  to  Efficiency  in  Mining  Operations." 
There  is  no  one  assigned  to  open  that  discussion.  There  ought  to  be 
some  gentlemen  from  Illinois  or  Indiana  or  Iowa  or  Arkansas,  and  par- 
ticularly from  Oklahoma,  who  have  had  some  experience  with  the  closed 
shop.  We  would  like  to  have  the  discussion  opened  by  some  member 
from  one  of  those  states. 

MR.  T.  H.  O'BRIEN  (New  Mexico):  Mr.  Chairman,  I  think  our 
president,  Mr.  Scholz,  ought  to  be  able  to  give  us  some  information 
along  that  line. 

CHAIRMAN  PARKER:  Mr.  O'Brien's  suggestion  is  a  very  good 
one.  Mr.  Scholz,  you  are  familiar  with  this  situation;  come  up  and  start 
th  argument. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  had  not  expected  to  be 
called  upon  and  I  do  not  think  that  I  can  respond,  but  since  I  hear  no  one 
else  will  open  the  discussion,  and  as  I  have  been  called  for,  I  will  have 
just  a  few  words  to  say. 

I  think  it  is  well  understood  that  the  coal  mining  industry  is  the 
only  industry  which  collects  union  dues  for  the  members  of  the  union 
organization,  for  the  purpose  of  being  shot  at  with  the  same  ammunition 
that  they  supply.  That,  in  short,  is  my  observation  of  the  check-off. 


86  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

It  has  become  such  a  fixed  conidtion  that  the  coal  mine  operators  do 
it  unconsciously,  just  as  they  breathe  unconsciously.  That,  in  my  mind, 
does  not  detract  from  the  viciousness  of  the  abuse.  Some  of  my  col- 
leagues will  not  agree  with  me  when  I  say  that  check-off  is  a  bad  thing. 
I  think  the  value  of  an  organization  should  be  made  so  apparent  that 
every  member  would  not  only  be  willing  but  would  gladly  contribute  to 
the  maintenance  of  the  organization.  But  I  do  not  think  that  the  miners' 
union  should  insist  on  the  collection  of  the  check-off  through  the  em- 
ployers. Therefore,  I  think  the  principle  is  wrong,  and  whatever  is 
wrong  in  principle  cannot  be  of  much  benefit  to  the  members  belong- 
ing to  such  an  organization.  The  miners'  organization  has  been  very 
arbitrary  in  the  collection  of  the  check-off,  and  the  coal  company  that 
would  not  meet  the  check-off  on  the  days  when  the  dues  are  to  be  paid 
would  find  the  mine  closed  down.  That  brings  us  to  the  natural  con- 
clusion that  the  miners'  organization  absolutely  depends  on  the  coal 
operators  to  keep  them  alive. 

I  hope  this  will  start  the  argument.  I  think  there  are  other  men 
here  who  have  had  more  experience  than  I  have  had  with  the  check-off 
system,  a.nd  I  trust  that  they  will  give  us  their  views  regarding  this 
matter.  I  only  hope  that  some  day  the  miners'  union  will  see  the  situ- 
ation in  the  right  light  and  will  depart  from  this  custom  and  will  depend 
upon  the  payment  of  its  dues  by  its  members  the  same  way  that  every 
other  organization  depends  upon  the  payment  of  its  dues.  As  I  say,  I 
think  it  is  wrong  in  principle,  a.nd  whatever  is  wrong  in  principle  cannot 
very  long  obtain. 

CHAIRMAN  PARKER:  Mr.  Scholz,  what  has  been  your  experi- 
ence in  regard  to  its  effect  upon  the  efficiency  of  the  miner? 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  I  do  not  know  that  you  could  very  well 
connect  the  collection  of  the  check-off  with  the  efficiency  of  the  miner, 
excepting  that  its  effect  is  to  make  a  man  feel  that  if  he  pays  some- 
thing into  an  institution  he  must  get  something  in  return.  The  fact 
that  we  work  under  a  closed  shop  makes  that  man  think  that  he  can 
call  upon  the  organization  whenever  he  wants  to  and  under  whatever  con- 
diticms  to  back  him  up.  The  men  become  more  arbitrary  and  care  to 
subject  themselves  less  to  the  rule  of  reason  because  they  have  the  rule 
of  might  and  power  behi.nd  them.  In  that  sense  of  the  word  I  think  the 
check-off  has  worked  to  the  detriment  of  the  coal  mining  industry.  I 
want  to  say  that  it  does  not  apply  in  all  cases,  but  unfortunately  it  is 
true  in  a  great  many. 

CHAIRMAN  PARKER:  Mr.  O'Brien,  do  you  have  a  check-off  in 
New  Mexico? 

MR.  T.  H.  O'BRIEN  (New  Mexico):  That  is  not  in  force  in  the 
West  at  all. 

CHAIRMAN  PARKER:  Any  further  remarks?  There  must  be 
some  gentleman  here  from  some  of  the  other  states  where  the  check-off 
is  in  effect. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  I  might  give  you  some  figures  of  the 
amount  of  the  check-off.  I  made  a  compilation  last  year,  taking  a 
number  of  the  leading  companies  in  practically  all  of  the  states  where 
the  check-off  was  collected,  and  I  found  that  the  average  man  paid  into 
the  funds  of  the  organization,  both  international  and  state,  money 
amounting  to  about  thirty  dollars  per  capita. 

MR.  CUSHING:  Mr.  Dering,  won't  you  kindly  relate  your  experi- 
ence with  the  check-off  in  Indiana? 

MR.  J.  K.  DERING:  Mr.  Chairman,  Mr.  Gushing  and  Mr.  Snyder 
are  both  better  posted  on  a  certain  case  than  I  am,  on  a  case  in  Indiana, 
although  they  ask  that  I  tell  something  about  it. 

The  Vandalia  Coal  Company  in  Indiana  had  a  mine  which  they 
considered  very  dangerous  on  account  of  the  gas,  and  they  looked  into 
the  subject  of  electric  lamps  and  found  a  lamp  which  they  thought  was 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  87 

practical  to  use  in  this  mine.  As  I  understand  the  proposition,  they 
took  it  before  the  mine  inspectors  of  Indiana  and  they  approved  of  the 
introduction  of  electric  lamps  i.nto  this  mine.  They  went  before  the 
Compensation  Board  and  the  Compensation  Board  not  only  approved 
the  electric  lamps,  but  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  if  men  were  injured 
in  this  mine  with  an  open  lamp  they  would  have  no  case  before  the 
Compensation  Board.  In  the  face  of  all  these  arguments,  and  with  the 
sanction  of  these  two  boards,  a  strike  was  ordered  at  this  mine,  and 
after  many  weeks  of  contention  the  miners  ordered  out  the  men  of  all 
the  mines  of  the  Vandalia  Company  and  associated  companies,  some 
nine  mines,  wasn't  it? 

MR.  W.  J.  SNYDER:    Yes. 

MR.  J.  K.  BERING:  And  according  to  the  rules  of  the  national 
organization  President  White  would  not  interfere,  said  he  could  not  in- 
terfere until  it  was  a  state-wide  proposition.  Mr.  Ogle,  the  president  of 
that  company,  in  my  judgment,  was  in  the  right  i.n  sticking  to  his  original 
plan  to  put  electric  lights  in  that  mine  or  giving  up  its  operation,  be- 
cause I  believe  that  if  he  had  undertaken  to  operate  it  in  the  face  of  all 
of  these  statements,  and  all  the  facts,  and  if  he  allowed  the  men  to  go 
in  and  work  with  the  open  lights,  and  the  men  were  killed,  he  would  be 
guilty  of  manslaughter.  That  is  my  personal  opinion. 

The  miners  started  to  increase  their  check-off  in  Indiana  to  take 
care  of  this  suspension  and  succeeded,  as  I  understand,  in  increasing 
the  check-off  during  one  month.  The  operators  tried  to  stop  it,  tried 
to  limit  the  check-off  to  what  it  had  formerly  been,  just  for  miners' 
dues,  and  were  brought  right  up  against  a  shutdown  of  the  entire  state. 
By  compromising  and  making  a  check-off  for  a  month  for  the  additional 
amount  they  got  out  of  this  hole,  but  it  was  a  very  narrow  escape,  and 
it  was  to  my  mind  a  very  embarrassing  one.  I  am  ashamed  to  say  that 
my  company  was  a  party  to  permitting  the  miners  to  collect  additional 
dues  to  fight  one  of  my  own  neighbors.  But  that  is  what  we  were  up 
against  within  the  last  three  or  four  weeks. 

Mr.  Snyder  is  an  operator  in  that  deal,  and  perhaps  there  is  more 
to  the  story  than  I  have  told  you. 

CHAIRMAN  PARKER:  We  would  be  very  glad  to  hear  from 
Mr.  Snyder. 

MR.  W.  J.  SNYDER  (Indiana):  It  resulted  in  the  Vandalia  Com- 
pany making  a  terrific  sacrifice  by  abandoning  that  mine  in  order  that 
the  entire  state  might  avoid  being  tied  up.  Talk  about  efficiency,  it  was 
certainly  efficient  on  the  part  of  the  miners.  They  had  us  all  going. 
Their  usual  check-off  is  nominal.  They  asked  fifty  cents  per  week  per 
man,  or  two  dollars  practically  for  a  month,  in  addition  to  their  regular 
check-off,  which  two  dollars  a  month,  or  fifty  cents  per  week  per  man, 
was  to  sustain  the  striking  miners  of  the  Vandalia  Coal  Company. 
That  is  the  way  the  check-off  works.  Mr.  Scholz  has  very  aptly  sug- 
gested that  we  do  it  very  much  like  we  breathe.  I  think  that  the  broad- 
minded  miners  ought  to  see  it  the  way  Mr.  Scholz  presented  it,  but  1 
do  not  believe  they  ever  will,  because  that  is  their  best  and  most  power- 
ful club.  The  reason  I  asked  Mr.  Dering  to  mention  it  in  this  connection 
was  to  show  the  efficiency  on  the  miners'  part,  and  wherever  it  prevails 
it  will  always  be  worked  that  way.  It  gives  them  a  club  with  which  to 
accomplish  their  ends. 

Like  Mr.  Scholz,  I  have  always  felt  that  any  organization  ought  to 
be  large  enough  to  raise  its  own  funds  to  sustain  itself  without  calling 
upon  some  one  else  to  do  it  for  them.  In  Indiana  we  very  recently  had 
this  very  vital  case,  the  closing  down  of  all  the  mines  of  one  company 
because  of  the  condition  of  which  Mr.  Dering  spoke,  and  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  the  operator  was  striving  to  safeguard  the  miners.  We 
have  been  talking  a  great  deal  about  safety  for  the  miner.  The  miner 
does  not  want  safety.  I  am  speaking  in  a  general  way.  I  know  that 


88  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

there  are  miners  who  do.  We  have  had  a  hard  time  along  that  line 
ourselves  lately. 

We  tried  to  introduce  explosives  that  are  regarded  and  have  been 
demonstrated  in  some  states  as  being  much  safer  than  others,  but  they 
resisted.  I  have  been  thinkijng  a  great  deal  as  to  how  we  can  educate 
the  miner  to  honest,  intelligent  co-operation  along  safety  lines,  but 
the  case  cited  by  Mr.  Bering  brought  out  the  fact  that  one  company 
was  striving  to  safeguard  its  men  through  a  method  sanctioned  by  the 
state  officers  and  by  the  Compensation  Board,  and  yet  that  mine  was 
put  under  strike  because  the  company  was  trying  to  safeguard  iis  men. 
They  struck  on  that  account.  Then  they  put  on  their  check-off  and 
most  of  us  met  it,  practically  all.  I  suppose  if  it  had  gone  on  they  would 
keep  making  it,  or  the  men  would  have  gone  on  a  strike.  In  order  to 
avoid  that,  the  Vandalia  Coal  Company,  seeing  the  condition  in  the  state, 
sacrificed  itself  by  abandoning  that  mine,  and  it  was  the  best  mine  they 
had. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Mr.  Chairman,  if  I  might  be  permitted 
to  add  just  one  statement  to  what  I  said,  I  would  like  to  say  that  since 
I  have  taken  my  seat  I  notice  in  this  room  a  man  who  is  very  well 
versed  in  the  mining  industry  of  the  state  of  Iowa,  Senator  Clarkson,  a 
ma.n  who  has  taken  a  great  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  miners  of 
Iowa  by  being  the  most  active  in  the  passage  of  the  workmen's  com- 
pensation law.  We  have  had  differences  with  him  as  to  what  we  should 
do,  but  we  always  believed  that  those  differences  were  honest  on  his 
side  and  honest  on  our  side.  But  we  operate  a  mine  in  Iowa,  and  for 
his  information  on  the  subject,  principally  on  the  workmen's  compen- 
sation law,  I  want  to  cite  an  incident  that  occurred  two  years  ago,  at 
which  time  I  was  general  manager  of  a  group  of  mines  located  at 
Melcher.  I  happened  to  be  visiting  one  of  our  places,  accompanied  by 
one  of  our  superintendents,  the  mine  foreman  and  the  district  mine  in- 
spector. This  miner  had  been  piling  his  slack  behind  him  for  quite  a 
ways  from  the  face  and  we  had  to  crawl  over  the  pile  to  get  to  the  work- 
ing face.  I  found  he  was  charging  his  hole  with  powder  by  the  use  of 
a  charger.  The  charger  is  a  hollow  cylinder.  The  top  is  partly  open, 
into  which  the  powder  is  poured  from  the  keg.  He  was  pouring  the 
powder  into  the  charger.  Several  charges  of  powder  of  that  kind  are 
used  to  complete  the  charge.  This  man  had  on  his  cap  a  carbide  lamp. 
While  he  was  pouring  powder  out  of  the  keg  more  or  less  dust,  of  course, 
rose,  a.nd  I  promptly  grabbed  his  lamp  and  took  it  out  of  his  cap.  I 
said,  "For  goodness'  sake,  don't  run  this  risk.  If  you  do  not  want  to 
protect  yourself,  I  don't  want  to  be  burned  in  this  hole."  He  looked  at 
me  with  more  or  less  surprise  and  said,  "What's  it  to  you?"  I  said,  "I 
am  speaking  for  myself  when  I  am  here.  I  am  here  in  an  official  ca- 
pacity, on  an  official  visit.  Besides,  this  is  a  violation  of  this  company's 
rules.  You  have  got  to  carry  them  out.  I  am  the  general  manager.  You 
have  got  to  recognize  my  authority."  He  said  some  unpleasant  things, 
but  finally  quit.  I  simply  waited  to  see  what  the  next  step  would  be, 
and  finally  he  took  the  coal  dust  and  commenced  tamping  his  hole  with 
it.  I  said,  "Stop.  If  you  do  this  once  more  you  will  be  fired."  He 
said,  "If  I  am  discharged,  the  whole  mine  goes  on  a  strike."  I  said, 
"All  right,  out  you  go."  I  insisted  o.n  his  being  discharged,  but  the 
mining  foreman  interceded  for  him,  and  upon  his  promise  not  to  do  it 
agai.n  he  was  reinstated. 

Now,  his  entire  position  was  based  on  the  fact  that  he  was  supported 
by  his  local  organization.  That  brings  us  right  back  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  check-off  is  the  root  of  the  evil,  and  I  think  it  is  very,  very  un- 
desirable and  detrimental  to  the  coal  mining  industry,  and  one  which  I 
hope  we  will  be  able  to  cure  at  some  time  or  other.  I  do  not  agree 
with  Mr.  Snyder  that  it  can't  be  done.  By  appealing  to  the  union,  that 
they  depend  upon  themselves  for  the  collection  of  their  dues  rather  than 
looking  to  us,  so  as  to  enable  us  to  establish  better  discipline,  and  we 
will  have  less  of  this  thing  where  a  man  thinks  that  he  can  deliberately 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  «9 

violate  a  rule  which  is  established  for  his  own  protection  because  the 
check-off  is  going  to  back  him  up. 

MR.  DERING:    May  I  ask  a  question,  Mr.  Scholz? 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     Yes,  sir. 

MR.  DERING:  Suppose  at  the  next  meeting  when  we  have  to 
settle  the  mining  scale  that  the  operators  take  a  firm  stand  that  they 
will  not  recognize  the  check-off,  would  not  check-off  for  the  miners, 
how  long  would  our  mines  lie  idle  before  the  men  would  submit  to  it? 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  If  you  would  ask  me  if  it  would  snow  on 
the  25th  day  of  December  or  not  snow,  and  I  could  definitely  answer 
you;  in  other  words,  if  I  were  a  prophet  I  might  be  able  to  answer  that 
question  correctly.  I  think  it  might  be  a  long  time,  although  I  have 
talked  to  a  great  many  men,  a  great  many  miners,  in  my  business  career 
of  some  twenty-five  years,  fifteen  years'  experience  with  organized  labor 
and  ten  years'  experience  with  labor  that  was  not  orga.nized.  I  have 
made  it  a  point,  one  that  I  have  employed  with  profit,  to  get  very  close 
to  our  miners.  I  can  call  a  great  number  of  my  men  by  their  first  names 
and  slap  them  on  the  back  and  ask,  ''John,  how  are  things  going?"  and 
what  he  is  doing,  and  sometimes  he  will  get  confidential  with  me,  and  it 
has  been  the  expression  of  a  great  many  of  these  men  that  they  are  not 
in  favor  of  the  check-off  as  now  in  force.  When  these  men  are  put  up 
in  a  row  in  the  presence  of  their  officials  I  know  very  well  that  their 
answer  would  not  be  the  same  as  it  was  to  me  when  I  asked  them  confi- 
dentially. I  had  that  experience  only  two  weeks  ago.  Our  miners,  in 
answer  to  a  question  as  to  whether  or  not  they  would  strike,  which 
question  was  asked  by  us,  said  they  would  not  strike  over  Clause  4 
in  the  agreement,  but  when  a  call  went  out  for  a  strike  they  struck  just 
the  same.  No  one  wanted  to  carry  the  name  of  scab.  The  word  scab 
is  a  black  mark  against  a  miner,  to  avoid  which  he  is  willing  to  sacrifice 
his  home.  He  will  move  to  Colorado  and  work  in  a  non-union  district, 
supplying  coal  to  the  territory  otherwise  furnished  by  the  union  miners. 
He  will  do  that  rather  than  be  a  scab  in  the  union  territory.  This  is 
a  condition  a.nd  not  a  theory  upon  which  they  work.  I  think  if  the 
me.n  were  called  upon  to  step  out  rather  than  surrender  the  check-off 
that  they  would  stay  out  for  a  very  long  time. 

CHAIRMAN  PARKER:  We  have  had  a  great  deal  of  pleasure  in 
listening  to  Senator  Clarkson  on  Monday.  I  think  we  will  be  equally 
glad  to  hear  from  him  now  in  response  to  Mr.  Scholz'  invitation. 

SENATOR  JOHN  T.  CLARKSON  (Iowa):  Mr.  Chairman,  before 
I  speak  upon  this  very  important  subject  I  feel  that  you  will  pardon 
me  if  I  say  that  I  have  enjoyed  every  moment  of  my  time  here  at  this 
gathering.  This  is  my  first  experience  attending  a  mining  congre'ss  and 
I  have  been  very  much  interested  in  every  phase  of  the  meeting  which  I 
have  been  enabled  to  attend,  and  this  particular  phase,  which  is  merely 
one  of  the  sidelights  that  goes  into  the  whole  ramification  of  the  in- 
numerable complications  that  we  meet  in  industrial  affairs,  is  indeed 
very  interesting,  and  I  think  that  I  have  some  reasonably  well-fixed 
ideas  upon  the  matter  and  bottomed  upon  actual  experience.  If  it  were 
purely  a  theory,  and  a  theory  only,  I  could  most  heartily  agree  with  my 
brother  Mr.  Scholz,  with  reference  to  the  abstract  principle  of  fealty  to 
an  organization  to  collect  dues  and  assessments  by  voluntary  contribu- 
tion, but  from  actual  and  practical  experience  I  am  unable  to  agree 
with  him.  But  I  am  not  unmindful  of  some  of  the  unpleasant  things 
that  arise  from  labor  organizations. 

The  ultimate  question  is  one  of  unions,  for,  after  all,  that  is  what 
it  amounts  to,  and  check-off  is  merely  incidental.  If  we  once  admit  that 
we  want  unionism  for  collective  bargaining  by  an  organization  of 
miners  or  any  other  industry,  then  it  becomes  necessary  to  adopt  some 
means  of  obtaining  the  best  unified  effort  on  their  part.  From  prac- 
tical experience  I  know  as  a  matter  of  fact  that  you  would  not  be  enabled 
to  obtain  or  retain  an  organization  without  the  check-off,  however  de- 
sirable other  means  might  seem  from  a  theoretical  standpoint.  It  was 


90  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

my  privilege,  and  I  might  say  pleasure,  from  experience  some  twenty 
years  ago  to  be  directly  identified  as  an  official  of  the  miners'  organi- 
zation in  Iowa.  For  the  last  twenty  years  I  have  been  engaged  in  the 
practice  o.f  law.  The  past  two  years  I  have  been  identified  with  the 
miners'  organization  in  a  legal  way  from  a  state  standpoint.  And  yet, 
during  the  twenty  years  last  past,  I  have  been  sympathizingly  interested 
in  the  progress  of  the  organization  and  the  mining  industry  generally. 

Twenty  years  ago,  when  personally  interested  in  the  organization, 
we  then  sought  to  obtain  membership  by  voluntary  contribution  in  the 
way  of  payment  of  dues,  and,  while  there  were  a  few  who  always  paid, 
there  were  many,  probably  a  less  number  now  than  then,  who  would 
not  pay.  not  because  they  were  opposed  to  the  union,  .not  because  they 
were  not  desirous  of  obtaining  whatever  benefits  might  be  derived  th.ere- 
from,  but  because  there  was  an  element  in  the  class  as  individuals,  as 
there  is  in  any  other  class  of  industry,  who  are  willing,  too  willing,  to 
obtain  and  accept  something  for  nothing,  and  willing  that  some  other 
fellow  do  the  work,  just  as  you  find  it  right  here  in  your  association. 
There  are  many  of  us  that  are  willing  to  come  here  and  sit  down  and 
watch  some  of  our  officials  do  the  work,  and  I  am  sure  that  the  presi- 
dent of  this  association  can  give  very  splendid,  tangible  and  substantial 
testimony  to  the  fact  that  there  are  innumerable  of  his  associates  that 
are  quite  willing  that  he  should  do  the  work.  And  so  it  is  with  some 
miners.  They  are  quite  willing  to  accept  the  benefits,  irrespective  of 
who  may  pay  therefor.  Then,  again,  there  is  an  element,  a  minority,  I 
grant  you,  who  would  much  prefer,  and  I  say  this  deliberately.  I  say 
it  without  reservation,  who  would  much  prefer  from  a  personal  stand- 
point to  make  a  contribution  to  a  keg  of  beer,  to  go  out  into  the  woods 
and  sit  around  and  drink  it,  than  to  make  their  contribution  to  the 
miners'  organization.  They  are  in  a  very  small  minority,  I  grant  you, 
and  some  of  them  who  would  do  that  rather  than  make  a  contiibution 
create  dissatisfaction  upon  the  part  of  the  cheerful  contributors,  result- 
ing in  a  downfall  of  the  organization.  Such  facts  are  not  alone  charac- 
teristic of  miners  any  more  so  than  it  is  of  any  other  class  of  men, 
wherein  the  men  who  would  make  the  contribution  become  discouraged, 
and  disorganization  would  be  the  result,  together  with  the  breaking  up 
of  the  union.  So  that,  after  all,  Mr.  Chairman,  you  ultimately  get  back 
to  the  proposition,  which  is  the  primary  one,  whether  or  not  it  is  bet- 
ter for  employers  to  enter  into  and  transact  their  business  from  a  col- 
lective bargaining  standpoint  than  with  employes  solely  as  individuals. 

Now,  that  brings  me  up  to  another  point.  I  am  one  of  those  who 
believe  that  many  of  the  employers,  beyond  question,  would  deal  fairly 
with  their  employes  if  there  were  no  such  thing  as  a  labor  organiza- 
tion, and  yet  I  will  venture  there  is  not  an  employer  but  what  will  admit 
that  there  are  men,  as  employers  in  the  mining  industry,  who  would  not 
do  that,  and  they  do  it  along  the  same  line  and  for  the  same  reason  and 
bottomed  upon  the  same  principle  that  they  carry  on  cut-throat  compe- 
tition in  the  means  and  methods  of  transacting  their  business.  This  is 
the  frailty  of  human  nature,  seemingly.  And  so  we  are  required  to 
consider  another  phase  of  the  problem,  which  is  the  one  of  education, 
and  when  I  say  education  I  mean  in  the  broader  sense.  I  don't  mean 
solely  and  only  from  a  text-book  standpoint,  but  from  a  standpoint  of 
correct  thinking;  the  habit  of  thinking  correctly;  the  habit  of  develop- 
ing correct  thought;  the  habit  of  recognizing  that  other  men  have  rights 
as  well  as  one's  self.  There  are  men  all  along  the  line  that  fail  to  think 
along  that  line. 

Taking  the  case  now  that  was  illustrated  or  suggested  and  named 
here  by  the  gentleman,  on  the  face  of  the  facts  that  were  given  here,  it 
would  seem  to  me  as  though  the  position  taken  by  the  employes  in  In- 
diana was  very  unreasonable,  and  no  one  could  offer  an  apology  there- 
for; and  yet  there  are  men  that  will  do  things  that  are  unreasonable, 
even  in  the  very  face  of  being  well  organized  or  well-intended  methods  of 
procedure.  Take  the  individual  case  suggested  by  Mr.  Scholz.  There  is 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  91 

no  question  but  what  that  man  was  unquestionably  in  the  wrong,  be- 
cause the  laws  of  the  state  of  Iowa  provide  that  a  man  is  absolutely 
prohibited  from  the  use  of  coal  dust  to  tamp  his  hole  with.  I  remember 
the  law  so  well  because  it  was  my  pleasure  and  my  privilege  to  be  the 
author  of  that  law,  and  the  only  thing  that  is  lacking  in  that  law,  al- 
though it  is  pretty  strong  as  it  is,  is  that  I  would  have  vested  police 
power  in  every  mine  superintendent  and  mine  foreman  for  the  purpose 
of  more  effectively  enforcing  the  law;  and  yet  I  was  unable  to  obtain 
the  support  of  the  coal  operators  of  the  state  of  Iowa  to  enable  me  to 
put  that  through  under  those  conditions. 

CHAIRMAN  PARKER:  Is  there  any  penalty  attached  to  that 
law? 

SENATOR  CLARKSON:  There  is  a  penalty.  It  is  a  misdemeanor 
for  a  violation  of  the  statute.  The  mine  superintendent  or,  had  Mr. 
Scholz  seen  lit,  he  could  have  gone  to  the  justice  of  the  peace  and  filed 
an  information  and  could  have  prosecuted  jiim  therefor.  In  saying  that 
I  would  not  want  you  to  feel  now  that  I  criticise  Mr.  Scholz  for  not 
doing  so.  That  is  not  the  thought  that  I  intended  to  emphasize. 

MR.  W.  J.  SNYDER:     He  would  have  had  a  strike. 

SENATOR  CLARKSON:  1  am  not  so  certain  about  that,  brother. 
Possibly  so.  Possibly  he  might  have  had  a  strike  in  your  locality.  I 
would  not  want  to  go  so  far  as  to  say  that.  I  thi.nk  that  I  know  the 
temperament  of  the  district  officers  of  the  state  of  Iowa  sufficiently  to 
know  and  believe  and  to  be  able  to  state  authoritatively  that  they  would 
not  have  undertaken  to  have  supported  him  under  those  conditions. 
I  feel  that  I  know  those  men  well  enough  to  know  that  they  would  not 
have  undertaken  to  have  backed  him  up  under  those  conditions.  I  can 
say  this,  for  I  am  now  speaking  for  myself,  as  general  counsel  for  Dis- 
trict 13  of  Iowa.  I  unquestionably  would  not  have  offered  any  defense 
in  behalf  of  the  district  for  him.  Rather,  on  the  contrary,  we  would 
have  prosecuted. 

Let  me  illustrate  to  you.  I  regret  very  much  that  we  find  it  neces- 
sary to  sometimes  get  just  a  little  personal  in  these  matters,  because  in 
our  frailty  of  thought  we  are  better  enabled  to  emphasize  the  problem 
probably  i.n  that  way,  but  to  show  you  the  temperament  and  the  thought 
of  the  officers  of  District  13,  permit  me  to  say  that  there  was  a  case 
where  the  miners  felt  that  the  operator  was  violating  the  contract  be- 
tween the  employers  and  the  employe,  and  it  was  brought  out  in  the 
evidence  in  the  case  that  unquestionably  the  operator  was  violating  the 
contract,  and  yet,  without  following  the  usual  routine,  the  usual  method 
of  procedure,  I  should  say,  of  settling  those  matters,  certain  men  under- 
took to  determine  the  grievance  themselves.  In  other  words,  they  were 
witness,  they  were  prosecutor  and  they  were  the  judge.  They  assumed  to 
themselves  the  authority  so  to  do,  and  they  immediately  issued  an  edict 
that  there  would  be  no  work  until  this  rule  was  complied  with.  The 
district  officers  condemned  the  proposition  and  told  them  that  they 
would  be  required  to  return  to  work,  and  upon  a  refusal  so  to  do  the 
individual  who  refused  would  be  suspended.  As  a  local  union,  as  a  whole, 
they  refused,  and  the  entire  local  was  suspended,  and  then  action  was 
brought  against  the  district  officers  to  collect  damages  and  the  matter 
was  fought  out  in  the  district  court,  where  their  actions  were  supported, 
and  in  behalf  of  the  district  officers  and  the  district  I  defended  the 
action.  I  point  to  that  merely  to  show  you  the  trend  of  thought  and 
the  temperament  of  the  district  officers  of  District  13  with  reference  to 
those  matters.  They  held  that  contract  to  be  sacred.  Now,  I  am  not 
here  to  say  that  their  judgment  is  always  accurate.  I  have  seen  times 
when  I  would  radically  differ  with  them,  had  I  anything  to  say  about 
those  matters.  We  cannot  hope  that  all  men  will  at  all  times  be  correct 
in  their  conclusions.  We  cannot  hope,  that  the  individual  will  at  all 
times  be  correct  in  his  conclusions.  Nay,  on  the  contrary,  we  must 
expect  to  find  many  more  individuals  among  the  employes  who  arrive 


92  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

at  inaccurate  conclusions  than  would  be  the  case  with  the  operators. 
Why?  Because  his  training  of  mind  has  not  been  the  same.  He  is  not 
a  business  man.  In  other  words,  he  has  not  been  compelled  to  con- 
stantly train  to  accurate  thinking  along  those  lines,  and  therefore  he  fol- 
lows his  natural  desires,  rather  than  logical  conclusions,  to  arrive  at 
those  things.  And  it  all  comes,  as  I  view  it,  from  the  fact  that  we  are 
more  or  less  in  an  adolescent  age  in  industry.  We  are  just  developing. 
It  is  a  process  of  evolution.  And,  if  we  will  keep  in  mind  at  all  times  the 
proposition  that  it  is  a  matter  of  evolution  and  that  we  ought  to  strive 
constantly,  one  with  the  other,  to  co-operatively  endeavor  to  try  to 
train  ourselves  along  the  line  of  an  endeavor  to  avoid  as  far  as  may  be 
the  inaccurate  thinking,  it  seems  to  me  we  will  make  very  rapid  progress. 

I  had  the  matter  illustrated  to  me  yesterday  with  one  of  the  most 
apt  situations  that  I  have  listened  to  for  some  time,  wherein  it  was 
complained  that  a  miner  will  sometimes  stick  his  head  into  danger, 
seemingly  the  most  unreasonable  thing  imaginable,  just  as  the  one  that 
is  suggested  here  by  Mr.  Scholz.  And  yet  I  have  no  doubt  that  every 
man  in  this  audience  in  some  way  does  some  ridiculous  thing  every 
day.  For  instance,  right  here  on  the  streets  of  this  city,  where  the 
policeman  will  blow  his  whistle,  which  is  an  indication  that  we  should 
stop  at  the  street  corner  until  he  has  given  the  next  alarm  to  enable  us 
to  go  across  the  street  in  safety,  when  the  traffic  will  be  permitted  that 
way,  and  yet  we  find  men,  innumerable  in  number,  crossing  to  and  fro, 
arriving  at  the  middle  of  the  street,  waiting  for  a  street  car  to  go  one 
way  and  an  automobile  the  other,  and  as  soon  as  the  automobile  passes 
he  will  dart  by  right  in  front  of  another  moving  automobile,  the  most 
ridiculous  thing  imaginable,  and  yet  it  is  done  right  along,  and  that,  too, 
by  intelligent  men;  men  who  are  accustomed  to  thinking;  men  who 
we  have  a  right  to  believe  would  not  put  their  heads  in  danger.  Why? 
Simply  we  do  not  train  ourselves  from  habit  to  avoid  those  things. 
And  there  to  my  mind  is  one  of  the  weak  places  of  the  American  people 
as  a  people;  they  lack  a  proper  respect  for  the  law,  which,  when  in- 
dulged in,  becomes  a  habit  affecting  all  of  our  actions,  private  and 
public.  It  seems  to  me  that  labor  organizations  can  and  will  be  used 
as  a  proper  and  effective  means,  when  assisted  by  employers,  to  aid  in 
correcting  our  imperfect  habits  upon  the  part  of  employer  and  em- 
ploye. 

And  I  want  to  say,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  one  of  the  most  delightful 
things  to  me  in  this  meeting  is  to  see  the  spirit  of  co-operation  and  a 
desire  to  train  ourselves  away  from  the  habit  of  doing  the  incorrect 
thing  and  try  to  arrive  at  the  correct  thing. 

Now,  the  mere  matter,  as  suggested  here  by  Mr.  Scholz,  that  of 
voluntary  contributions,  would  not  fill  the  bill,  because  that  would  pre- 
suppose that  every  fellow  would  contribute  and,  if  he  did,  you  would 
still  have  the  opportunity  for  wrong  action  that  my  brother  speaks  of. 
Therefore,  if  the  purpose  of  stopping  the  check-off  is  to  dissolve  the 
union,  then  we  ought  to  take  that  position  and  say  so,  and  not  leave  it 
to  a  matter  of  saying  that  we  will  countenance  the  organization  if  sus- 
tained by  voluntary  contributions,  for,  after  all,  there  is  no  question  in 
my  mind  but  what  the  check-off  means  the  life  or  death  of  the  union. 

MR.  GUSHING:     May  I  ask  a  question? 

SENATOR  CLARKSON:     Certainly,  if  I  can  answer  it. 

MR.  GUSHING:  Isn't  the  miners'  union  the  only  one  in  the  coun- 
try that  has  the  check-off? 

SENATOR  CLARKSON:  I  am  not  sufficiently  versed  on  that,  my 
brother,  to  concede  that  to  be  the  fact.  Let  us  say  that  it  is  the  fact. 
That  still  does  not  meet  the  true  situation  that  is  confronting  us,  what 
others  might  do  is  not  controlling,  and  by  way  of  illustration  permit  me 
to  say  this  country  is  the  only  great,  substantial  nation  on  the  face  of 
the  earth  that  is  out  of  this  awful  catastrophe  that  is  taking  place  abroad, 
and  we  are  the  better  off  morally  and  financially  because  of  that  fact. 
(Applause.)  It  seems  to  me  what  others  do  is  not  always  the  safe 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  93 

basis,  so  we  get  right  back  to  the  ultimate  question:  Is  unionism  the 
proper  method  of  procedure?  If  it  is,  then  there  can  be  no  harm,  but 
great  benefit,  in  giving  the  check-off  so  that  they  may  sustain  it.  If 
unionism  is  not  the  better  course  to  pursue,  then  the  check-off  is  the 
one  you  should  eliminate.  In  answer  to  that  question,  we  must  solve 
the  proposition  as  to  whether  or  not  dealing  with  men  collectively  is 
the  better  plan  to  conserve  the  rights  of  employer,  employe  and  the 
public.  To  my  mind,  that  proposition  must  be  resolved  and  answered 
in  the  affirmative,  for  I  cannot  help  but  feel  from  my  experience  and 
study,  eve.n  with  all  of  its  shortcomings,  even  with  all  of  its  objec- 
tionable features,  I  am  still  abidingly  convinced  that  dealing  collectively 
is  far  superior  to  the  old  method  of  attempting  to  deal  with  individuals, 
for  the  reason  that  there  is  a  measurable  amount  of  strength  on  each 
side  able  to  reasonably  conserve  their  rights  and  assist  in  the  great, 
ever-present  problems  of  public  welfare. 

That  there  are  men  who  will  take  advantage  of  that  power,  I  grant 
you.  And  there  necessarily  must  be  evolved  out  of  that  unfortunate 
condition  some  means,  some  methods  by  which  we  may  constantly  ad- 
vance to  an  improved  discipline,  individually  and  collectively,  yet  I  am 
frank  to  say  that,  while  we  may  hope  to  approximate  the  perfection  in 
our  daily  contact,  I  doubt  very  much  if  you  may  hope  to  arrive  at  per- 
fection in  the  very  near  future.  (Applause.) 

CHAIRMAN  PARKER:  Gentlemen,  I  think  we  are  getting  along 
and  bringing  out  some  interesting  discussion  on  this  subject.  I  do  not 
know  whether  it  is  proper  for  the  chair  to  attempt  to  enter  into  a  dis- 
cussion of  this  question  or  not,  but  I  can  state  that  in  the  anthracite  re- 
gion, as  you  know,  the  check-off  has  not  yet  become  a  factor.  We 
have,  however,  had  since  last  April  a  great  many  of  what  are  known  as 
button  strikes,  of  which  you  probably  have  heard.  I  made  a  little  com- 
pilation on  these  interruptions  to  mining  operations  a  short  time  since, 
and  found  that  the  actual  time  lost  i.n  button  strikes  since  the  5th  of  last 
May,  when  the  new  agreement  was  signed,  had  resulted  in  a  loss  in 
wages  to  the  miners  of  something  over  two  million  dollars.  The  ton- 
nage, as  it  might  have  been  mined  during  that  time,  which  would  have 
gotten  into  the  markets  would  be  something  over  a  million  tons  more 
than  what  was  mined,  and  if  this  had  been  accomplished  there  would  not 
be  any  complaint  today  of  shortage  of  anthracite  in  the  markets  tribu- 
tary to  it. 

We  had  rather  some  striking  incidents  in  the  button  strikes.  Sen- 
ator Clarkson  says  that  it  required  the  check-off  in  order  to  keep  up  the 
membership.  One  mine  of  the  Temple  Coal  Company,  a  Lackawanna 
mine,  has  been  on  strike  for  something  over  six  weeks  now.  There  was 
from  six  to  eight  hundred  men  employed  in  that  mine,  and  there  are  a 
half  a  dozen  or  so  men  who  did  not  have  their  buttons.  That  mijie 
has  been  idle,  absolutely  shut  down,  because  of  the  total  number  of  men 
employed  about  one  per  cent  did  not  wear  the  union  buttons.  The 
matter  has  been  before  the  Conciliation  Board  upon  several  occasions. 
The  men  have  been  ordered  back  to  work,  but,  led  by  the  local  presi- 
dent, they  have  refused  to  obey  the  order  of  their  district  president  or 
the  mandate  of  the  Board  of  Conciliation.  The  mine  is  still  idle,  or  was 
at  the  time  I  left,  and,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  they  dp  not  have 
the  check-off,  it  looks  as  if  ninety-nine  per  cent  in  that  particular  mine 
were  members  of  the  unio,n. 

We  would  like  to  hear  a  few  words  from  some  of  the  other  gentle- 
men present.  Mr.  Gushing,  you  ought  to  be  able  to  talk  on  this  subject. 

MR.  GEORGE  H.  GUSHING:  I  was  just  thinking  as  Senator 
Clarkson  spoke  about  the  suggestion  that  Mr.  Scholz  might  have  carried 
that  case  to  the  justice  of  the  peace.  I  remember  reading  a  speech  by 
one  of  the  international  officers  of  the  miners'  union  in  which^  he  told 
the  organization  in  Iowa  that  it  did  not  make  a  damned  bit  of  difference 
what  kind  of  law  they  passed;  if  they  elected  their  own  justice  of  the 
peace  there  would  not  be  any  convictions  under  that  law. 


94  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

It  was  called  to  my  attention  just  a  moment  or  so  ago  that  the 
law  in  Oklahoma  compels  a  mine  foreman  and  the  mine  superintendent 
to  arrest  a  man  that  is  found  guilty  of  violating  the  law  on  any  points 
involving  safety.  They  have  never  been  able  to  get  a  conviction  in  that 
state,  as  I  understand  it,  even  though  the  mine  foreman  and  mine  super- 
intendent have  carried  out  the  instructions  according  to  the  law. 

SENATOR  CLARKSON:  Mr.  Chairman,  in  our  state,  of  course, 
an  information  may  be  filed  in  any  part  of  the  county,  the  entire  county 
would  have  jurisdiction  over  a  case  of  that  kind,  but  I  would  not  want 
to  leave  the  impression  with  this  audience  that  my  thought  is  that  this 
is  the  solution  of  the  proposition,  just  arresting  a  man  at  every  stage. 
That  is  not  my  thought.  There  may  be  isolated  cases  where  such  drastic- 
methods  are  essential  and  will  perform  efficient  service  and  bring  to 
some  extent  the  desired  result.  But  if  we  are  going  to  depend  upon  penal 
servitude  or  fines  I  doubt  very  much  the  efficiency  of  that  as  a  sole 
remedy.  There  must  be  a  broader  remedy  than  that.  There  must  be  the 
remedy  of  evolution.  That  is  the  remedy  which  I  desire  to  more 
strongly  emphasize  than  I  would  criminal  prosecution. 

CHAIRMAN  PARKER:  Are  there  any  other  gentlemen  present  to 
contribute  something  to  the  general  remarks  up'on  this  subject? 

MR.  F.  P.  WRIGHT  (Kentucky):  Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  very 
sorry  that  I  was  not  here  at  first  to  hear  the  commencement  of  this 
discussion.  I  don't  know  that  I"  should  speak  because  I  may  be  following 
along  the  wrong  line,  but  I  have  had  considerable  to  do  with  union 
miners. 

We  are  situated  in  a  district  called  23,  which  is  in  Kentucky.  That  is 
the  only  union  district  south  of  the  Ohio  river.  We  have  non-union 
•competition  east  of  us.  Eastern  Kentucky,  to  the  west  of  us  in  several 
states,  and  to  the  south  of  us,  in  Tennessee  and  Alabama  and  parts  of 
Arkansas.  I  am  very  much  interested  in  this  question.  I  came  in  when 
Senator  Clarkson  was  speaking,  and  he  speaks  from  the  union  side, 
and  like  all  union  men  he  is  always  prepared,  and  I  hesitate  very  often 
to  combat  anything  this  gentleman  said  or  that  those  gentlemen  say 
unless  I  am  well  prepared. 

A  lot  of  things  he  says  about  the  unionism  and  check-off  is  true. 
The  old  days  of  master  and  man  in  the  old-fashioned  acceptance  of  the 
ward  are  passed.  Speaking  about  combinations,  check-offs,  those  are 
small  things,  but  there  have  been  combinations  on  the  other  side,  we 
all  know.  The  reason  for  our  little  union  section  down  in  Kentucky 
was  for  protection  against  the  absolute  dishonesty  and  eagerness  for 
wealth  and  cruelty  of  a  few  operators.  As  he  said,  some  operators  will 
treat  their  men  fairly  and  some  will  not.  Some  miners  will  treat  their 
employers  fairly  and  some  will  not.  It  does  not  make  any  difference 
from  my  experience  what  the  situation  of  a  man  is  in  regard  to  social 
levels;  that  honesty  and  uprightness  is  not  a  monopoly  of  any  one 
class.  The  idea  that  every  employer  is  a  rascal  and  trying  to  exploit 
labor  is  just  as  foolish  as  to  say  that  every  laboring  man,  every  working 
man  is  honest.  They  are  born  that  way  on  both  sides. 

One  man  asked  me  once,  "Wright,  you  don't  seem  to  have  much 
trouble  with  your  mine.  I  never  have  to  come  to  your  mine  to  settle 
any  disputes.  What  is  your  rule?"  Well,  I  told  him,  I  said,  "I  have 
no  special  rule.  I  think  the  Golden  Rule  is  a  mighty  good  mine  rule." 
And  another  faculty  I  have,  without  any  self-praise,  is  trying  to  put 
myself  in  the  other  man's  place  once  in  a  while,  to  look  at  it  the  way 
he  looks  at  it,  and  the  same  thing  that  Senator  Clarkson  said,  that  we 
expect  of  these  miners  traits  that  the  men  who  have  been  more  fortu- 
nate i.n  education  should  have  but  don't,  any  more  than  these  miners, 
is  my  experience.  I  have  had  some  of  the  most  outrageous  things  done 
at  my  mine  by  the  local  union  that  you  can  imagine,  the  most  foolish, 
fiut  I  have  gotten  along  with  them  very  well.  I  have  not  been  able  to 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  95 

compete  with  non-union  labor  in  the  matter  of  expense  account,  payroll, 
but  they  have  a  great  many  other  expenses  that  we  do  not  have. 

I  will  give  you  a  little  history  of  this  last  year.  Our  contract  was  out 
on  the  31st  of  March.  Now,  on  the  first  of  March  we  had  our  annual 
convention  about  the  wage  scale  and  all  the  operators  demanded  a 
reduction  while  the  miners  demanded  an  increase.  That  was  against 
my  judgment  and  my  advice,  which  was  to  tell  the  miners  just  what 
we  could  pay  and  what  we  would  pay  and  say,  "Boys,  when  you  are 
ready  to  sign  up  we  are  with  you."  But  the  idea  of  trading,  everybody 
asking  for  more  than  he  expects  to  get,  or  you  won't  get  what  you  want 
otherwise,  is  not  what  I  am  in  favor  of.  Anyway,  that  idea  was  carried 
put.  We  wrangled  and  wrangled  and  had  committee  meetings  and  met 
in  Louisville  and  spent  our  money  in  the  hotels  and  finally  came  together. 
About  the  first  of  May  we  agreed  to  give  the  miners  last  year's  scale 
and  conditions.  They  agreed  to  accept  last  year's  scale  and  conditions, 
but  I  should  say  that  when  we  agreed  to  last  year's  scale — (they  made 
that  proposition) — we  agreed  to  that  with  the  exception  of  four  points 
that  we  wanted  to  put  in  the  conditions.  Probably  I  am  taking  up  too 
much  time  with  a  personal  matter. 

CHAIRMAN   PARKER:    Not  at  all. 

MR.  WRIGHT:  But  those  four  conditions  were  left  to  a  committee 
with  a  commission  behind  it  and  the  result  was  that  they  did  not  agree 
at  first,  but  finally  the  sub-scale  committee  did  agree  and  signed  a  tenta- 
tive agreement  that  we  sign  a  contract,  a  tentative  agreeme.nt  with  the 
exception  that  these  four  conditions  that  the  operators  wanted  were 
not  included  and  those  four  conditions  were  left  to  a  commission  of  four, 
two  operators  and  two  miners.  If  they  could  not  agree  on  any  or  all  of 
them,  decision  should  be  left  to  the  fifth  man  and  his  decision  would  be 
final.  The  sub-scale  committee  of  three  miners  and  three  operators 
agreed  to  that  and  signed  it.  It  was  sent  back  to  the  scale  committee 
of  the  miners.  They  objected.  They  refused  it.  The  operators'  scale 
committee  accepted  it.  The  result  was  a  strike  on  these  four  propositions 
that  the  sub-scale  committee  agreed  to  arbitrate.  Then  the  national 
union  stepped  in,  the  national  government  at  Indianapolis.  It  advised 
the  men  to  go  to  work.  The  men  refused  to  go  to  work.  We  had  a  strike 
on  the  15th  of  May  that  lasted  until  the  10th  of  August.  Then  a  queer 
condition  arose.  The  national  union  officers  in  India.napolis  stood  by  the 
operators  right  along  and  refused  to  recognize  the  strike  and  did  not 
support  it,  didn't  chip  in  one  dollar  for  the  support  of  the  miners  out  of 
work,  not  a  dollar.  We  won.  We  got  three  conditions  that  the  commis* 
sion  finally  agreed  to.  One  condition  they  did  not  agree  to.  It  was 
referred  to  the  fifth  man  and  his  decision  was  referred  to  the  operators 
and  we  agreed  to  it.  There  was  a  situation  where  the  national  govern- 
ment of  the  union  miners  of  America  were  against  their  own  rank  and 
file. 

CHAIRMAN  PARKER:    Any  other  remarks  on  the  subject. 

MR.  FOWLER:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  listened  with  a  great  deal  of 
interest  and  pleasure  to  the  various  remarks  that  have  been  made.  And 
especially  those  of  my  brother,  Senator  Clarkson.  Inasmuch  as  the 
proceedings  of  this  meeting  are  to  be  distributed  over  the  country  and 
there  has  not  been  so  much  along  this  line  before  I  think  it  will  be  read 
with  a  great  deal  of  interest.  Therefore,  I  would  like  to  ask  before  you 
leave  the  subject  that  the  Senator  be  asked  to  go  just  a  little  bit  farther 
and  make  this  point  clear:  Now,  I  do  not  desire  to  enter  into  a  con- 
troversy with  him,  but  to  get  the  thing  in  the  records  as  his  words  in 
answer  to  the  statements  made.  Here  we  have  the  miners'  union  which 
has  to  depend  on  the  check-off  for  its  existence.  There  are  many  other 
union  bodies,  as  suggested  by  Mr.  Cushing,  that  do  not  have  the  check- 
off and  they  seem  to  get  along  very  nicely  without  it.  And  if  our  friend 
the  Senator  would  make  that  a  little  clearer  I  believe  it  would  be  to 
advantage  to  hear  it  at  this  time. 


96  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

CHAIRMAN  PARKER:  As  far  as  the  chair  knows  there  is  no 
other  labor  organization  that  does  depend  upon  the  check-off  in  order 
to  maintain  its  existence,  and  the  chair  would  like  to  hear  from  the 
Senator  and  just  as  well  from  the  rest  of  the  audience  in  regard  to  that 
matter. 

SENATOR  CLARKSON:  Mr.  Chairman,  as  I  stated  before,  I  am 
not  sufficiently  informed  to  attempt  to  draw  a  comparison  between 
conditions  that  prevail  with  other  organizations,  as  compared  to  the 
miners.  While  I  have  given  more  or  less  thought  and  study  and  have 
read  a  good  deal  with  reference  to  other  labor  organizations,  I  have  not 
studied  their  conditions  sufficiently  to  enable  me  to  give  any  explanation 
why  voluntary  payment  of  dues  might  be  successful  in  one  and  not  in 
the  other.  Nor  am  I  prepared  to  say  that  it  would  not  be  successful 
with  the  miners'  organization.  I  only  illustrated  the  conditions  that 
existed  some  years  ago,  in  its  formative  period.  Now,  since  the  organ- 
ization has  become  more  developed  and  has  had  broader  experience  it 
might  be  that  it  would  be  possible  for  them  to  get  along  without  the 
check-off.  Yet,  to  my  mnd,  I  cannot  feel  that  the  organization  would  be 
sustained.  When  I  say  sustained  I  mean  from  the  standpoint  of  main- 
tenance and  kept  in  a  cohesive  body  without  the  check-off  as  it  would 
be  with  the  check-off.  Now,  why  other  organizations  are  able  to,  I  don't 
know.  As  I  said  before,  I  would  not  attempt  to  make  a  comparison 
and  give  the  reasons  why  because  I  have  not  attempted  to  study  it.  I 
am  frank  to  say  that  in  the  last  twenty  years  that  my  time  has  been 
more  devoted  to  the  practice  of  law  than  it  has  been  to  labor 
organizations. 

CHAIRMAN  PARKER.  Mr.  Weitzel,  can  you  give  us  some  state- 
ment in  regard  to  the  check-off  in  Colorado,  how  it  worked  out,  how  it 
is  at  the  present  time,  in  regard  to  the  efficiency  of  labor? 

MR.  E.  H.  WEITZEL  (Colorado):  I  am  sorry  I  did  not  come  fci 
a  little  sooner.  I  was  downstairs  at  the  Uniform  Mine  Legislation 
meeting. 

I  never  had  any  experience  with  the  check-off  in  Colorado.  1  think 
they  have  had  a  check-off  at  a  few  mines,  but  none  with  which  I  was 
connected. 

I  had  experience  with  the  check-off  in  Ohio  some  years  ago,  and  it 
seemed  to  me  that  the  necessity  for  the  check-off  is  that  if  they  did  not 
have  the  check-off  they  could  not  get  the  money.  I  was  at  Bellaire, 
Ohio,  during  the  anthracite  strike  in  Pennsylvania  and  I  remember  how 
the  boys  used  to  come  to  the  office  and  tell  me  that  it  was  intended 
only  to  check  off  the  coal  that  they  mined  by  the  ton,  and  that  there 
ought  not  to  be  any  check-off  on  the  yardage.  Another  fellow  worked 
overtime,  extra  time,  or  emergency  and  he  didn't  think  that  ought  to  be 
checked  off  and  I  am  quite  certain  that  if  it  were  left  to  the  consent 
of  the  miner  in  each  case  that  the  check-off  would  have  dwindled  down, 
that  is,  the  extra  check-off  for  strike  purposes  would  have  dwindled 
down  to  a  very  small  amount.  Tt  is  my  opinion  that  the  life  of  the 
organization  depends  on  the  ability  to  force  a  man  to  both  join  the 
union  and  pay  his  dues. 

JOHN  P.  REESE:  Mr.  Chairman,  the  miners'  union  can  exist  just 
as  successfully  without  the  check-off  as  it  can  with,  and  I  have  no 
brief  to  speak  for  the  miners'  union.  I  happen  to  have  had  the  experience 
in  districts  with  the  check-off  and  without,  and  I  wish  to  defend  the 
check-off  system  from  the  standpoint  of  both  the  miner  and  the  operator. 

We  have  heard  a  good  deal  of  talk  about  the  check-off  system,  read 
a  good  deal  in  the  press.  The  check-off  system  is  justified,  has  justified 
itself,  both  from  the  standpoint  of  the  miner  and  the  operator  who  is 
willing  to  run  a  closed  shop. 

Whenever  I  would  attack  the  check-off  system  I  would  attack  the 
union.  If  I  am  going  to  do  business  with  the  miners'  union  I  wa.nt  the 
check-off.  I  experienced,  both  as  a  representative  of  the  miners'  union 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  97 

and  a  representative  of  the  organized  coal  operators,  the  evils  and  the 
blessings  of  both  the  check-off  system  and  the  union  mine  without  the 
check-off  system.  The  check-off  system  is  the  least  of  two  evils.  Now, 
all  that  any  miners'  local  union  needs  today  to  get  along  without  the 
check-off  system  where  they  are  unionized  is  to  establish  the  card 
system,  and  if  you  have  a  real,  energetic,  up-to-date  pit  committee  with 
the  card  system  you  will  petition  the  miners'  union  as  an  operator  to 

five  up  the  card  system  a.nd  take  the  check-off.  Why?  Because  on 
londay  morning  following  pay-day,  or  the  day  set  for  them  to  pay  their 
dues,  the  pit  committee  station  themselves  near  the  top  or  the  entrance 
of  the  mine  and  exact  a  clearance  card  from  each  man  before  he  is 
allowed  to  go  down  the  mine;  and  it  is  a  very  simple,  very  simple 
proposition.  They  work  it  in  the  block  coal  fields  of  Indiana  and  have 
worked  it  for  years  a.nd  did  not  want  the  check-off  system.  I  don't  know 
whether  they  have  ever  adopted  the  check-off  in  the  block  coal  of 
Indiana.  They  had  not  several  years  ago  and  had  a  compact,  thoroughly 
closed  shop  in  the  block  coal  district  in  Indiana.  On  the  K.  C.  track, 
which  is  now  a  part  of  the  Burlington  system,  in  southern  Iowa,  for 
several  years  the  miners'  local  union  at  Cincinnati  refused  to  adopt  the 
check-off  system  and  stayed  with  the  card  system.  The  result  was  that 
every  Monday  morning  following  the  Saturday  dues  paying  period  there 
was  a  lot  of  your  employes  chased  home  because  they  had  either  failed 
to  bring  or  had  forgotten  their  card  and  they  were  not  allowed  to  go 
to  work  without  their  card.  Hence,  the  operators  were  very  willing  and 
very  anxious  to  have  the  check-off  system  inaugurated. 

Now,  on  the  proposition  of  the  closed  shop  that  goes  with  it,  it 
seems  to  me  that  if  a  coal  operator  is  going  to  make  an  agreement 
with  his  employes  that  he  wants  a  closed  shop,  he  needs  a  closed  shop, 
you  can't  hold  the  miners'  union  responsible  for  the  acts  of  your 
employes  if  only  a  part  of  your  employes  belong  to  the  miners'  union. 
That  is  the  argument  that  induced  the  operators  with  which  I  did  busi- 
ness as  a  miner  to  agree  to  the  closed  shop.  They  make  a  contract  with 
the  miners'  union  and  they  expect  the  miners'  union  to  deliver  under 
the  contract.  True,  they  do  not  always  do  it  but  they  come  nearer  doing 
it,  they  can  come  nearer  doing  it,  they  will  come  nearer  doing  it  where 
all  the  men  belong  to  the  union  than  where  only  a  part  of  the  men 
belong  to  the  union.  Now,  of  course,  I  realize  that  you  could  have  an 
agreement  with  a  miners'  union  and  only  a  few  men  paying  the  dues 
and  that  you  would  get  along  very  nicely  in  operating  the  mine,  but 
like  most  open  shops  it  would  not  be  a  union  mine  any  more  than  our 
boasted  open  shops  are  union  shops.  They  are  not.  The  union  don't 
have  any  influence  in  an  open  shop.  They  might  have  had  something 
to  do  with  agreeing  upon  the  original  wage  scale,  but  they  have  no 
influence  in  seeing  that  the  wage  scale  is  carried  out  or  that  its  various 
provisions  are  interpreted  to  their  liking. 

The  open  shop  proposition  simply  means  that  the  employer  is  running 
his  business.  Now,  whether  he  has  a  right  to  run  his  business  or  not, 
that  is  another  question,  but  if  you  are  going  to  do  business  with  the 
union,  do  business  with  the  union,  hold  the  union  responsible  for  the 
acts  of  its  members,  and  you  do  not  want  to  be  a  "sponger"  in  the 
language  of  the  miner.  You  don't  want  the  benefits  of  the  Illinois  Coal 
Operators'  Association,  for  instance,  or  the  Manufacturers'  Association 
and  not  pay  your  dues  to  it.  Then,  why  should  Bill  Smith  be  allowed 
to  get  $1.10  a  ton  for  digging  coal  in  1916  in  a  mine  where  he  used  to 
dig  it  for  $0.55  a  ton  and  not  pay  his  dues  to  the  union  that  got  that 
price?  There  is  no  defense  of  the  man  who  wants  to  receive  the  benefits 
of  government  and  not  pay  his  taxes.  What  do  we  think  of  the  coal 
operator  that  refuses  to  affiliate  with  the  association  in  his  district?  We 
do  not  call  him  a  scab  but  that  is  just  what  we  think  of  him.  (Laughter 
and  applause.)  And  the  miner  does  what  we  would  do  if  we  had  the 
power.  The  miner  says,  "You  don't  get  the  benefits  of  our  organization 
unless  you  pay  for  them."  The  operator  would  say  the  same  thing  if  he 


98  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

could  to  the  operator  who  does  not  belong  to  his  association,  and  if  you 
do  not  believe  that  just  attend  an  operators'  meeting.  (Laughter.) 

Now,  I  believe  in  the  closed  shop,  and  I  believe  in  the  check-off 
system  and  1  believe  as  an  operator  that  the  check-off  system  is  not.  an 
evil.  When  you  talk  about  cancelling  the  check-off  system  be  fair  with 
yourself.  Whenever  you  get  ready  to  take  the  check-off  away  from  the 
miners  be  honest  and  say  that  you  are  going  to  lick  hell  out  of  him  and 
run  your  business  to  suit  yourself.  That  is  what  it  means  because  they 
say  to  you  in  return  when  you  demand  they  give  up  the  check-off  system, 
they  say,  "All  right;  but  we  are  going  to  inaugurate  the  card-day."  You 
will  give  up  your  demand  before  you  have  the  card  system  three  months. 

And  why  haven't  the  miners  a  right  to  inaugurate  the  card  day? 
Haven't  the  miners  a  right  to  refuse  to  work  with  a  man?  The  courts 
have  held  that  they  have.  And  why  shouldn't  he  have,  if  it  is  costing 
him  and  the  rest  of  the  miners  of  a  certain  locality  ten  dollars  a  year 
or  twenty  dollars  a  year,  or,  in  the  instance  my  friend  from  Colorado 
speaks  of,  in  Ohio,  where  at  that  time  they  were  paying  ten  per  cent  of 
their  gross  earnings.  I  paid  it.  I  was  getting  $75  a  month  from  the 
miners'  union  and  paid  ten  per  cent  of  the  gross  to  support  the  anthracite 
strike.  Now,  why  shouldn't  every  man  in  that  mine  pay  that  same  ten 
per  cent?  The  miners'  representatives  in  congress  assembled  had  agreed 
that  that  was  what  was  going  to  be  done.  We  all  believe  in  representative 
government.  Some  operators  seriously  object  to  collecting  anything  but 
the  fifty  cents  a  month  necessary  to  run  the  local  union.  1  am  willing  to 
collect  every  cent  that  they  will  sign  up  for.  I  say  it  is  their  money  and 
they  earned  it  and  as  long  as  they  pay  their  honest  debts  let  them 
assign  the  rest  of  it  to  their  union  if  they  want  to.  I  believe  that  we 
should  recognize  the  condition  as  it  really  it. 

Now,  whether  the  union  conditions,  whether  the  open  shop  or  the 
closed  shop  gives  you  the  most  efficient  workmen  is  another  proposition 
entirely,  entirely  another  proposition.  There  are  some  advantages  in 
running  a  union  mine.  As  to  whether  there  are  as  many  as  there  are  in 
running  a  non-union  mine  I  don't  know.  I  don't  know  about  that.  1  am 
inclined  to  think  that  you  could  develop  individual  efficiency  more  in  a 
non-union  mine  than  you  can  in  a  union  mine.  I  know  there  are  a  lot  of 
things  that  I  could  do  in  my  mines  if  I  didn't  have  to  consult  anybody 
about  laws  and  agreements  that  would  give  me  cheaper  coal,  but  whether 
that  would  be  a  good  thing  for  society  or  not  is  another  proposition.  My 
idea  is  that  if  we  can  keep  honest  men  in  official  positions  i.n  the  labor 
unions  generally,  in  the  miners'  union  in  particular,  that  so  far  as 
humanity  is  concerned  we  are  better  off  with  the  union  closed  shop, 
check-off  condition,  than  we  ever  were  with  the  old  system  of  the  open 
shop  and  the  employer  running  his  own  business  to  suit  himself,  because 
it  is  a  fact,  no  matter  how  unpleasant  it  is,  that  there  were  mighty  few 
employers  who  knew  how  to  run  their  business  when  they  were  allowed 
to  run  it  to  suit  themselves. 

MR.  BERING:    Mr.  Reese,  may  I  ask  you  a  question? 

Mr.  REESE:  Yes. 

MR.  BERING:  Bo  I  understand  that  you  believe  in  the  unlimited 
check-off?  In  other  words,  if  the  mines  in  your  particular  district,  your 
neighboring  mines  were  out  on  a  strike  because  of  some  difference  of 
opinion,  such  as  we  had  in  Indiana  over  this  lamp  question,  which  I 
illustrated,  do  you  think  you  would  permit  your  miners  willingly  to 
check-off  to  support  this  neighboring  mine  to  lick  your  own  fellow 
operators?  Is  that  your  attitude? 

MR.  REESE:  The  matter  of  limited  or  unlimited  check-off  is,  of 
course,  a  proper  matter  of  agreement.  I  have  no  objection  at  any  time 
to  entering  into  agreements  providing  for  the  unlimited  check-off  for 
union  purposes.  I  do  object  to  the  check-off  being  used  for  purposes 
outside  of  the  union.  For  instance,  I  have  known  of  cases  where  bar  bills 
were  attempted  to  be  collected  on  the  check-off  and  all  kinds  of  subter- 
fuges resorted  to  in  order  to  collect  those  bills.  When  it  is  a  general 


AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS  99 

assessment  on  all  the  employes  alike,  on  all  the  members  alike,  in  other 
words,  when  it  is  a  legal  assessment,  I  claim  it  is  all  right,  whether  it  be 
ten  cents  or  ten  dollars  or  any  other  amount  of  unlimited  check-off  for 
the  purposes  of  the  union. 

MR.  BERING:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  would  like  to  be  sure  that  I 
understand  Mr.  Reese  and  I  want  to  ask  him  some  more  questions  if  he 
is  willing. 

MR.  REESE:    Certainly. 

MR.  BERING:  This  case  that  we  have  just  had,  Mr.  Reese,  in 
Indiana,  where  the  Vandalia  mines  were  shut  down  on  account  of  the 
electric  lamps,  are  you  familiar  with  it? 

MR.  REESE:    No,  I  am  not. 

MR.  BERING:  Well,  it  was  a  case  where  a  company  tried  to  put  in 
electric  lamps  to  promote  safety  and  the  miners'  union  not  only  tied  up 
that  mine  but  all  the  rest  of  the  mines.  Now,  do  you  think  it  is  a  good 
practice  for  the  rest  of  the  operators  in  that  vicinity  to  allow  a  check-off 
of  fifty  cents  per  week  to  support  the  miners  that  were  in  such  a  strike 
as  that? 

MR.  REESE:  Well,  where  was  the  contract?  Who  was  violating 
the  contract? 

MR.  BERING:    The  miners  were  violating  the  contract. 

MR.  REESE:    Who  were? 

MR.  BERING:  The  miners  were.  Mr.  White  admitted  they  were 
but  he  said  until  the  whole  state  of  Indiana  went  on  a  strike  that  he 
could  not  take  hold  of  it,  he  could  not  stop  it. 

MR.  REESE:   Well,  it  was  an  illegal  strike  of  the  miners. 

MR.  BERING:   Yes. 

MR.  REESE:  Well,  I  would  not  support  it  at  all. 

MR.  BERING:  Well,  what  would  you  do  on  your  theory  of  an 
unlimited  check-off?  What  can  we  do?  We  got  right  up  against  the 
proposition  there  of  either  checking  this  off,  or,  as  happened,  the 
Vandalia  Company  abandoning  the  mine  to  get  out  of  the  hole,  or  the 
whole  state  of  Indiana  going  on  a  strike.  Now,  there  is  not  an  operator 
in  our  state,  in  Indiana,  but  what  prefers  collective  bargaining,  but 
when  it  comes  to  furnishing  the  miners'  union  with  the  money  to  lick 
my  neighbor  I  am  very  much  opposed  to  it. 

I  would  like  to  see  and  I  hope  to  see  come  out  of  this  trouble  that 
we  just  had  some  form  of  compulsory  arbitration  at  some  time  in  the 
future.  I  am  in  a  position  where  I  recognize  the  fact  that  you  can't 
compel  a  man  to  submit  to  a  decision  of  compulsory  arbitration,  but  I 
think  it  would  always,  nine  times  out  of  ten,  have  a  good  effect.  I  hope 
to  see  the  day  when  there  is  some  hope  that  we  can  get  that  proposition, 
a  proposition  like  that  through,  rather  than  to  have  occur  what  we  did 
have  down  there.  I  have  stated  before  in  this  meeting  in  regard  to  this 
particular  case  that  the  mine  inspectors  told  the  company  that  they  were 
in  the  right,  that  the  compensation  board  told  the  company  we  were  in 
the  right,  and  John  White  told  us  we  were  in  the  right,  but  the  miners, 
the  local  president  of  Indiana — 

MR.  REESE:  The  district  president? 

MR.  BERING:  The  district  president  pulled  all  the  rest  of  these 
mines  of  the  Vandalia  Coal  Company  out  and  came  within  an  ace  of 
pulling  the  entire  state  out  and  would  have  done  so  if  this  company 
had  not  sacrificed  its  mines.  Now,  if  we  are  to  follow  your  ideas  what 
would  we  be  confronted  with  most  of  the  time? 

MR.  REESE:  Now,  Mr.  Chairman,  the  gentleman  certainly  does  not 
know  me  or  my  record  or  he  would  not  say  anything  like  that.  That  was 
up  to  Mr.  Penna  and  the  coal  operators'  association  of  Indiana,  and  if 
necessary  to  strike  the  whole  state  of  Indiana,  they  should  be  willing 


100  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

to  do  so.  You  know  a  strike  is  an  awful  thing,  almost  as  bad  as  war, 
but  there  are  times  when  they  are  the  least  of  two  evils,  and  the  coal 
operator  must  not  be  afraid  to  strike. 

The  proposition  is  here.  In  your  agreements  you  have  a  provision 
for  settling  your  disputes  and  that  does  not  involve  this  question  of 
check-offs,  limited  or  unlimited.  That  does  not  involve  sacrificing  your 
neighbor.  Your  neighbor  in  this  case  was  you.  You  and  your  neighbor 
belong  to  one  of  the  contracting  parties  to  that  contract.  Somebody  laid 
down  on  the  job  and  would  not  carry  out  the  provisions  of  that  contract. 
If  John  White,  the  international  president,  said  you  were  right,  then  you 
ought  not  to  have  abandoned  the  mine. 

Now,  those  individual  abuses  will  occur  in  all  states.  They  have 
occurred  in  all  states,  but  my  proposition  is  this,  that  if  the  miner  work- 
ing in  the  union  mine  wants  to  contribute  ten  per  cent  of  his  wages, 
which  has  been  the  maximum  he  ever  contributed  to  my  knowledge,  if 
he  wants  to  contribute  ten  per  cent  of  his  gross  earnings  to  his  union, 
that  it  is  perfectly  all  right  for  him  to  do  so.  I  have  no  objection  to  his 
doing  it  when  he  is  working  for  me.  But  when  it  comes  to  that  proposi- 
tion you  mentioned  in  Indiana  we  probably  are  just  as  bad  in  Illinois 
and  Iowa  and  the  other  states  where  the  miners'  officials  or  the  miners' 
board  have  taken  the  wrong  stand  and  where  even  their  national  presi- 
dent could  not  whip  them  into  line  without  the  operators'  helping. 
Usually  the  operators  will  help  when  the  big  officials  are  with  them,  but 
I  agree  with  Mr.  Bering  that  for  those  kind  of  cases  we  need  compulsory 
arbitration.  I  have  always  been  in  favor  of  compulsory  arbitration.  As 
a  miners'  official,  as  a  member  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  I 
advocated  compulsory  arbitration.  I  think  it  is  right  in  all  those  cases 
that  compulsory  arbitration  is  preferable  to  fighting  it  out,  but  until  we 
get  compulsory  arbitration  we  have  got  to  fight  it  out.  And  Indiana 
ought  to  lick  that  state  president  or  that  state  board  or  whoever  was 
in  wrong.  If  the  inspector  said  the  company  was  right  and  the  national 
president  of  the  miners'  union  said  they  were  right  and  the  compensation 
board  said  they  were  right,  then  it  was  evidently  a  question  of  where 
the  miners'  state  officials  needed  a  licking  and  you  could  lick  them.  You 
could  lick  them  and  you  can  always  lick  the  fellow  that  is  in  the  wrong. 

MR.  S.  A.  TAYLOR  (Pittsburgh):  I  would  like  to  ask  a  question. 
Mr.  Reese,  in  connection  with  your  assessment  of  ten  per  cent  which 
you  speak  of  as  being  fixed  during  the  anthracite  strike,  how  did  you 
square  yourself  with  the  Sherman  act?  An  action  such  as  that,  is  it  or 
is  it  not  a  combination  in  restraint  of  trade. 

MR.  REESE:    It  undoubtedly  is. 

MR.  TAYLOR:    How  did  you  square  yourself? 

MR.  REESE:  The  difference  between  the  miner  and  the  operator 
under  the  Sherman  act  has  been  that  the  miner  has  been  willing  to  take 
a  chance  and  that  the  operator  was  not. 

MR.  TAYLOR:  That  is  a  statement  of  the  proposition  on  which  you 
worked? 

MR.  REESE:   I  should  say  so. 

CHAIRMAN  PARKER:  Mr.  Taylor,  you  have  some  good  argu- 
ments on  this  subject  and  I  am  sure  the  gentlemen  present  would  like 
to  hear  from  you. 

MR.  TAYLOR:  I  have  little  else  to  say  on  the  matter:  I  have 
had  some  experience  along  a  line  which  in  my  judgment  most  of  the 
operators  have  had  themselves.  I  can  recall  a  case  at  some  mines  I  had 
charge  of.  We  were  supposed  to  have  not  an  unlimited  check-off,  but  there 
was  a  good  deal  more  check-off  than  was  necessary  for  the  ordinary  uses 
of  an  organization,  and  I  recall  a  number  of  times  that  we  had  to  meet 
the  pit  committee.  A  number  of  times  when  they  were  supposed  to  meet 
the  mine  foreman  they  dodged  in  one  opening  and  out  another  until 
they  would  get  their  day's  work  put  in.  I  was  told  by  one  member  of 
the  union  that  during  one  month  in  one  of  those  mines  the  pit  committee 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  101 

put  in  17  days.  There  were  a  number  of  openings  along  the  hillside  in 
the  crop  coal  and  the  pit  committee  would  watch  the  mine  foreman 
coming  out  of  one  place  and  they  would  dodge  in  the  other  and  just 
follow  him  around,  so  that  they  would  not  see  him  until  they  would  l\ave 
their  day's  time  put  in,  or  until  it  would  be  too  late  to  go  back  to  work. 
Now,  I  think  that  was  a  case  where  unlimited  check-off  was  a  damage  to 
the  miners  as  well  as  to  the  operators.  Those  men,  that  committee,  were 
getting  their  wages  or  per  diem  from  their  union  without  rendering  any 
service.  Oji  the  other  hand  they  were  simply  giving  the  operator  a  lot 
of  trouble  when  really  no  trouble  existed.  Very  frequently  I  have  had 
this  occur,  when  they  would  come  into  Pittsburgh,  which  was  only  a 
nickel  fare  from  the  mines,  the  committee  would  come  in  there  to  see 
the  miners'  president  to  have  a  conference  with  us  and  I  would  turn  the 
whole  thing  over  to  him  and  abide  by  his  decision,  which  was  not  always 
against  us  by  any  means.  The  state  of  affairs  was  simply  brought  about 
in  my  judgment  because  there  was  too  much  money  in  the  hands  of 
the  local  association  for  the  legitimate  purposes  of  that  association.  At 
least,  that  is  the  way  I  sized  it  up.  I  think  if  there  had  been  a  fair 
check-off,  a  check-off  sufficient  to  carry  on  the  ordinary  work  of  that 
local  and  possibly  pay  their  national  dues,  it  would  have  been  better 
for  that  local  and  better  for  us. 

I  am  not  ready  to  take  the  position  where  I  would  say  that  I  am 
willing  to  give  an  unlimited  check-off.  I  don't  believe  it  is  right  from  an 
operator's  standpoint.  I  don't  believe  it  is  fair  to  the  miners.  I  don't 
believe  the  honest  miners'  officials  want  such  a  thing.  I  think  it  is  to  the 
detriment  of  the  public  good. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Mr.  Chairman,  Mr.  Reese  was  not  in  the 
room  when  I  made  my  first  statement  and  since  there  is  a  very  radical 
difference  of  opinion  between  his  expressed  views  and  my  own  I  want 
to  call  attention  to  one  very  significant  word  which  Mr.  Reese  used  in 
the  closing  sentence  of  his  statement,  and  that  is  when  he  said  that  if 
the  district  officials  were  honest.  That  to  my  notion  is  the  crux  of  the 
whole  situation. 

Mr.  Reese  as  president  of  the  Mine  Workers  of  Iowa  was  selected 
by  himself  to  settle  a  dispute  between  Illinois  miners  and  our  company 
over  a  very  trivial  matter,  involving  sixty-four  cents.  I  had  heard  of 
John  Reese.  I  think  I  had  seen  him  once  and  I  said,  "Whatever  he  says 
I  wrill  abide  by."  He  was  called  into  the  conference  and  when  the  board 
convened  to  present  the  case  the  miners'  officials  could  not  agree  upon 
a  question  to  be  arbitrated  and  the  arbitrator  had  to  go  home.  So  when 
Mr.  Reese  expresses  himself  as  he  does  he  does  it  more  as  an  idealist 
than  as  the  real  and  true  man  that  he  is,  and  not  as  one  that  really  deals 
with  the  conditions  that  we  find  confronting  us  every  day. 

CHAIRMAN  PARKER:  Are  there  any  other  remarks  on  the  sub- 
ject of  check-off? 

MR.  NEWBERGER  (Pennsylvania):  Mr.  President,  I  come  from 
the  anthracite  region  of  Pennsylvania  and  this  is  the  first  opportunity  I 
have  ever  had  to  listen  to  a  real  experience  meeting  of  bituminous 
operators  and  apparently  some  representatives  or  ex-representatives  of 
the  miners'  side.  And  I  wish  to  say  that  judging  from  what  I  heard  today 
that  we  certainly  don't  want  the  check-off  in  the  anthracite  region,  be- 
cause I  believe  we  have  less  trouble  in  our  relations  with  our  men  without 
the  check-off  than  you  have  with  the  check-off  in  the  bituminous  region. 

CHAIRMAN  PARKER:  Any  other  experiences  on  this  interesting 
subject?  If  not,  I  believe  we  have  arrived  at  the  end  of  our  program.  We 
will  now  stand  adjourned. 

THURSDAY,  NOVEMBER  16,  1916. 

Morning  Session. 

Mr.  W.  C.  Tucker,  of  Kentucky,  presided  as  Chairman  and  called  the 
meeting  to  order  at  10:40  a.  m.  Mr.  Alexander  Blair,  Jr.,  acted  as 
Secretary. 


102  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

CHAIRMAN  TUCKER:  Gentlemen,  the  meeting  will  please  come 
to  order. 

The  gentleman  who  is  to  deliver  the  first  paper  at  this  meeting  I 
learn  is  unfortunate  in  not  being  present.  So  we  will  have  to  omit  that 
and  the  f>"_:-  paper  we  will  have  is  on  "Difficulties  I  Have  Met  in  Coal 
Litigation  and  the  Remedies,"  by  R.  W.  Ropiequet,  of  Belleville,  111. 

MR.  R.  W.  ROPIEQUET:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  might  preface  this 
paper  with  the  statement  that  if  it  had  not  been  prepared  I  would  have 
taken  this  meeting  as  a  text  illustrative  of  the  difficulties  I  have  met  in 
the  matter  of  coal  litigation,  for  that  which  confronts  the  makers  of  this 
program,  in  the  inability  to  produce  the  results  which  were  promised 
upon  the  provisional  program,  is  oftimes  one  of  the  greatest  difficulties 
that  we  meet  as  coal  operators.  Now,  that  is  not  a  part  of  my  prepared 
talk  and  I  will  get  down  now  to  my  text. 

Mr.  Ropiequet's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  354  of  this  report. 

CHAIRMAN  TUCKER:  Gentlemen,  you  have  heard  this  very 
interesting  and  instructive  paper,  and  in  the  course  of  the  gentleman's 
remarks  with  reference  to  co-operation  I  was  reminded  of  an  incident 
that  occurred  in  our  territory  some  years  ago  when  competition  was 
cutting  the  throats  of  the  various  operators  and  an  effort  was  made  to 
get  them  together.  A  meeting  was  held  and  all  the  operators  in  the 
territory  were  present  and  they  all  agreed  to  co-operate,  but  one  man. 
His  contention  was  that  if  the  co-operation  as  outlined  was  agreed  upon 
that  it  would  not  be  lived  up  to,  that  some  of  the  operators  more  keen 
for  personal  advantage  or  personal  profit  than  for  the  good  of  the  entire 
body  or  business  would  break  away.  He  was  asked  the  question  if  he 
didn't  think  there  were  any  honest  men,  or  if  the  men  in  the  room,  rather, 
were  not  honest,  if  there  were  no  honest  men  in  the  country.  "Well," 
he  said,  "there  may  be,  but,"  he  said,  "they  are  not  in  the  coal  business." 
(Laughter.)  That  seems  to  symbolize  the  attitude  that  one  coal  man 
feels  towards  another.  They  are  afraid  of  each  other.  These  various 
papers  that  have  been  read  at  the  meetings  at  different  times  have 
brought  out  some  very  interesting  discussions  and  as  it  is  clearly  the 
desire  and  wish  that  these  discussions  be  had,  that  the  fullest  light 
possible  be  thrown  upon  the  subject  up  for  discussion,  I  will  be  very  glad 
if  any  of  you  gentlemen  have  anything  to  say  on  the  subject,  you  will 
let  us  hear  from  you,  our  next  speaker  will  not  be  here  for  a  few 
moments,  and  if  we  could  fill  the  interval  with  some  discussion  that 
would  be  interesting  to  the  members,  we  would  be  very  glad  to  hear 
from  some  of  you  gentlemen. 

MR.  T.  A.  LEMMON:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  would  like  to  hear  from 
Mr.  Williams  of  Streator.  I  saw  him  sitting  over  there  in  the  audience. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  We  would  be  very  glad  to  hear  from  Mr. 
Williams. 

MR.  J.  E.  WILLIAMS  (Illinois):  I  thank  you,  Mr.  Lemmon,  for 
noticing  that  I  am  in  the  room  but  this  is  a  question  clearly  for  expert 
knowledge  that  you  have  up  now,  that  is,  how  to  deal  with  situations 
arising  from  railroad  problems.  I  haven't  any  information  that  would 
be  worth  while  giving  the  body  on  this  subject.  That  is  a  process  of 
working  out  that  we  are  all  striving  with. 

I  have  been  impressed  by  the  one  thing  through  the  Congress,  of 
which  this  is  a  part,  that  we  are  striving  and  want  to  rationalize  business. 
We  are  striving  to  keep  away,  it  seems,  from  cut-throat  competition  of 
all  kinds  and  striving  to  get  co-operation.  That  is  the  one  unified  note 
that  I  have  found  throughout  this  conference,  a  denial,  really,  of  the 
the  fundamental  principles  upon  which  our  economic  system  is  based, 
the  theory  of  the  original  economists  being  that  if  you  allowed  the  law 
of  supply  and  demand  full  play  and  natural  advantage  to  have  its  effect 
on  the  cost  of  production,  that  the  result  would  be  the  best  state  of 
affairs  for  consumer  and  everybody  else,  and  in  that  way  the  consumer 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS    •  103 

would  be  protected.  I  find  here  that  that  theory  has  been  denied  and 
that  we  are  faced  with  a  new  situation.  I  find  that  those  who  are 
supposed  to  j?e  the  chief  protectors  of  the  old  regime  are  departing  from 
it.  I  find  that  we  are  endeavoring  at  all  point  to  get  away  from  cub. 
throat  competition,  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  protection  of  the 
consumer,  and  it  seems  that  there  is  only  on  possible  recourse.  If  com- 
petition is  to  be  stopped  and  co-operation  between  bodies  is  to  be 
established  then  the  question  arises,  how  is  the  consumer  to  be  pro- 
tected? How  is  the  producer  to  be  prevented  from  piling  up  prices  on 
them?  Three  seems  to  be  no  answer  to  the  fact  that  if  we  check 
competition  there  must  be  state  coritrol  of  some  sort,  state  regulation, 
I  suppose,  by  commissions  or  otherwise.  Then  you  are  faced  with  the 
question  of  how  you  are  going  to  get  competent  commissioners  under 
the  existing  regime,  and  you  are  there  confronted  with  the  fact  that  the 
man  who  is  placed  in  a  political  position  is  placed  there  because  he  is  a 
good  vote  getter,  not  because  he  is  a  good  man  for  the  job.  And  so  we 
are  in  this  vicious  circle. 

I  think  it  is  a  wonderful  thing  for  bodies  of  this  kind  to  meet  together 
and  grapple  with  those  problems,  trying  to  introduce  rationalities,  for 
that,  no  doubt,  must  be  the  solution  and  not  to  follow  the  economic 
theory  of  cut-throat  competition.  We  are  launched  upon  the  question, 
upon  the  journey,  upon  the  endeavor  of  introducing  rational  control  in 
the  business.  If  there  is  nothing  else  that  is  visible  in  the  prosperity 
now  seeming  to  sweep  over  this  country  right  in  these  war  times,, 
it  is  that  the  nations  at  war  have  been  obliged  to  discover  something 
else  besides  the  profit-making  motive  to  make  the  business  of  the  country 
go.  It  seems  to  me  that  is  what  we  are  seeking  now.  We  have  just  been 
told  in  the  last  paper  that  in  the  search  for  co-operative  action  the 
trouble  was  that  nobody  would  take  the  initiative  and  do  the  work 
but  it  was  to  "let  George  do  it"  all  the  time,  an  attitude  that  has  an 
individualistic  origin.  And  these  endeavors  to  get  the  benefit  for  a 
small  group  in  an  industry  are  working  towards  the  point  where  we  are 
abandoning  the  individualistic  principle,  so  that  we  may  work  more  as 
bodies  than  as  individuals. 

Now  then,  how  are  we  to  find  a  balance  between  these  varied 
interests,  between  the  different  interests  of  railroad  and  coal  mine,  be- 
tween coal  mine  operator  and  employe?  These  things  have  not  got  to  be 
fought  out  in  the  future.  They  have  got  to  be  thought  out.  That  is  why 
I  think  these  meetings  here  are  of  great  value,  to  try  to  establish 
rationality,  some  principle  of  reason,  instead  of  this  everlasting  appeal  to 
the  sword  that  has  been  going  on,  not  only  internally  in  this  country  but 
in  international  relations.  I  hail  these  efforts  as  being  in  that  direction. 
I  am  myself  professionally  a  peacemaker.  My  business  is  adjusting  and 
mediating  complaints  and  controversies  between  employers  and  laborers. 
I  am  happy  to  say  that  there  has  been  some  partial  success  in  that 
direction,  which  has  not  been  secured  wholly  by  an  appeal  to  law,  or  by 
an  appeal  to  prejudices,  but  by  trying  to  reconcile  all  of  the  interests, 
trying  to  satisfy  the  real  interests  of  both  parties,  which  is  not  an  easy 
thing  to  do.  It  is  not  an  easy  thing  to  do,  but  it  is  a  possible  thing 
to  do.  Whether  you  know  it  or  not,  that  is  what  you  are  engaged  in 
here  now,  to  try  and  bring  all  interests  into  some  reconciling  synthesis, 
in  which  you  must  regard  the  interests  of  the  other  man.  You  must 
regard  the  interests  of  the  railroad  when  you  are  contending  for  your 
own  interests. 

How  are  we  to  do  that?  It  is  going  to  be  an  intellectual  process. 
It  is  going  to  require  the  best  brains,  the  best  conscience  that  you  can 
bring  to  bear.  It  is  not  going  to  be,  as  it  was  said  a  little  while  agoL  a 
fight.  It  is  not  going  to  be  war.  It  is  going  to  be  a  pla.n  by  which 
the  interests  of  the  parties  involved  will  be  reconciled.  That  is  rather 
a  vague,  general  statement,  but  it  is  the  best  one  that  occurs  to  me  at 
this  time  as  a  contribution  to  this  discussion. 


104  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

CHAIRMAN  TUCKER:  Gentlemen,  can  we  hear  from  some  other 
member  on  that  subject?  Mr.  Reese,  have  you  anything  to  say  on  this 
subject? 

MR.  JOHN  P.  REESE:  Mr.  Chairman,  this  is  a  subject  with  which, 
I  am  not  familiar,  but  inasmuch  as  my  friend  Ropiequet  has  prepared  and 
ably  presented  two  very  interesting  papers  in  this  Congress,  in  the 
coal  section,  I  feel  that  I  should  at  least  express  my  appreciation  ~bf 
those  papers.  I  believe  that  both  his  papers  and  all  other  papers  pre- 
sented to  these  meetings  tend  to  prove,  if  they  do  not  prove  conclusively, 
that  the  solution  of  our  various  problems  is  in  better  organization  and 
closer  co-operation. 

It  seems  to  me  that  while  I  have  no  traffic  problems,  never  having 
been  situated  where  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  make  a  study  of  the 
freight  rate  situation,  I  do  know,  as  all  others  do,  that  the  freight  rate 
situation  is  unsatisfactory,  and  that  it,  like  the  labor  problem  and  safety- 
first  and  all  our  other  problems,  is  a  lifetime  job.  I  happen  to  be  in 
the  coal  business  where  our  only  interest  is  to  produce  the  coal  for  a 
railroad  company,  and  hence  if  I  did  know  anything  about  the  freight 
rates  I  would  attempt  to  defend  the  railroad  company;  but  I  do  happen 
to  know  from  previous  experience  that  there  are  freight  rates  that  were 
predicated  originally  on  what  the  traffic  could  bear.  I  do  know  that  as 
between  different  coal  districts  that  there  is  a  readjustment  in  freight 
rates  that  should  be  worked  out.  But  in  the  freight  rate  question,  as 
in  the  labor  question  and  all  other  questions,  we  have  that  selfish,  local 
interest  to  contend  with  and  the  solution  of  it  is  going  to  take  closer 
organization  and  closer  co-operation  to  solve  the  problem  and  do 
justice  to  all  concerned.  The  coal  salesman  and  that  end  of  the  mining 
business  would  be  the  proper  ones  to  discuss  this  paper.  My  only 
excuse  for  getting  up  is  to  show,  as  one  member  of  the  Congress,  that 
I  apprecaite  these  papers.  I  believe  that  the  freight  rate  question  as 
well  as  the  other  problems  with  which  we  have  to  deal  will  be  worked  out 
eventually  through  a  better  organization  of  the  forces,  the  rule  of  reason 
being  the  final  yardstick  in  all  our  problems. 

I  am  naturally  an  optimist.  I  feel  that  while  we  have  to  fight  occa- 
sionally, notwithstanding  our  friend  Bryan,  that  we  do  have  to  spend 
money  in  preparedness,  yet  you  never  meet  a  man,  in  business  at  least, 
who  wants  to  fight  for  fight's  sake,  neither  in  the  coal  nor  any  other 
business.  There  are  times,  however,  when  we  will  fight  as  the  least  of 
two  evils.  I  think  that  is  the  position  of  the  American  people.  We  think 
we  can  lick  the  whole  world  if  we  have  to.  We  hope  we  will  never 
have  to.  But  we  realize  we  can't  do  it  with  the  equipment  that  Brother 
Ropiequet  had  when  he  was  down  i,n  Florida.  But  I  believe  that  organ- 
ization is  the  solution  of  our  problem,  a  traffic  bureau  for  the  solution 
of  our  freight  rate  question  and  various  other  bureaus  for  the  solution  of 
our  various  other  problems.  My  own  effort  has  been  devoted  to  the 
labor  problem  and  the  production  end.  I  have  had  no  experience  in 
this  freight  matter  except  as  an  observer.  I  know  that  there  are  two 
sides  to  it.  I  know  when  you  talk  to  a  traffic  man  of  a  railroad  that 
he  has  got  a  side,  and  Mr.  Ropiequet  points  out  that  he  is  very  well  able 
to  present  his  side.  Mr.  Ropiequet  knows  that  because  he  has  failed 
to  get  some  of  the  freight  rate  adjustments  that  he  went  after. 

MR.  ROPIEQUET:     We  all  have. 

MR.  REESE:  But  the  path  of  better  organization  and  closer  co- 
operation to  me  seems  to  be  the  path  that  we  are  going  to  have  to 
travel  in  order  to  get  our  100  per  cent  efficiency  in  all  departments.  I 
thank  you.  (Applause.) 

CHAIRMAN  TUCKER:  If  there  are  others  here  who  are  vitally 
interested  on  this  subject  of  freight  rate  litigation  and  have  something 
to  say,  we  will  be  glad  to  hear  from  them.  If  there  is  no  further  dis- 
cussion on  this  paper  the  next  address  will  be  by  Mr.  Charles  L.  Bering, 
"World  Trade  Conditions  of  the  Future."  Mr.  Bering.  (Applause.) 

Mr.  Bering's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  198  of  this  report. 


AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS  105 

CHAIRMAN  TUCKER:  I  am  sure  you  have  listened  with  a  great 
deal  of  interest  to  the  very  instructive  address  we  have  just  heard,  and 
while  the  speaker  was  talking  I  wondered  if  we  were  not  somewhat 
in  the  attitude  of  the  young  man  I  knew  once  whose  name  was  Frank 
Lee  Stewart.  He  always  signed  it  in  full,  Frank  Lee  Stewart.  Some  of 
us  one  day  asked  him  why  he  didn't  use  his  initials,  why  he  went  to  the 
trouble  of  writing  out  his  full  name.  He  said:  "Because  my  name  is 
Frank  Lee  Stewart,  thank  God."  (Laughter.)  The  majority  of  us 
thank  God  that  we  are  Americans,  but  I  am  sure  that  individually  and 
nationally  we  are  .not  alive  to  the  opportunities  that  confront  us.  This 
paper  was  very  interesting,  very  instructive  and  listened  to,  I  know, 
with  a  great  deal  of  attention  and  was  very  much  appreciated. 

I  believe  this  closes  the  list  of  speakers  for  the  meeting.  Unless 
there  is  some  further  discussion,  the  meeting  will  be  adjourned. 

METALLIFEROUS  SECTION. 

Tuesday,  November  14,  1916. 

AFTERNOON  SESSION. 

George   E.   Collins,   Denver,   Colorado,   Chairman. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  you  will  please 
come  to  order. 

Dr.  Waldemar  Lindgren  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technol- 
ogy, and  until  recently  the  head  of  the  Economic  Department  of  the 
United  States  Geological  Survey,  was  to  have  read  the  first  paper.  I 
understand  from  the  gentlemen  upstairs  that  Dr.  Lindgren  is  expected 
to  be  here  later.  However,  ladies  and  gentleme.n,  Dr.  George  Otis 
Smith,  Director  of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  has  very  kindly  agreed 
to  read,  or  to  give  a  summary  of  a  paper  by  one  of  his  staff  on  the 
lead  and  zinc  resources  of  the  United  States.  It  is  not  necessary  for 
me,  I  hope,  to  introduce  Dr.  George  Otis  Smith  to  this  meeting.  You 
all  must  have  heard  of  him,  and  of  the  great  institution  which  he  rep- 
resents. Dr.  Smith,  if  you  will  kindly  address  the  meeting. 

(Applause.) 

DR.  GEORGE  OTIS  SMITH  (Washington,  D.  C) :  Mr.  Chairman 
and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  regret  that.  Mr.  Siebenthal  was  unable  to 
be  here  in  person,  for  the  reason  that  his  plans  for  field  work  this  fall 
could  not  include  Chicago  as  one  of  the  way  stations.  I  wish  to  state 
to  you  that  his  zinc  report  for  the  year  1915  is  now  in  press,  and  we  had 
hoped  to  have  copies,  at  least  of  the  proof,  for  distribution  at  this  meet- 
ing. We  found  that  impossible,  but  copies  of  the  report  will  be  mailed 
to  all  who  care  to  send  to  Washington  for  it,  or  if  you  will  leave  your 
name  with  Mr.  Callbreath,  I  know  he  will  be  glad  to  send  it  to  Washing- 
ton, and  we  will  see  that  a  copy  of  the  report  is  mailed  to  your  address. 

Mr.  Siebenthal,  of  all  our  geologists,  has  possibly  been  in  one  way 
the  most  fortunate  during  the  past  two  years,  for  he  has  had,  perhaps, 
the  liyest  subject — that  of  keeping  tab  on  the  development  of  the  lead 
and  zinc  resources  of  the  country,  and  he  was  asked  to  prepare  a  sum- 
mary paper  on  the  whole  situation.  I  will  here  only  summarize  as  your 
chairman  has  said,  his  paper. 

Mr.  Siebenthal's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  397  of  this  report. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  Dr.  Smith  has  to  attend  a  meeting  of 
one  of  the  other  sections,  and  we  shall  have  to  excuse  him,  but  before 
he  goes  I  think  the  meeting  here  would  like  to  express  its  appreciation 
to  him  of  the  paper  of  Mr.  Siebenthal,  which  he  has  summarized  and 
read,  and  I  would  like  to  say  on  behalf  of  everybody,  I  believe,  here, 
and  certainly  on  behalf  of  my  confreres  in  the  west,  that  we  greatly 
appreciate  the  continued  good  work  that  the  United  States  Geological 
Survey  is  doing  for  us.  We  get,  perhaps,  more  real  benefit  from  that 
work  than  from  the  work  of  any  other  governmental  department. 

MR.  J.  A.   EDE:     Yes,  I  think  so,  too. 

(Applause.) 


106  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  I  do  not  see  Dr.  Lindgren  here.  I  have 
heard  nothing  of  him  or  of  his  paper.  Following  that  on  our  program 
is  Mr.  Tupper,  Mr.  C.  A.  Tupper,  of  Chicago,  Illinois.  Is  Mr.  Tupper 
here? 

(No  response.) 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  The  position  of  a  chairman  of  a  sectional 
meeting  whose  speakers  have  not  turned  up  is  not  an  enviable  one.  It 
is  very  much  like  the  play  of  Hamlet  where  the  noble  Dane  is  left  out. 
Is  Mr.  Ruhl  here  from  Joplin?  Mr.  Otto  Ruhl? 

MR.  OTTO  RUHL  (Missouri):     Yes,  sir,  if  the  chairman  please. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  Mr.  Ruhl,  would  it  be  convenient  for 
you  to  give  your  address  at  this  time? 

MR.  OTTO  RUHL  (Missouri):    Yes,  Mr.  Chairman. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  The  name  of  Otto  Ruhl,  I  may  say,  is 
so  well  known  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  say  anything  further.  His  name 
is  one  of  the  best-known  names  in  that  district.  I  introduce  Mr.  Otto 
Ruhl. 

MR.  H.  I.  SEEMAN  (Colorado):  I  would  like  to  know  whether 
there  is  not  an  export  duty  on  certain  metals  from  Mexico,  which  might 
have  a  bearing  on  this  discussion? 

MR.  RUHL:  There  is,  yes,  sir,  and  the  Carranza  Government, 
according  to  what  has  been  reported,  is  placing  an  export  duty  on  both 
lead  and  zinc. 

MR.  SEEMAN:    Yes,  that  is  my  understanding. 

MR.  RUHL:  That  will  greatly  interfere  with  the  recent  importa- 
tion from  Mexico,  cutting  down  the  importations  from  the  previous 
month's  to  the  last  month's  report,  to  the  amount  of  something  like 
8,000  tons,  but  whether  that  will  continue  or  not,  of  course,  is  outside 
of  our  province,  and  we  cannot  rely  upon  Carranza  doing  anything 
for  us. 

MR.  SEEMAN:  No,  and  I  thought  it  might  have  a  very  impor- 
tant bearing  on  any  duty  we  might  put  on  it.  They  would  raise  the 
duty  so  they  would  keep  that  commodity  in  their  own  country,  and  we 
possibly  could  not  get  anything  from  that  country,  just  following  out 
the  policy  of  British  Columbia. 

MR.  RUHL:  That  is  quite  true,  Mr.  Seeman,  that  is,  with  this 
exception.  In  Mexico,  conditions  are  such  as  to  practically  forbid  a 
zinc  smelter  within  the  boundaries  of  the  country  of  Mexico.  They  are 
pretty  nearly  forced  to  send  all  ores  either  to  this  country  or  to  some 
other  country. 

MR.  SEEMAN:     Well,  she  has  just  as  much  oil  as  we  have, 

MR.  RUHL:  But  that  has  not  been  developed  until  recent  years, 
however. 

MR.  SEEMAN:     Well,  we  will  own  it  after  a  while. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  I  think  I  can  point  out  and  remind  Mr. 
Seeman  that  even  more  important  than  cheap  fuel  in  zinc  smelting  is 
skilled  labor,  which  these  companies  have  to  hire,  and  it  takes  a  long, 
long  time  for  them  to  train  it  up,  and  there  is  hardly  any  conceivable 
prospect  of  that  class  of  labor  being  developed  in  Mexico  under  the 
conditions  that  apply  now,  or  that  will  apply  for  the  next  generation. 

MR.  SEEMAN:  Mr.  Ruhl's  paper  will  undoubtedly  appear  in  the 
printed  proceedings? 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  Yes,  it  will  appear  in  the  proceedings 
and  I  am  sure  we  will  all  read  it  again  with  great  pleasure. 

MR.  SEEMAN:  Yes,  and  I  want  to  go  over  it  carefully,  as  it  is 
something  that  requires  a  great  deal  of  attention,  and  it  is  replete  with 
valuable  information. 


AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS  107 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:    That  is  certainly  so. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Gentlemen,  we  will  arrange  a  bet- 
ter room  for  you  tomorrow,  and  we  will  have  to  announce  where  it 
will  be. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  Mr.  Secretary,  I  would  like  to  ask  you 
whether  any  further  word  has  been  received  from  Dr.  Lindgren. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  I  have  just  received  a  telegram 
saying  that  he  would  not  be  here.  I  had  a  letter  saying  he  would  be 
here. 

Dr.  Lindgren's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  435  of  this  report. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  And  Mr.  Weed;  have  you  heard  from 
him? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  Weed  will  not  be  here.  I  had 
a  telegram  from  him  this  morning  saying  that  sickness  prevented  his 
coming. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  That  very  largely  interferes  with  our 
program,  ladies  and  gentlemen.  I  was  going  on  to  say  that  if  there 
is  any  discussion  on  the  subject  of  Mr.  .Ruhl's  paper,  it  would  now  be 
very  much  in  order. 

I  am  reminded  of  one  aspect  of  the  subject  upon  which  Mr.  Ruhl 
did  not  touch,  and  I  think  it  is  one  which  concerns  us  all,  whether  we 
are  free  traders  or  protectionists,  whether  we  believe  in  compensating 
duties,  or  in  duties  for  revenue  only,  and  that  is  the  possibility  that  may 
arise  in  case  of  war.  Every  nation  has  had  it  brought  home  to  it  within 
the  last  two  years  that  war,  under  modern  conditions,  increases  the 
requirement  for  all  common  metals,  and  some  of  the  uncommon  metals. 
Any  nation  is  apt  to  have  its  supplies  from  the  outside  cut  off  entirely 
as  the  result  of  war.  It  is  a  very  strong  argument,  and  one  to  which 
insufficient  weight  has  been  given  heretofore,  in  favor  of  the  protec- 
tion of  home  industries,  that  when  we  have  a  home  industry  estab- 
lished, we  are  better  fitted,  in  case  of  war,  to  suddenly  develop  the  out- 
put to  the  full  requirements  under  war  conditions.  If  we  have  to  start 
in  after  war  to  develop  the  materials  which  war  requires,  we  are  going 
to  be  at  a  terrible  disadvantage  for  the  first  year  or  two  of  any  war, 
and  the  first  year  or  two  is  very  apt  to  tell  the  entire  tale. 

If  there  is  any  discussion  on  this  paper  by  the  meeting,  it  is  proper 
at  this  time. 

MR.  M.  H.  BREDE  (South  Dakota):  Will  Mr.  Ruhl's  paper  be 
published? 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  Yes,  in  the  proceedings  it  will  be  pub- 
lished. 

MR.  BREDE:  It  is  one  of  the  best  papers  I  have  ever  listened  to, 
and  I  would  like  to  read  it  carefully. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  Well,  it  needs  careful  study  and  deserves 
special  attention. 

MR.  HENRY  LONG  (Wisconsin):     Mr.  Chairman. 

CHAIRMAN   COLLINS:     Mr.   Henry  Long,  Wisconsin. 

MR.  LONG  (Wisconsin):  One  question  is  not  quite  clear  to  me 
and  that  is  on  this  question  of  a  revenue  basis  without  its  doing  harm. 
Take  on  the  smelting  in  bond,  with  the  benefit  of  the  draw-back,  when 
they  get  99  per  cent  draw-back  and  there  is  one  per  cent  retained,  only 
one  per  cent  retained  for  the  Government,  that  is  not  sufficient  to  de- 
fray the  clerical  expenses,  and  I  would  like  to  ask  what  benefit  does 
the  Government  derive?  That  is,  if  there  is  a  heavy  exportation?  That 
is  one  thing  Mr.  Ruhl  did  not  touch  on,  a,nd  that  was  not  quite  clear 
to  me  and  I  have  never  been  able  to  find  out  about  it. 

MR.  RUHL:     Yes,  I  understand  that. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  Mr.  Ruhl,  would  you  mind  coming  up 
here  in  front  so  that  all  the  audience  can  hear  you? 


108  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

MR.  RUHL:  Well,  I  wish  to  say  that  Mr. "Henry  Long  has  cor- 
rectly stated  the  position  the  Government  takes  with  respect  to  duties 
under  both  the  revenue  and  the  protective  doctrine.  There  is  a  good 
argument  in  his  statement  there,  of  course,  of  retaining  the  correct  pro- 
portion of  the  duties,  no  matter  whichever  doctrine  is  adopted.  I  be- 
lieve the  Treasury  Department  of  our  Government  has  long  contended 
that  the  retention  of  simply  one  per  cent  of  the  duties  under  the  draw- 
back clause  of  the  tariff  schedules  is  not  sufficient  to  pay  the  expenses 
of  the  custom  houses,  and  all  the  other  expenses  involved  in  the  book- 
keeping system  which  must  be  kept  up  but,  as  affecting  either  one  of  the 
doctrines,  it  does  not  enter  into  the  question,  because  it  applies  in  both 
instances.  That  is  simply  a  matter  which  must  be  taken  up  with  new 
policies  of  the  Treasury  Department,  rather  than  either  of  the  two 
doctrines  involved  in  the  tariff  policy. 

MR.  LONG:  Well,  they  assess  you  on  an  income  of  100  per  cent, 
and  if  you  get  a  return  only  on  from  85  to  90  per  cent  that  is  recovera- 
ble, where  do  you  get  off? 

MR.  RUHL:    Yes,  that  is  true. 

MR.  LONG:  The  Government  should  make  its  tax  on  the  recov- 
erable values. 

MR.  SEEMAN:    I  think  so,  too. 

MR.  RUHL:  That  has  been  done  to  a  large  extent,  Mr.  Seeman, 
by  the  Treasury  Department  rulings.  I  think,  in  the  case  of  zinc,  the 
recoverable  quantity  is  placed  at  84  per  cent,  but  under  the  present 
tariff  law,  of  course,  that  is  not  the  easiest  thing  with  us,  but  it  is 
assessed  o.n  the  value  of  the  ore.  In  the  country  from  which  it  is  im- 
ported, regardless  of  what  we  recover,  of  course,  your  market  value 
there  would  be  determined  by  what  you  could  recover,  but,  under  a 
specific  duty,  so  much  per  pound  metal  content,  that  would  be  taken 
into  consideration  at  the  time  the  duty  would  be  levied,  as  to  whether 
it  would  be  a  compensating  duty  or  not. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  Are  there  any  further  questions  or  re- 
marks on  Mr.  Ruhl's  paper?  If  not  we  will  next  listen  to  a  paper  by 
Mr.  C.  A.  Tupper  on  the  subject,  "The  Mining  Industry;  Its  Magnitude." 

Mr.  Tupper's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  318  of  this  report. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  Mr.  Tupper  was  announced  here  to  give 
an  address.  Failing  Mr.  Tupper,  Mr.  W.  J.  Kelly,  who  is  here,  and  who 
had  been  requested  to  deliver  a  paper  on  the  conditions  of  Mexico,  some 
time  preceding  this,  and  who  was  unable  to  do  that  at  the  time,  because 
of  absence,  but  is  now  here,  and  I  believe  he  has  some  notes  and  "would 
perhaps  be  willing  to  give  us  the  benefit  of  his  remarks  at  this  time. 
Mr.  Kelly. 

MR.  WILLIAM  J.  KELLY  (Chicago,  111.):    Mr.  Chairman. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:    Mr.  Kelly. 

MR.  WILLIAM  J.  KELLY  (Chicago):  Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and 
Gentlemen  and  Brother  Miners:  It  is  a  high  honor  to  ije  invited  to 
speak  before  the  first  convention  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  attending. 

A  short  time  ago  I  was  requested  by  the  officials_of  the  American 
Mining  Congress  to  write  a  paper  on  mining  conditions  in  Mexico, 
with  which  I  am  very  familiar.  On  account  of  my  absence  from  the 
city  at  that  time  I  did  not  see  my  way  clear  to  do  so.  I  returned  from 
Mexico,  however,  only  a  few  weeks  ago,  a.nd  found  it  possible  to  attend 
this  convention. 

While  in  Mexico  I  endeavored  to  study  conditions  there  very  thor- 
oughly. I  have  also  studied  press  reports  published  in  our  own  coun- 
try in  regard  to  conditions  in  Mexico;  and  I  desire  to  present  to  you 
today  a  few  of  the  conclusions  to  which  I  have  come  in  my  own  mind, 
as  to  the  conditions  prevailing  at  the  present  time  in  the  Republic  of 
Mexico,  and  the  relation  which  they  bear  to  the  conditions  now  existing 
under  which  valuable  ores  are  produced  in  our  own  land. 


AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS  109 

I  have  listened  with  great  interest  to  the  highly  illuminating  papers 
which  have  been  presented  by  our  friend  from  Joplin,in  regard  to  the 
tariff  for  revenue  as  relating  to  a  compe.nsating  duty  on  lead  and  zinc 
ores.  I  desire  to  say  that  it  has  never  been  my  pleasure  to  listen  to  so 
valuable  a  dissertation  on  one  of  the  most  complex  and  vital  phases  of 
our  mining  industry. 

This  paper  on  the  duties  levied  on  ore  was  particularly  interesting 
to  me,  as  while  I  listened  I  could  not  help  but  remark  in  my  own  mind 
on  the  conditions  existing  in  Mexico  with  relation  to  such  duties.  In  the 
Republic  of  Mexico,  under  the  reign  of  Porfirio  Diaz,  the  tariffs  on  ore 
were  two  and  one-half  per  cent.  Just  think  of  it,  ladies  and  gentlemen 
here  present!  Two  and  one-half  per  cent  for  all  three  ores,  whether 
it  was  low  or  high-grade  ore.  We  could  not  ship  anything  from  the 
Republic  of  Mexico  into  the  smelters  of  the  United  States  located  at  El 
Paso,  Texas,  or  at  any  other  place  in  the  American  Republic  to  be 
smelted,  unless  we  paid  the  exorbitant  tariff  of  two  and  one-half  per 
cent.  This  tariff  took  from  us  the  major  share  of  our  profits  on  the 
low  grade  ores.  Confronted  with  this  situation,  there  was  but  one 
thing  left  for  those  representing  the  American  capital  invested  in  Mexico 
to  do.  We  had  to  leave  all  the  low  grade  ores  on  the  hillside  near  our 
mines,  away  down  in  the  Republic  of  Mexico  or  else,  failing  that,  we 
had  to  procure  some  form  of  concentration  or  stamping  looking  towards 
making  a  higher  grade  of  ore  out  of  the  lower  grade  ore  before  shipping 
the  same  out  of  the  Republic  of  Mexico  into  the  smelters  located  in 
the  United  States. 

There  exists  at  the  present  time  in  the  Republic  of  Mexico  a  state 
of  anarchy.  But  even  where  the  country  is  peaceful,  under  present 
transportation  facilities,  or  with  transportation  facilities  as  they  existed 
before  the  warring  factions  uprooted  the  different  railroads  from  their 
very  beds — even  at  that  time  you  could  not  get  ore  out  except  by 
shipping  it  away  around  to  Monterey,  or  away  down  to  Vera  Cruz,  or  to 
Tampico,  or  else  come  back  to  El  Paso,  where  you  could  get  into  our 
own  country  by  paying  this  highly  exorbitant  tax  of  two  and  one-half 
per  cent.  With  these  conditions  in  mind,  therefore,  I  will  endeavor  to 
relate  to  you  a  few  of  the  disheartening  experiences  suffered  by  the 
miners  of  Mexico. 

To  distinguish  the  transportation  problems  confronting  the  two 
groups  of  miners,  that  is,  the  American  miners  and  the  Mexican  miners, 
I  think  it  will  be  necessary  for  me  to  call  your  attention  to  the  trans- 
portation facilities  offered  to  the  miners  of  America. 

Our  systems  of  transportation  are  the  greatest  in  the  world;  but 
in  Mexico,  unheard  of  conditions  exist.  Some  of  the  mines  are  as  far 
as  150  miles  away  from  the  site  of  a  railroad,  others  are  65,  75  or  80 
miles.  Some  few  are  within  four  or  five  miles.  The  ore  must  be  taken 
down  the  tortuous  trails  of  the  mountainsides  of  Old  Mexico  upon  the 
backs  of  burros.  Many  is  the  time  that  I  have  sat  in  the  valley  and 
seen  in  the  far  distance  a  pack  train  of  burros  winding  its  way  down 
the  steep  mountain  side  with  its  burden  of  treasure,  and  have  wished 
with  all  my  heart  that  the  miners  of  Mexico  might  be  furnished  with 
even  a  small  percentage  of  the  advantages  enjoyed  by  the  American 
miners  in  the  way  of  transportation  facilities.  Those  are  conditions 
that  existed  even  during  the  reign  of  the  great  dictator,  Diaz,  who,  as 
you  all  know,  until  the  time  of  the  revolution,  held  the  country  in  the 
grip  of  his  iron  hand.  He  was  a  dictator  withal,  but  he  maintained  some 
semblance  of  peace.  But  with  the  onset  of  the  various  revolutions,  busi- 
ness stopped  entirely. 

During  the  reign  of  the  Madero  government,  that  is,  while  the  revo- 
lution was  in  existence,  everything  practically  came  to  a  standstill.  How- 
ever, after  he  was  once  elected  and  placed  upon  the  throne — for  that 
was  the  true  significance  of  his  election — the  mines  all  opened  up,  and 
their  owners  began  pumping  out  the  water  with  which  their  mines  were 
filled  during  the  time  of  the  revolution,  when  they  had  to  stop  their 
mining  operations.  However,  coal  was  practically  impossible  to  obtain 


110  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

because  of  the  lack  of  railroad  facilities,  and  the  result  was  that  again, 
after  this  first  disheartening  experience,  the  miners  of  Mexico  were 
again  practically  driven  out  of  business. 

But  after  the  assassination  of  Madero,  the  country  immediately  be- 
came much  as  it  is  today,  the  most  dissipated  country  on  God's  green 
earth;  a  country  ravished  by  fire  and  sword,  a  country  filled  with  thou- 
sands of  motherless  and  fatherless  children,  a  country  filled  with  hungry 
mothers  and  starving  babes.  That  is  the  Republic  of  Mexico  today. 

I  have  lived  in  the  country,  I  know  the  people,  and  I  returned  from 
there  but  a  few  weeks  ago.  I  returned  from  the  midst  of  that  cataclysm 
of  anarchy,  death  and  fire,  starvation  and  pestilence,  into  the  peace  and 
ple.nty  of  America.  While  there  I  talked  with  and  listened  to  many 
intelligent  Mexicans.  At  the  present  time  I  find  that  the  country  is 
very  much  split  on  the  question  of  Carranza.  Many  regard  him  as  a 
high-minded  benefactor  of  the  poor,  while  others  regard  him  as  a 
treacherous  robber.  It  is  this  division  of  thought  which  is  creating 
many  factions. 

It  is  a  great  pity  that  for  the  sake  of  huma.nity,  for  the  sake  of 
those  millions  of  our  fellow  beings  who  are  starving,  something  cannot 
be  done  for  that  God-forsaken  country. 

There  is  no  more  productive  country  in  the  whole  world  than  Mex- 
ico. When  our  crops  are  burning  up  here  from  drought  and  sun,  crops 
in  Mexico,  under  the  beguiling  hand  of  a  most  equable  climate,  surpass 
in  luxuriant  growth  anything  I  have  ever  seen. 

There  is  no  other  country  on  the  face  of  the  earth  which  ca.n  re- 
cuperate itself  quicker  from  its  troubles  than  Mexico  can.  They  can 
be  broke  today,  and  be  a  financially  sound  government  tomorrow.  The 
soil  of  Mexico  is  so  fertile  that  they  can  produce  any  class  of  crojps. 
The  hills  are  filled  with  very  rich  minerals.  When  the  trouble  in  Mex- 
ico settles  down,  which  it  is  certain  to  do  before  very  much  longer, 
men  who  are  interested  in  that  country  know  that  it  will  be  impossible 
to  keep  American  capital  out  of  Mexico,  since  it  knows  the  great  ad- 
vantages to  be  reaped  from  that  land  in  the  way  of  mining,  ranch 
lands,  coal  fields,  oil  fields  and  timber.  There  are  many  millions  of 
acres  of  land  in  that  country  which  are  far  superior  to  any  which  we 
hold  in  the  United  States. 

But  while  Mexico  is  wonderfully  rich  in  natural  resources,  her  peo- 
ple are  bound  down  to  servitude  by  the  enmeshing  grip  of  ignorance. 
Throughout  the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  the  land  they  know  neither 
Christianity  nor  education. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  and  our  honorable  chairman,  I  thank  you. 

(Applause.) 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  I  am  very  sure  that  we  are  all  extremely 
obliged  to  Mr.  Kelly  for  his  eloquent  address. 

I  am  sorry  to  say  that,  owing  to  the  absence  of  three  of  our  speak- 
ers, it  leaves  us  practically  with  no  business  before  this  section  for  the 
remainder  of  the  afternoon  unless,  perchance,  some  other  gentleman 
has  something  he  wishes  to  say. 

Upon  motion,  duly  carried,  the  meeting  adjourned. 

METALLIFEROUS  SECTION. 
Wednesday,  November  15,  1916. 

AFTERNOON  SESSION. 
Mr.  A.  A.  Codd,  Reno,  Nevada,  presiding. 

CHAIRMAN  CODD:  The  Metalliferous  Section  of  the  American 
Mining  Congress  will  now  come  to  order.  Ladies  and  ge.ntlemen,  to 
open  these  discussions  on  time  seems  almost  impossible,  and  this  is 
rather  emphasized  today  because  of  the  change  of  our  meeting  place 
from  the  upper  floor  to  this  larger  room. 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  111 

The  request'  has  been  made  that  the  speakers  will  annou.nce  their 
names  and  the  states  from  whence  they  come,  so  that  the  reporter  can 
make  a  correct  record. 

The  first  paper  which  is  on  our  regular  program  is  Mr.  W.  R.  Allen, 
of  Butte,  Montana,  who  is  not  present  and  has  .not  sent  a  paper,  so  we 
will  have  to  forego  that  part  of  our  program.  The  next  address  is  "The 
Marketing  of  Zinc  Ore,"  by  Mr.  W.  B.  Shackelford,  of  Webb  City,  Mis- 
souri. We  will  now  have  the  pleasure  of  hearing  Mr.  Shackelford. 

(Applause.) 

MR,  W.  B.  SHACKELFORD  (Missouri):  Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies 
and  Gentlemen:  The  topic  assigned  to  me  is  one  dealing  with  the 
sampling  and  the  marketing  of  zinc  concentrates  in  what  is  known  as 
the  Joplin  district,  a  district  which  embraces  northeastern  Oklahoma, 
southeastern  Kansas,  southwestern  Missouri  and  northwestern  Ar- 
kansas. 

The  methods  of  marketing  there  are  open  market  sales.  There 
are,  I  presume,  from  15  to  16  different  smelting  companies  who  have 
offices  in  our  district  and  are  represented  by  buyers  for  their  particular 
concerns. 

The  concentrates  are  prepared  and  are  sold  to  the  buyers  in  the 
bin.  The  buyers  bid  for  these  ores.  While  the  bidding  is  not  always 
competitive  bidding,  and  there  may  be  times  that  appearances  indicate 
there  is  a  sort  of  a  gentleman's  agreement  between  the  buyers  as  to  what 
price  shall  be  paid,  the  price  paid  for  the  higher  grade  ores,  which  we 
class,  in  speaking  of  high  grade  ores,  as  lead-free  ores,  which  run  60 
per  cent  or  better  metallic  zinc,  and  such  ores  usually  form  the  market, 
make  the  market,  as  it  were,  and  the  price  paid  for  these  ores  is  usually 
based  very  closely  on  a  ratio  between  the  day's  spelter  quotation,  or 
the  spelter  quotation  in  East  St.  Louis.  This  ratio  is  generally  about 
eight  to  one,  that  is  to  say,  take  an  ore  that  we  would  receive  $80  base 
for,  on  an  eight  to  one  ratio,  spelter  in  East  St.  Louis  would  then  be 
quoted  at  ten  cents.  Sometimes  this  ratio  is  jiot  so  good  as  eight  to 
one.  There  have  been  times  when  it  has  run  better  than  nine  to  one. 
When  the  ores  became  scarce  and  the  smelters  had  contracts  that  re- 
quired ore,  it  ran  better.  The  old  method  obtaining  some  twenty  years 
in  that  district  was  a  little  different  thajn  the  one  in  use  now. 

Then  a  buyer  would  go  to  your  bin  and  offer  you  so  much  per  ton 
for  your  ore  without  regard  for  its  metallic  contents,  or  without  regard 
to  the  amount  of  moisture  the  ore  would  carry.  The  present  method 
is  one  in  which  the  buyer  purchases  the  ore  on  an  agreed  assay  basis. 
The  ore  is  then  loaded  in  the  cars  for  shipment  and  the  buyer  takes  one 
sample  and  the  seller  takes  another  sample,  and  there  frequently  is  an 
umpire  sample  taken,  so  that  if  there  is  any  wide  difference  in  the  as- 
says, that  is,  between  the  two  samples,  the  buyer's  and  the  seller's 
sample,  the  umpire  sample  can  be  run  to  determine  the  amount  to  be 
paid  in  for  the  ore  settlement.  The  ore  is  bought,  as  I  say,  upon  a 
basis  agreed  upon;  the  determinations  in  running  the  assay  are  usually 
for  zinc,  iron  and  moisture.  However,  when  ore  carries  quite  heavily  in 
lead  there  is  sometimes  asked  a  lead  determination. 

Taking  a  60  per  cent  ore,  we  receive  $1  for  each  per  cent  over  60 
per  cent  in  settlement,  and  are  penalized  $1  for  each  per  cent  under  60 
per  cent.  We  are  allowed  one  per  cent  for  iron.  That  is,  if  your  ore 
carried  one  and  one-half  per  cent  of  iron,  you  would  be  penalized  50 
cents.  The  moisture  is  simply  deducted  from  the  total  gross  weight 
of  the  shipment.  The  mean  of  the  two  samples  is  taken  to  determine 
the  basis  of  settlement.  It  is  very  seldom  that  we  have  differences  of 
any  consequence.  Sometimes  there  are  shortages  claimed  in  weight, 
and  if  indications  point  to  the  scales  being  out  of  balance,  the 
seller  usually  makes  that  good.  If  the  shortage  appears  to  have  oc- 
curred in  transit,  the  loss  is  upon  the  buyer.  All  settlements  are  cash 
upon  determination  of  the  assay.  That  form  of  settleme.nt  is  used  en- 
tirely in  the  Joplin  district,  and  I  presume  originally  started  from  the 


112  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

fact  that  in  the  earlier  history  of  our  district,  many  of  the  smaller  oper- 
ators producing  zinc  ore  were  men  that  had  very  little  means  and  they 
required  the  cash  so  they  could  meet  their  payrolls  and  pay  their  supply 
bills.  This  system  is  still  in  existence  today,  and  when  we  appear  with 
our  assay  and  check  with  the  buyer,  we  immediately  receive  a  check  for 
the  full  value  of  the  ore. 

I  know  of  no  Contracts  in  force  in  our  districts,  although  I  think 
at  one  time  there  were  some  contracts  in  existence  in  Oklahoma  that 
were  made  by  smelters  who  purchased  largely  western  ores.  I  under- 
stand that  all  such  contracts  have  expired. 

The  penalties  sometimes  apply  to  excessive  lime  in  the  ore.  Some 
smelters  refuse  to  buy  any  ore  that  carries  over  cne  per  cent  lime,  and 
some  will  limit  you  to  two  per  cent,  but  you  are  usually  penalized  for 
lime  contents  above  two  per  cent. 

That  is  about  all  that  can  be  said  about  the  marketing  of  the  zinc 
ore  in  our  district.  That  is  the  usual  form  of  marketing  ore  and  the 
system  of  settlement. 

If  there  are  any  questions,  and  I  hoped  in  presenting  this  matter 
before  you,  that  it  might  bring  out  some  controversy,  or  expression  of 
opinions  from  some  of  the  western  people  as  to  whether  our  system 
was  as  good  as  the  one  that  they  use.  They  contract  most  of  their 
ores,  I  understand,  that  is,  whether  or  not  there  could  not  be  some 
system  of  settlement  arrived  at  that  could  become  more  generally  uni- 
versal through  all  this  zinc  producing  country. 

The  one  thing  peculiar  to  the  ores  of  our  district  is  that  they  are 
not  complex  in  their  character  like  the  ordinary  western  ore.  In  our 
district  the  ore  values  are  zinc  and  lead.  Sometimes  we  get  an  entirely 
lead-free  ore,  but  generally  they  carry  a  small  percentage  of  lead — of 
zinc. 

Now,  if  there  are  any  questions  to  be  asked  in  regard  to  anything 
that  I  have  stated  or  have  omitted  to  state,  I  would  be  very  glad  to 
answer  them. 

MR.  H.  W.  SEEMAN:  Are  you  acquainted  with  the  method  of 
settlement  obtaining  for  the  ores  coming  from  Montana? 

MR.  SHACKELFORD:  No,  I  do  not  know  the  basis  of  those  con- 
tracts, Mr.  Seeman.  I  understand,  though,  most  of  their  ore  is  con- 
tracted. I  did  hear,  that  during  the  period  when  we  were  receiving 
$135  a  ton  for  our  high  grade  ores,  that  the  Butte-Superior  ores  were 
bringing  a  much  higher  price  than  that,  due  to  the  fact  that  they  had 
a  contract,  and  that  that  contract  was  based  on  a  certain  ratio  between 
metal  and  ore,  and  during  all  of  the  time  that  we  were  receiving  this 
high  price,  the  quotation  on  prime  western  spelter  was  around  24  or  25 
cents  at  East  St.  Louis,  and  there  was  a  spread  between  ore  and  metal 
of  from  $95  to  $100. 

MR.  SEEMAN  (of  Illinois):  Mr.  Shackelford,  may  I  ask  you  an- 
other question? 

What  I  had  special  reference  to  was  this.  I  understand  the  con- 
centrates there,  many  of  them,  carry  not  only  lead  and  zinc,  but  some 
gold  and  silver,  and  I  was  wondering  how  they  paid  for  the  contents 
other  than  lead  and  zinc. 

MR.  SHACKELFORD:  I  do  not  know  their  method  of  settle- 
ment, Mr.  Seeman. 

MR.  G_EORGE  E.  COLLINS  (Colorado):  So  far  as  Colorado  is 
concerned,  "every  producer  is  a  law  unto  himself  and  there  is  no  limit. 
One  contract  of  my  own  provides  a  base  price  for  the  zinc,  based  on 
50  per  cent,  with  $1  deducted  for  each  per  cent  below  50.  Now  we 
never  get  to  50.  That  for  us  is  an  unattainable  ideal — 50  per  cent  of 
zinc.  The  product  we  market  assays  anywhere  from  38  to  45  per  cent; 
occasionally  we  get  down  to  36  or  37  per  cent,  but  the  average  is  about 
41  or  42  per  cent. 


AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS  113 

Now,  as  to  the  residue  value,  or  the  value  of  the  other  metals,  such 
as  lead,  and  so  forth.  Without  disclosing  any  confidential  details  I 
should  say  that  the  usual  contract  offered  by  zinc  smelters  covering  the 
residue  values,  would  be  60  per  cent  of  the  gold,  silver  and  lead  con- 
tained. We  ourselves  get  a  rather  more  favorable  basis  than  that. 

MR.  SEEMAN:     May  I  ask  you  how  about  the  copper  contents? 

MR.  GEORGE  E.  COLLINS:    The  copper? 

MR.  SEEMAN:     Yes. 

MR.  GEORGE  E.  COLLINS:  The  only  contract  I  know  of  per- 
sonally that  allows  for  copper,  outside  of  the  United  States  Zinc  Com- 
pany, is  one  I  have  myself,  in  which  case  we  are  paid  60  per  ce.nt  of 
the  dry  assay.  The  shippers  have  to  pay  the  treatment  and  freight  to 
the  lead  smelter  on  the  residues. 

A  great  many  of  the  smelters  in  making  contracts  offer  to  save  your 
residues  for  you  and  deliver  them  to  you  for  shipment  f.  o.  b.  cars. 
The  objection  to  that  system  is,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  best  metallur- 
gical practice  for  the  zinc  smelter  is  often  attained  at  the  expense  of 
saving  of  residue  value,  a.nd  there  is  therefore,  a  difference  of  interest 
between  the  smelter  and  the  miner. 

Another  objection  is  that  while  the  zinc  smelter  will  guarantee  in 
his  contract  to  use  every  possible  endeavor  to  save  the  residues,  we 
know  they  are  usually  dumped  out  of  doors  in  the  open  air  without  any 
protection  from  the  wind,  and  the  loss  in  weight  is  very  high;  so  that 
most  of  us  usually  prefer  to  sell  o.n  a  contract  where  we  are  paid 
specific  percentages  of  the  assay  value  of  the  original  ore. 

Now,  there  are  two  questions  I  would  like  to  ask  Mr.  Shackelford. 
He  spoke  of  basing  his  sales  on  St.  Louis  or  East  St.  Louis  prices  of 
spelter.  How  are  the  prices  arrived  at?  We  have  had  a  good  deal  of 
discussion  on  that  subject.  Nearly  all  of  our  contracts  provide  for  taking 
the  average  of  the  Engineering  &  Mining  Journal  quotations. 

MR.  SHACKELFORD:  Yes,  but  that  is  very  much  under  the  pub- 
lished quotation. 

MR.  COLLINS:  It  is  often  very  much  under  the  published  quota- 
tion, but  what  is  the  latter  based  on? 

MR.  SHACKELFORD:  The  published  quotation  in  our  district  is 
furnished  by  the  daily  papers,  and  it  is  right  in  line  with  the  quotations 
furnished  by  the  American  Metal  Market  Reporter,  published  by  Trench 
&  Company,  and  Trench's  quotation  is  usually  anywhere  from  15  to  20 
points  higher  thaji  the  Engineering  &  Mining  Journal's  quotation.  At 
least  that  has  been  my  experience. 

MR.  COLLINS:  Yes,  that  would  be  my  own  observation,  but  I 
may  say  that  so  far  as  I  know,  all  western  producers  sell  on  the  Engi- 
neering &  Mining  Journal's  average  quotations.  We  have  to  use  the 
best  we  can  get. 

There  is  another  question  I  would  like  to  ask  Mr.  Shackelford. 
You  spoke  of  the  car  samples.  Now,  how  are  those  obtained? 

MR.  SHACKELFORD:  Why,  after  the  ore  is  loaded  m  the  car 
the  buyer  produces  what  we  call  a  gun,  which  is  a  long,  cylindrical  tube, 
a  little  bit  smaller  at  the  bottom  end  than  it  is  at  the  top  end,  and 
that  is  plunged  down  into  the  ore  pile  in  probably  15  or  20  places,  scat- 
tered over  the  area  of  the  car,  and  the  contents  of  that  tube  are  dumped 
into  a  container,  and  it  is  thoroughly  rolled  and  mixed  and  the  sample 
is  finally  made  up  out  of  the  last  sample  quartered  out. 

MR.  COLLINS:  I  may  say,  with  respect  to  the  property  under  my 
control,  that  we  are  utterly  unable  to  get  accurate  samples  in  that  way. 
We  usually  take  samples  of  the  products  we  make  at  several  different 
stages  in  handling. 

MR.  SHACKELFORD:     Yes. 

MR.  COLLINS:  We  take  that  kind  of  a  sample  ijti  three  different 
stages,  and  they  never  exactly  agree.  I  wonder  whether  pipe  samples 
are  any  more  dependable  at  Joplin  than  they  are  with  us. 


114  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

MR.  SHACKELFORD:  Mr.  Collins,  do  you  know  whether  your 
concentrates  are  reduced  to  the  fine  size  ours  are? 

MR.  COLLINS:  Yes,  Mr.  Shackelford,  a  large  portion  of  our  con- 
centrates will  go  through  a  200  mesh  screen. 

MR.  SHACKELFORD:  We  find  -this  system  very  satisfactory 
and  we  get  very  close  results.  It  is  very  seldom  that  we  ever  get  so 
much  as  one  per  cent  variation  between  the  buyer's  sample  and  the 
seller's  sample. 

MR.  COLLINS:    It  is  all  the  same  sample,  isn't  it? 

MR.  SHACKELFORD:  Yes,  they  practically  are,  but  they  are  run 
by  two  different  chemists.  The  buyer  takes  his  sample  to  his  chemist 
and  we  take  our  sample  to  our  chemist,  and  the  mean  of  the  two  chem- 
ists' determinations  is  the  basis  of  the  settlement.  If  there  is  a  differ- 
ence between  the  buyer's  sample  and  the  seller's  sample,  if  that  difference 
is  not  over  one-half  of  one  per  cent,  we  pay  no  attention  to  running  an 
umpire  sample.  However,  if  that  difference  is  over  one-half  of  one  per 
cent,  we  run  the  umpire's  sample. 

The  samples  on  which  we  make  our  settlements  are  taken  at  the 
smelter  in  the  presence  of  the  seller's  representative. 

MR.  COLLINS:  With  respect  to  the  difference  between  the  assay 
of  the  buyer  and  the  assay  of  the  seller,  we  do  not  have  very  much 
trouble  there,  excepting  that  the  smelter's  assays  are  almost  invariably 
lower.  For  instance,  on  my  present  contract  we  have  to  split  on  a 
difference  of  one-half  of  one  per  cent.  Unfortunately,  the  smelter's  as- 
says are  usually  three-tenths  or  four-tenths  under  ours;  just  enough  to 
compel  us  to  split.  However,  where  the  difference  is  greater  thari^  five- 
tenths,  of  course,  we  get  an  umpire  and  then  we  settle  on  the  umpire. 

MR.  SHACKELFORD:  Well,  I  can  say  with  regard  to  that 
point,  that  very  often  in  our  district  the  buyer's  assays  run  higher  than 
the  seller's. 

MR.  SEEMAN:  How  do  you  arrive  at  your  moisture  sample?  How 
is  that  taken,  Mr.  Shackelford? 

MR.  SHACKELFORD:  That  is  taken  in  the  ordinary  manner. 
The  sample  is  taken  with  a  gun  from  the  car  by  gunning  the  car.  It  is 
taken  through  the  tube,  and  the  contents  of  that  tube  are  weighed,  a.nd 
then  the  moisture  is  evaporated  out  of  it,  and  the  chemist  weighs  it 
and  gets  the  percentage  of  moisture  in  the  ore.  The  only  difference 
is  that  we  get  a  little  higher,  or,  rather,  we  get  a  little  wider  apart  on 
the  moisture  than  most  anything  else.  The  buyer's  moisture  sample 
as  a  rule  runs  a  little  higher  than  ours  does.  That  is  a  little  more  out  of 
proportion  than  the  other  items  of  determination. 

MR.  DAVIS:  Would  it  not  generally  be  the  case  that  the  sample 
taken  from  the  bottom  of  the  car  would  be  a  great  deal  wetter  than  the 
sample  taken  from  the  top? 

MR.  SHACKELFORD:  Well,  I  hardly  think  so.  The  ore  is  not 
usually  one  day  in  loading,  and  very  frequently  the  ore  has  laid  in  a 
bin  for  several  days  before  being  loaded,  and  we  do  not  find,  as  a  rule, 
that  the  moisture  determination  is  any  heavier  by  reason  of  being  placed 
at  the  bottom  of  the  car,  or  a  sample  being  taken  from  the  bottom  of 
the  bin,  for  your  bin  is  drained  or  arranged  so  that  it  drains.  We  do 
not  find  very  much  difference  i.n  it,  for  we  even  go  so  far,  taking  it  in 
wet  weather,  if  your  concentrate  pile  is  exposed  to  heavy  winds,  to  use 
a  hose  and  we  wet  it  down  in  order  to  keep  it  from  blowing  away,  and 
we  wet  it  at  the  time  we  are  loading  it  sometimes,  but  it  does  not  seem 
to  make  any  appreciable  difference  in  the  moisture  determination. 

MR.  SEEMAN:  In  watching  your  operations  in  that  district,  I 
noticed  almost  invariably  your  bins  are  out  of  doors  uncovered,  and  it 
always  struck  me  as  being  a  rather  crude  manner.  Why  do  they  not 
use  bins  which  are  under  cover,  and  then  discharge  from  those  bins 


AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS  115 

into  your  wagons,  for  you  do  use  wagons  in  hauling  to  the  railways, 
and  then  wh'y  do  you  not  discharge  by  gravity  instead  of  all  that  un- 
necessary shoveling?  Of  course  they  pay  the  expense,  they  pay  for  it 
as  it  stands,  but  that  would  be  reflected  upon  the  producer.  It  seems 
to  me  the  methods  are  very  crude  in  the  manner  of  handling  the  ore. 

MR.  SHACKELFORD:  Well,  that  is  probably  just  one  feature 
we  have  not  become  educated  up  to  yet.  That  must  be  the  only  reason 
we  have  not  adopted  it. 

MR.  SEEMAN:  Well,  I  asked  an  explanation  of  that  when  I  was 
down  there.  I  asked  one  of  your  most  prominent  producers  why  they 
did  that  and  he  said,  "We  should  worry,  because  the  ore  buyer  has  to 
pay  all  that  as  he  buys  it,  you  know."  But  his  answer  was  not  satis- 
factory to  me  at  all.  It  seems  to  me  that  is  a  very  great  waste,  and  a 
lack  of  good  judgment,  but  I  know  that  whenever  a  mining  man  goes 
into  a  new  section  he  adopts  their  methods.  I  was  asking  this  question 
just  for  my  own  information. 

MR.  SEEMAN:  But  you  would  have  something  to  do  with  that, 
for  if  it  did  not  cost  the  other  fellow  so  much  to  load  it  you  would 
make  on  it  in  the  long  run. 

MR.  PAUL  A.  EASBY  (Missouri):  It  would  be  a  matter  of  quan- 
tity and  not  of  grade,  and  to  make  the  arrangement  and  put  it  into  the 
condition  you  speak  of  would  cost  more,  and  you  would  use  it  only  a 
very  short  time,  and  it  is  not  worth  the  expenditure  of  the  money.  The 
matter  has  been  considered  plenty  of  times,  and  there  have  been  two 
or  three  of  the  larger  mills  that  had  it  put  in  that  way,  but  they  Qut 
it  out  and  went  back  to  the  old  method,  the  one  that  is  in  present  use. 

CHAIRMAN  CODD:  Well,  we  are  very  much  obliged  to  you,  Mr. 
Shackelford,  for  your  address. 

(Applause.) 

CHAIRMAN  CODD:  The  next  address  will  be  o.n  "Oil  Flota- 
tion," and,  in  place  of  Mr.  Lyon,  of  Salt  Lake  City,  at  this  time,  M~  H.  J. 
Stander  will  give  us  a  talk  on  that  subject. 

Mr.  Stander's  address  will  be  found  on  page  510  of  this  report. 

MR.  STANDER:  If  there  are  any  questions  I  would  be  glad  to  try 
and  answer  them. 

MR.  A.  A.  NORTON  (Illinois):  I  would  like  to  ask  the  speaker 
if  it  is  not  necessary  for  each  locality  to  have  a  different  kind  and  qual- 
ity of  oil,  for  the  treatment  of  the  ore  in  that  particular  locality.  In 
other  words,  localities  will  differ  as  to  the  ingredients  that  go  into 
making  up  the  flotation  method  processes?  There  is  quite  a  difference, 
is  there  not,  in  localities? 

MR.  STANDER:  I  am  connected  with  an  oil  company  in  this 
country,  so  I  do  not  very  much  care  to  talk  about  the  oils,  because  I 
have  certain  patents  and  certain  concessions  on  oils,  but,  however,  I 
will  say  this:  I  do  not  think  every  ore  needs  a  different  oil.  I  do  be- 
lieve certain  ores  require  different  oils.  That  is,  you  cannot  take,  for 
example,  coal,  tar  and  fuel  oil  and  refine  into  creosote  mixed  and  make 
that  work  for  any  kind  of  ore,  whereas  that  mixture  of  coal,  tar,  fuel 
oil  and  refined  creosote  may  work  for  one  or  more  ores,  or  may  work 
for  the  copper  ores  in  one  district.  That  does  not  mean  that  if  you 
go  to  the  next  ore  you  can  use  the  same  mixture  for  almost  a  similar 
copper  ore,  and,  of  course,  that  applies  to  lead  or  zinc  ores  and  all  the 
others. 

MR.  SEEMAN:  How  closely  did  you  work  out  the  Nickel  Com- 
pany proposition? 

MR.  STANDER:  I  warned  you  specifically,  sir,  not  to  question 
about  the  Mont  Nickel  Company.  However,  I  will  say  this,  that  I 
spent  about  ten  days  in  that  country,  and  the  Mont  Nickel  question  is 
the  hardest  problem  to  my  mind  in  this  country,  so  far  as  the  proposition 
of  flotation  goes. 


116  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

MR.  SEEMAN:  I  know  that  Dr.  Schwartz  worked  up  there  for  a 
long  time. 

MR.  STANDER:  And  they  are  just  as  far  away  from  solving  the 
problem — and  I  do  not  believe  that  they  will  criticize  me  for  saying  that 
— as  they  were  when  they  started.  That  is  why  I  say  that  if  many  of 
our  so-called  flotation  investigators  would  take  up  a  problem  like  that, 
that  they  would  do  much  more  good  tha.n  working  on  the  gas  and 
electrical  theories.  I  am  not  criticizing  those  investigators,  because  I 
believe  that  we  need  that  also,  but  I  know  that  if  I  had  the  time  or  I 
had  any  man  working  for  me  on  flotation  all  of  his  time,  that  I  would 
give  him  a  problem  like  the  Mont  Nickel  Company's  problem,  or  the 
problem  of  the  Canadian  copper  people,  in  the  cobalt  district. 

MR.  COLLINS:  I  am  afraid,  if  a  good  many  of  our  scientific  in- 
vestigators tackled  a  hard  nut  like  that,  they  would  go  out  of  ths  inves- 
tigating business. 

MR.  STANDER:    I  do  not  agree  with  you. 

MR.  COLLINS:  But  there  is  one  point,  Professor,  I  do  not  at  all 
understand.  If  it  be  true,  as  I  gather  it  to  be  the  upshot  of  your  paper, 
and  as  I  am  personally  inclined  to  think  myself,  that  the  essential 
factor  in  the  flotation  is  the  film,  or  that,  in  other  words,  the  bubbles  act 
rather,  in  the  capacity  of  multiplying  the  amount  of  surface,  why  is  it 
then  that  in  ma.ny  cases  differences  in  oil  should  be  so  all  important? 
One  would  think  that  if  your  oil  conditions,  which  maintained  the  sig- 
nificance that  you  have  described,  that  is,  the  essential  thing  in  all  cases, 
that  one  oil  should  do,  yet  it  certainly  is  not  the  fact  in  my  own  expe- 
rience, that  one  .oil  would  do,  and  I  never  received  from  anybody  the 
least  hint  as  to  why  that  is  so,  that  in  some  particular  cases  only  one 
oil,  or  only  one  combination  of  oil  will  serve  at  all.  I  never  understood 
that  myself  and  I  never  received  from  anybody  else  any  hint  that  will 
explain  it. 

MR.  STANDER:  That  is  indeed  a  very,  very  hard  question.  I 
have  been  trying  all  along  in  this  little  discussion  here  to  keep  from 
answering  anything  of  that  kind,  that  is,  why  it  is  that  one  oil  would 
have  a  different  action  on  any  one  ore  than  any  other  oil.  According 
to  my  opinion,  believing  the  air  film  or  water  surface  played  the 
most  important  part,  the  solubility  of  one  oil  is  not  the  same  as  the 
solubility  of  another  oil,  and  secondly,  the  effect  of  one  oil  on  the  sur- 
face tension  of  the  water  is  not  the  same  as  the  effect  of  a  second  oil 
on  the  surface  tension  of  the  water.  Also,  as  you  gentlemen  know,  we 
classify  all  flotation  oils  into  two  big  groups  or  classes,  one  of  them 
the  frothy  oils  and  the  other  the  collecting  oils.  Now,  if  anyone  should 
ask  me  what  is  the  difference  between  a  frothy  oil  and  a  collecting  oil, 
I  know  that  it  will  take  at  least  a  half  hour  to  answer  it.  However, 
briefly,  as  we  would  imagine,  a  frothy  oil  is  an  oil  that  gives  you  an 
emulsification. 

Gentlemen,  I  have  been  criticized  for  using  the  word  "emulsifica- 
tion," but  I  cannot  find  any  better  word — saponification,  and  one  oil 
will  give  you  a  better  froth,  just  as  a  collecting  oil  will  collect  up  more 
of  the  sulphides  than  your  frothy  oil.  You  know  the  depth  and  the 
breadth  of  the  collecting  oil,  but  what  is  the  difference  between  the  real 
action  of  those  two  oils?  That  question  would  be  quite  a  hard  one,  but 
I  believe  thoroughly  that  the  action  of  one  oil  on  the  surface  tension 
of  the  water  and  its  solubility,  as  compared  with  the  action  on  the  sur- 
face tension  of  the  water  and  the  solubility  of  the  second  oil,  that  that 
plays  a  very  important  part. 

MR.  J.  H.  SHARPE  (California) :  There  is  a  question  in  my  mind, 
a  problem  in  my  mind,  and  you  do  not  need  to  answer  the  question  if 
you  do  not  wish  to,  but  we  have  spent  a  great  deal  of  money  in  trying 
to  handle  free  milling  ore  that  won't  free  mill  all  the  time.  In  other 
words,  we  send  down  the  creek  about  $2  for  every  ton  we  handle.  Say 
we  handle  $25  ore,  and  get  $5  or  $6  of  tailings,  we  send  about  $2  down 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  117 

the  creek.  The  alleged  reason,  as  put  forth  by  the  chemists  who  handle 
that  end  of  it,  is  that  it  is  a  question  of  the  presence  of  graphite  in  the 
ore.  Now,  I  would  like  to  ask  you  what  is  your  judgment  as  to  how 
this  graphite  problem  could  be  handled  by  the  assembling  of  oils?  Now, 
those  are  things  with  which  I  am  not  very  familiar.  In  other  words, 
have  you  had  any  experience  regarding  gravity  free  milling  ores,  where 
the  values  go  down  the  creek? 

MR.  STANDER:  No,  sir,  I  have  had  no  experience  in  that  at  all. 
If  I  understand  you  correctly,  the  graphite  hinders  the  flotation  in  your 
ore. 

MR.  SHARPS:  We  do  not  use  the  flotation  process.  We  crush 
our  ore.  We  mill,  our  ore,  and  we  crush  to  a  reasonable  fineness,  say, 
80  to  100  mesh,  and  the  graphite  seems  to  take  a  certain  percentage  of 
the  free  gold,  and  it  just  goes  away  down  the  creek.  Now,  when  it 
gets  into  the  cyanide  plant,  sorne  other  chemical  reaction  takes  place,  so 
that  we  have  invariably  from  $1.80  to  $3  a  ton  that  goes  down  the  creek, 
and  that  is  the  money  that  I  would  like  to  get. 

MR.  STANDER:  I  am  indeed  sorry  that  I  cannot  answer  your 
question,  but  I  believe  that  we  have  practical  gentlemen  here  that  are 
in  charge  of  flotation  work  in  the  universities,  and  I  would  be  very  glad 
if  you  would  all  make  a  note  of  a  question  like  that.  That  is  another 
question  that  we  can  surely  give  to  our  investigators.  I  have  had  no 
experience  in  that. 

PROF.  H.  C.  RAY  (University  of  Pittsburgh,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.):  In 
connection  with  this  matter  of  oil  flotation,  I  wish  to  note  a  few  ob- 
servations made  in  connection  with  practical  work,  which  may  in  part 
settle  this  question  of  why  some  oils  act  iji  one  case  and  not  in  another, 
and  why  one  oil  should  not  work  in  all  cases.  The  speaker  does  not 
mean  to  prove  that  this  is  the  true  explanation,  but  offers  these  few 
remarks  for  what  they  are  worth. 

The  work  done  by  me,  which  unfortunately  was  limited  by  time, 
seems  to  indicate  that  the  chemical  composition  of  the  ore  and  the  mill 
water  plays  a  great  part  in  flotation  and  on  the  re-agents  used.  Not  nec- 
essarily those  elements  occurring  in  larger  percentages,  but  some  of  the 
more  obscure  elements,  present  in  some  cases  in  small  quantities. 

It  is  a  peculiar  thing  the  part  the  impurities  in  the  water  play, 
either  those  present  originally  in  the  water  or  those  obtained  by  solu- 
tion of  certain  substances  in  the  ore.  Hoover  tells  in  his  book,  "Con- 
centration by  Flotation,"  of  a  case  where  some  swamp  water  caused 
the  stoppage  of  the  process,  which  trouble  was  immediately  remedied 
by  going  back  to  the  other  water. 

-  Now  those  of  you  who  have  done  practical  work  in  flotation  know 
that  the  testing  in  the  laboratory  is  ordinarily  done  on  dry  ore.  Now 
we  found  at  the  Butte  and  Superior  mill,  where  I  have  worked  several 
summers,  that  in  order  to  more  nearly  approximate  mill  result  it  was 
necessary  to  use  mill  pulp  with  the  original  mill  water  present.  And 
by  several  actual  mill  tests  it  was  found  that  by  cutting  down  the 
amount  of  the  fresh  water  in  the  system  that  the  results  could  be  varied 
somewhat.  Further,  it  was  noted  that  certain  oils  acted  better  to  coun- 
teract these  conditions  than  others.  This  seemed  to  show  in  a  general 
way  that  certain  types  of  oils  reacted  best  when  certain  substances  were 
present,  or  on  the  other  hand  better  when  certain  substances  were  ab- 
sent. 

The  mill  water  was  analyzed  and  we  found  that  certain  metallic 
compounds  were  in  solution  in  it,  notably  calcium  and  manganese  sul- 
phates. Zinc  was  also  found  present  in  small  amounts.  Then  working 
under  standard  conditions  with  clean  water,  certain  substances  were 
added  in  varying  percentages  and  the  result  on  the  recovery  noted.  It 
was  found  that  some  of  the  substances  had  a  marked  effect,  further 
tests  seemed  to  show  that  in  varying  the  oils,  that  this  effect  from  the 
chemical  was  nullified,  lessened  or  accentuated,  in  several  cases  to  a 


118  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

marked  degree.     The  work  was  not  carried  to  any  definite  conclusion 
by  the  speaker  because  of  the  press  of  routine  work. 

Now,  I  wa.nt  to  speak  just  a  word  with  regard  to  the  paper  read  by 
Mr.  Shackelford,  in  answer  to  a  question  by  Mr.  Collins  about  the 
sampling  of  zinc  concentrates  by  the  so-called  pipe  method. 

Several  years  ago  all  the  concentrates,  both  mill-zinc  and  flotation 
concentrates,  shipped  by  the  Butte  and  Superior,  were  sampled  before 
leaving  the  mill  by  this  method.  At  some  of  the  smelters  the  concen- 
trates were  being  sampled  in  the  same  manner,  but  at  the  greater  num- 
ber the  material  was  sampled  by  more  approved  methods,  in  some  cases 
by  mechanical  samplers.  At  those  samplers  using  approved  methods,  the 
control  samples  submitted  to  the  Butte  and  Superior  almost  invariably 
ran  several  per  cent  higher. 

My  explanation  t  of  this  is  that  in  sampling  with  the  pipe  there  is 
a  tendency  to  miss  the  bottom  layer  because  of  the  difficulty  in  with- 
drawing the  whole  of  the  core.  Since  at  the  Butte  and  Superior  mill  the 
concentrates  were  put  in  the  car  rather  wet,  sometimes  almost  "soupy," 
there  was  undoubtedly  some  tendency  for  the  richer  blende  to  settle  out, 
and  if  a  perfect  core  were  not  taken,  the  sample  would  be  lower.  As  I 
did  some  of  this  sampling  there,  I  know  that  it  was  very  difficult  to  ob- 
tain a  perfect  core  with  the  pipe.  It  doesn't  seem  that  there  could  be 
enough  settlement  in  the  short  time  to  cause  any  segregation,  but  it 
was  noted  that  the  lower  the  grade  of  concentrates  the  greater  the  dis- 
agreement between  the  two  samples.  Whether  this  method  of  sampling 
is  still  used  and  whether  the  disagreement  is  still  found  I  cannot  say. 
The  concentrates  shipped  now  are,  of  course,  much  drier. 

Some  gentleman  asked  whether  the  water  collected  at  the  bottom. 
It  may  in  the  coarser  sizes,  but  in  the  finer  flotation  concentrates  a  con- 
dition analagous  to  water  in  concrete  when  being  worked  is  seen. 

CHAIRMAN  CODD:  Gentlemen,  I  am  sure  that  we  all  appre- 
ciate this  valuable  paper.  (Applause.) 

We  also  have  before  us  another  paper  on  this  subject  by  Mr.  Dor- 
sey  A.  Lyon,  of  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Mines.  Mr.  Lyon  is  not  present, 
but  Mr.  Seeman  has  kindly  consented  to  read  the  paper  for  him. 

Mr.  Lyon's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  365  of  this  report. 

CHAIRMAN  CODD:  This  splendid  paper  will  take  its  proper  and 
regular  place  and  be  published  in  the  proceedings  of  the  meeting,  and 
in  behalf  of  this  meeting  I  want  to  thank  Mr.  Seeman  for  the  splendid 
way  in  which  he  has  read  this  paper. 

The  next  subject  under  discussion  will  be  the  address  by  Prof.  C.  F. 
Willis,  of  Tucson,  Arizona,  on  "The  Value  of  State  Mining  Organiza- 
tions," by  Prof.  C.  F.  Willis,  of  the  University  of  Arizona.  Professor 
Willis. 

Professor  Willis'  address  will  be  found  on  page  564  of  this  report. 

CHAIRMAN  CODD:  Well,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  are  there  any 
discussions  to  be  had  along  the  line  of  this  most  able  talk?  (No  re- 
sponse.) I  am  sure  that  we  all  appreciate,  and  I  desire  at  this  time  to 
express  my  appreciation  to  Prof.  Willis  for  his  most  able  presentation 
of  the  manner  in  which  organization  has  been  put  to  work  in  Arizona. 
Now,  if  someone  will  make  a  motion  to  adjourn,  if  there  is  no  other 
discussion,  I  will  be  pleased  to  entertain  a  motion  to  adjourn. 

Upon  motion,  duly  made,  seconded  and  carried,  the  meeting  ad- 
journed. 

METALLIFEROUS  SECTION. 
Thursday,  November  16,  1916. 

MORNING  SESSION. 
Mr.  H.  W.  Seeman,  Illinois,  presiding. 

CHAIRMAN  SEEMAN:  This  meeting  will  now  come  to  order. 
Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  have  been  inquiring  from  our  Secretary  and 
have  been  informed  that  we  have  two  and  possibly  three  out  of  the 


AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS  119 

seven  or  eight  designated  for  our  meeting  here  this  morning.  This  is 
rather  distressing,  I  think,  to  you  as  well  as  to  me,  and  I  do  believe, 
and  I  am  going  to  take  this  opportunity  to  announce  that  belief,  that 
there  should  be  some  very  forceful  revision  in  the  method  of  giving  out 
subjects  to  the  big  men  of  the  country  to  discuss  before  this  Metallifer- 
ous Section,  and  then  having  the  big  men  not  to  show  up.  This  confer- 
ence is  attended  by  men  from  all  over  the  United  States,  who  come  here 
from  great  distances,  and  who  come  here  for  the  very  purpose  of 
hearing  these  talks,  often  leaving  their  businesses  many  times  at  great 
sacrifice,  merely  to  listen  to  the  papers  by  the  big  men  of  our  industries 
who  are  announced  weeks  and  weeks  in  advance,  to  give  us  some  paper 
of  real  interest,  because  it  is  only  those  men  who  have  given  the  mat- 
ter long  months  and  years  of  study  that  can  discuss  it  properly  and  an- 
swer our  question.  For  instance,  I  myself  am  very  much  interested  in 
Mr.  Frederic  Laist's  development  at  Anaconda,  and  I  personally  have 
given  up  matters  of  considerable  importance  this  morning  to  come  here 
and  listen  to  this  paper,  but  he  is  not  here.  Neither  has  he  deigned  to 
tell  this  conference  anything  as  to  his  whereabouts  or  as  to  his  inten- 
tions. Now,  I  am  going  to  propose  at  some  subsequent  meeting  that  a 
revision  of  this  method  be  made,  so  that  we  will  have  these  men  right 
at  our  meetings,  Johnny-on-the-spot,  or  else  we  will  have  something 
in  the  way  of  a  paper  here  from  them. 

(Applause.) 

CHAIRMAN  SEEMAN:  I  see  that  Mr.  Parker  has  come  in  and 
evidently  wants  to  say  something  to  our  section. 

MR.  E.  W.  PARKER:  I  want  to  request  that  any  members  of  the 
Committee  on  Resolutions  who  may  be  present  at  this  section,  to  meet 
at  Room  1809  at  11  o'clock  this  morning,  as  we  have  two  or  three  impor- 
tant matters  to  come  before  that  meeting  this  morning,  and,  as  the 
last  general  meeting  is  at  2  o'clock  this  afternoon,  we  of  the  Commit- 
tee on  Resolutions  have  to  finish  up  this  morning.  I  do  not  want  to 
take  away  from  you  any  of  your  audience,  Mr.  Chairman,  but  unfor- 
tunately the  Committee  on  Resolutions  has  got  to  get  a  few  things  out 
of  the  way  this  morning. 

CHAIRMAN  SEEMAN:  The  first  order  of  business  is  the  report 
of  Mr.  E.  B.  Kirby,  of  New  York  City,  Chairman  in  the  Committee  on 
Revision  of  Mineral  Land  Laws.  I  find  that  instead  of  Mr.  Kirby  being 
present,  he  has  sent  us  a  report,  his  committee  report.  If  there  is  no 
objection  I  will  read  this  in  place  of  Mr.  Kirby.  Do  I  hear  any  objec- 
tion? Not  hearing  any  objection  the  same  will  be  read.  It  is  very 
short,  gentlemen,  and  I  will  read  it  to  you. 

REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE 


Upon  the  Revision  of  the  Mineral  Land  Laws. 

Gentlemen: 

When  the  American  Mining  Congress  a  few  years  ago  determined 
to  bring  about  the  reformation  of  the  Mining  Code,  it  appeared  to  many 
casual  observers  that  the  Congress  had  selected  the  most  difficult  and 
uninteresting  of  all  tasks  within  its  choice. 

The  foundations  upon  which  vast  structures  stand  are  not  exposed 
to  view  and  never  become  subjects  of  popular  enthusiasm.  Only  the  few 
to  whom  this  part  of  the  world's  work  has  fallen  actively  concern  them- 
selves about  its  workmanship,  its  safety  and  its  effectiveness. 

That  the  body  of  mineral  land  laws  known  as  the  Mining  Code  is 
the  basis  of  all  mining  in  the  west  and  Alaska  is  generally  understood. 
The  industry  is  so  vast  and  complex,  however,  that  even  within  its  ranks 
the  overwhelming  importance  of  this  code  to  its  health  and  its  life  is 
best  realized  by  those  who  have  had  to  do  with  the  processes  of  creat- 


120  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

ing  mining  property  from  public  lands  and  also  by  those  who  are  famil- 
iar with  the  record  of  such  processes  in  past  history. 

Mining  men  know  that  it  is  fatal  to  the  industry  to  treat  mineral 
land  like  ordinary  land;  that  an  unwise  Mining  Code  tends  to  rapidly 
paralyze  the  development  of  mining  districts  and  that  from  ancient 
times  mining  men  have  had  to  struggle  with  the  legislation  imposed 
upon  them  by  the  superior  power  of  non-mining  men. 

For  over  forty  years,  American  industry  has  suffered  increasingly 
from  the  defects  of  its  Mining  Code.  By  every  means  in  its  power  it 
has  called  attention  to  these  defects  and  has  presented  suggestions  for 
their  cure,  but  all  to  no  avail.  In  the  face  of  these  past  failures,  the 
American  Mining  Congress  undertook  to  secure  the  reform  by  an  or- 
ganized effort  which  would  for  the  first  time  be  persistent  and  also  by 
adopting  a  novel  and  practical  plan  of  action  which  has  made  an  unusual 
appeal  to  the  common-sense  of  mining  men  and  legislators. 

This  was  the  idea  that  a  work  so  technical  and  important  as  the 
revision  of  the  Mining  Code  should  be  based  upon  the  practical  experience 
and  judgment  of  those  who  are  actually  engaged  in  the  industry.  If 
their  wisdom  could  be  assembled  and  condensed  for  the  use  of  Congress 
by  a  commission  composed  of  men  whose  competence  was  known  to  the 
industry  and  this  commission  should  hold  public  hearings  for  the  pur- 
pose throughout  the  mining  regions  of  the  West  and  Alaska,  then  min- 
ing men  could  feel  assured  of  a  satisfactory  result. 

For  several  years  the  American  Mining  Congress  has  now  been 
working  for  the  appointment  of  this  Commission;  watching  every  chance 
at  Washington  and  pressing  its  measure  at  every  session  of  Congress. 
The  discouraging  indifference  under  which  the  work  was  begun  has 
given  place  to  a  rapidly  widening  interest.  The  American  Institute  of 
Mining  Engineers,  the  Mining  and  Metallurgical  Society  of  America, 
and  practically  all  the  local  mining  organizations  of  the  country  have 
been  actively  co-operating  in  the  work. 

Two  successive  Administrations  have  approved  the  measure  and  two 
successive  Senates  have  passed  it.  For  two  successive  years  the  bill  has 
nearly  passed  the  House,  failing  once  because  of  pressure  of  other  busi- 
ness and  again  last  winter  through  the  causeless  opposition  of  one  man. 
It  is  clear  that  success  is  only  a  matter  of  continuing  the  patient  and 
persistent  work  which  it  was  known  in  the  beginning  would  be  neces- 
sary. 

In  the  meantime  while  waiting  for  the  next  opportunity  at  Wash- 
ington, the  interest  created  has  caused  the  Mining  and  Metallurgical 
Society  of  America  to  take  up  a  discussion  of  the  details  of  a  new  code. 
This  valuable  and  important  work  is  now  in  progress  and  is  further 
stimulating  and  extending  interest  in  the  problems  involved. 

EDMUND  B.  KIRBY,  Chairman. 

CHAIRMAN  SEEMAN:  Are  there  any  remarks  upon  report  of  the 
Committee?  If  not,  we  will  pass  to  the  next  subject,  "The  Revision  of 
Mining  Laws,"  by  the  Hon.  Charles  S.  Thomas,  U.  S.  Senator  from 
Colorado.  Mr.  Thomas  does  not  appear  to  be  present. 

The  next  subject  in  our  program  is  "The  Foster  Bill,"  by  Dr.  M.  D. 
Foster,  Chairman  of  the  House  Committee  on  Mines  and  Mining.  Mr. 
Foster  not  being  here,  we  will  have  to  pass  his  name. 

In  the  meanwhile  we  will  pass  to  the  next  subject  on  our  program, 
"The  Prospector  and  the  Apex  Law,"  by  Theodore  F.  Van  Wagenen,  of 
Denver,  Colorado.  Mr.  Wagenen  is  not  here,  but  he  has  sent  us  his 
paper,  and  I  will  ask  Mr.  Wright  to  read  this,  if  you  will,  to  the  assem- 
bled multitude.  Mr.  Van  Wagenen,  gentlemen,  by  proxy. 

Mr.  Van  Wagenen's  paper  will  be  found  at  page  224  of  this  report. 

MR.  KELLY  (Illinois):     Will  this  be  published? 
CHAIRMAN  SEEMAN:     Copies  of  all  the  papers  that  were  read 
in  any  of  the  meetings  thus  far   can  be  had  at  the  desk,  where   they 
have  them  for  distribution  to  the  members. 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  121 

CHAIRMAN  SEEMAN:  We  will  pass  to  the  address  of  Mr. 
Fiederick  Laist  of  Anaconda,  Montana,  on  "Electrolytic  Separation." 
Mr.  Frederick  Laist.  (No  response.)  Well,  he  is  not  here.  Any  fur- 
ther business  we  may  have  is  open  now  for  general  discussion. 

MR.  J.  H.  ROBINSON  (Arizona):  It  seems  to  me,  Mr.  Chairman, 
that  in  these  meetings  we  have  no  co-operation  among  ourselves.  As 
the  Chairman  stated,  the  subjects  are  assigned  to  the  different  members, 
and  they  fail  to  appear  or  even  send  their  papers.  It  seems  to  me  we 
are  getting  away  from  the  object  of  the  chapter.  Now,  as  metalliferous 
miners,  we  overlook  the  vital  point.  Last  spring  in  the  Congress  you 
will  probably  all  remember  the  House  of  Representatives  passed  a  highly 
objectionable  bill.  It  placed  a  tax  on  copper  as  high  as  three  cents  a 
pound,  and  this  bill,  as  I  stated,  passed  the  House  and  was  referred  to 
the  Senate,  and  the  committee  that  had  this  bill  in  charge  sent  it  back 
to  the  Senate  with  recommendations  that  it  be  passed.  Before  final 
action  was  taken  in  the  matter  a  few  of  the  producing  companies  in  the 
west  learned  that  this  bill  taxed  copper  and  eliminated  all  other  initial 
products.  They  immediately  got  to  work  and  took  this  matter  up,  and 
the  copper  tax  was  eliminated  from  the  bill.  Would  it  not  be  a  wise  act 
for  this  meeting,  or  for  the  Chairman  of  this  meeting,  to  appoint  a 
committee  to  watch  national  legislation,  especially  in  the  western 
states?  If  it  had  not  been  for  one  or  two  parties  in  the  east  at  that 
time,  this  matter  would  have  passed  through  Congress  and  would'  have 
been  a  detriment  to  mining  especially. 

CHAIRMAN  SEEMAN:  I  would  suggest,  Mr.  Robinson,  that  as 
you  know  we  have  a  meeting  tomorrow,  that  it  would  be  wise  for  you 
to  put  your  suggestion  in  writing  and,  through  the  Secretary  have  it 
presented  for  general  consideration,  because  what  affects  us  affects  every- 
body. It  is  difficult  to  get  the  states  into  line.  It  is  the  duty  of  the 
Secretary  of  this  organization,  together  with  the  officers,  to  thwart 
this  various  legislation,  which  they  are  trying  to  do,  and  present  it  to  all 
of  the  members  through  the  Mining  Congress  Journal.  All  of  the  laws 
affecting  metalliferous  mining  or  coal  mining  or  oil  or  any  of  the  allied 
Industries  are  carefully  presented  in  that  journal.  Then  it  is  up  to  the 
members  to  get  together,  or  to  have  some  head  through  whom  they 
can  attempt  to  probe  a.nd  find  out  what  this  legislation  is,  but  I  believe 
it  would  be  wise  for  you  to  handle  the  matter  by  presenting  some  form 
of  resolution  in  writing,  which  can  be  discussed  at  the  general  meeting. 

MR.  J.  H.  ROBINSON:  Would  it  be  out  of  order,  Mr.  Chairman, 
for  you  to  appoint  a  committee  from  the  western  states,  say  Montana, 
Colorado,  Idaho,  California,  New  Mexico  and  Arizona,  to  take  up  this 
matter,  one  from  each? 

CHAIRMAN  SEEMAN:  Well,  this  is  a  very  small  section  of  the 
Mining  Congress,  and  I  really  believe  it  should  come  before  the  general 
meeting,  because  there  are  many  matters  and  many  members  who  are  not 
here  who  will  be  present  at  that  meeting. 

MR.  THOMAS  T.  REED  (New  York):  May  I  point  out  to  Mr. 
Robinson  that  if  he  will  turn  to  page  16  of  this  journal  he  will  find  that 
we  already  have  something  like  sixteen  or  twenty  committees  on  federal 
mining  legislation,  but  apparently  the  trouble  is  too  many  cooks  who 
spoil  the  broth. 

MR.  ROBINSON:  I  would  like  to  have  somebody  on  that  com- 
mittee that  is  on  the  job.  Now,  this  matter  that  I  spoke  of  is  a  matter 
that  passed  through  Congress,  it  would  have  passed  through  Congress 
and  passed  through  the  House  of  Representatives  and  we  had  no  news 
of  it,  or  no  word  of  it,  until  it  had  gotten  through  the  committee  in  the 
Senate. 

CHAIRMAN  SEEMAN:  Well,  you  know,  Mr.  Robinson,  a.nd  if 
you  do  not  I  will  state  it  for  your  information,  the  Mining  Congress 
has  a  secretary  at  Washington  who  is  appointed  to  take  care  of  these 


122  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

matters,  and  he  has  been  rather  Johnny-on-the-spot.  They  have  had 
a  great  deal  of  service  from  Mr.  Callbreath  for  this  past  year,  and  if 
notice  of  this  legislation  was  riot  sent  out,  I  am  sure  it  was  inadvertent, 
because  I  know  that  very  careful  and  close  attention  has  been  given  to 
all  legislative  matters  affecting  all  kinds  of  mining,  and  I  still  say  that 
I  believe  it  would  be  wise  for  you  to  present  this  matter,  so  that  every- 
body would  understand  it,  and  present  it  in  a  few  words  in  a  resolution 
so  as  to  get  some  action.  It  at  least  can  receive  discussion. 

What  further  business  is  there,  gentlemen?  I  see  the  gentleman 
from  Spokane  has  something  to  say.  I  can  see  it  in  his  face. 

MR.  SIDNEY  NORMAN:     Nothing  at. all. 

CHAIRMAN  SEEMAN:  He  is  a  very  live  wire  out  in  the  west, 
as  I  remember  distinctly  being  at  the  Spokane  meeting  and  I  remember 
him  quite  well  from  that  meeting.  Now,  I  would  like  to  have  a  little 
expression  from  him  as  to  what  he  thinks  of  attending  a  Mining  Con- 
gress one  thousand  or  fifteen  hundred  miles  away  from  him,  fully  expect- 
ing to  listen  to  the  papers  to  be  presented  by  some  of  our  very  prominent 
metallurgists  and  having  no.ne  of  them  here.  What  have  you  to  say 
about  it? 

MR.  SIDNEY  NORMAN  (Washington):  It  has  become  sort  of  a 
habit  with  me,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  attend  these  mining  conventions, 
having  begun  in  the  south  in  Goldfield  in  1909,  and  I  have  followed  them 
fairly  consistently  ever  since.  As  for  myself,  I  think  it  might  be  much 
better  if  this  convention  would  dispense,  in  some  large  measure,  with 
the  technical  aspect  of  the  meetings,  as  that  feature  of  the  business,  as 
I  take  it,  being  thoroughly  covered  by  the  meetings  of  our  technical 
associations  during  the  year.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  technical  men 
rather  think  the  American  Mining  Congress  is  poaching  upon  its  pre- 
serves when  it  has  handled  technical  subjects.  I  should  like  to  see 
some  plan  evolved  by  which  the  American  Mining  Congress  would  stick 
to  the  commercial  side  of  the  business,  and  I  believe  it  would  carry  a 
more  gripping  invitation  to  the  mining  men  from  the  west  to  come 
such  a  distance  as  this  to  attend  these  meetings.  I  do  not  know  how 
it  can  be  done,  but  that  might  be  a  question  to  be  taken  up  and 
discussed. 

CHAIRMAN  SEEMAN:  Are  there  any  further  remarks  on  this 
subject? 

(No  response.) 

CHAIRMAN  SEEMAN:  Mr.  Easby  of  Arkansas,  or,  I  rather 
should  say,  of  Joplin.  Mr.  Easby  I  know  is  very  deeply  interested  in 
the  zinc  business.  What  paper  did  you  come  here  to  hear  this  morning, 
especially? 

MR.  P.  H.  EASBY:  I  came  here  to  hear  most  of  them  I  did  not 
hear. 

CHAIRMAN  SEEMAN:  Well,  you  have  heard  a  few  of  them 
that  I  have  read.  Mr.  Hegler,  may  I  ask  you  why  you  came  to  this 
meeting  this  morning? 

MR.  HEGLER:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  came  to  this  meeting  this  morn- 
ing for  the  same  purpose  you  did,  and,  likewise,  I  am  as  much  disap- 
pointed. 

CHAIRMAN  SEEMAN:  I  know  you  came  here  to  hear  a  Fred- 
erick Laist's  paper  on  "Zinc  Separation,"  because  your  partner  did  that 
same  thing  yesterday,  and  he  didn't  hear  the  paper  he  came  to  hear. 

Is   there   anything   further,   gentlemen? 

(No  response.) 

CHAIRMAN  SEEMAN:  Gentlemen,  a  motion  to  adjourn  this 
meeting  is  in  order. 

MR.  KELLY:     I  move  we  adjourn. 

CHAIRMAN  SEEMAN:  You  have  heard  the  motion  that  we 
adjourn.  Do  I  hear  a  second? 


AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS  123 

MR.  WRIGHT:     I  second  the  motion. 

MR.  KELLY:     When  do  we  meet  again? 

CHAIRMAN  SEEMAN:  Well,  at  the  next  meeting  scheduled  in 
this  pamphlet,  this  being,  as  you  know,  the  wind-up  of  the  Metalliferous 
Section;  you  will  again  be  called  to  order  at  the  grand  ballroom  this 
evening  with  your  good  clothes  on,  to  eat  and  partake  of  Chicago's 
hospitality — at  $5  per. 

The  motion  to  adjourn  having  been  unanimously  carried,  the  meet- 
ing adjourned.  ,,^: 
OIL  AND  GAS  SECTION. 
Tuesday,  November  14,  1916. 
AFTERNOON  SESSION. 
Judge  Frank  H.  Short,  of  California,  Presiding. 

CHAIRMAN  SHORT:  The  first  matter  I  find  on  the  program 
is  "The  Authority  of  States  to  Tax  Production  from  Indian  Lands" — 
Hon.  J.  G.  Gamble,  Des  Moines,  la. 

MR.  GAMBLE:  I  want  to  preface  my  remarks  to  you  gentlemen 
by  a  statement  that  when  I  first  received  an  invitation  to  address  you 
today  I  rather  misread  the  subject  which  was  assigned.  I  had  had 
some  little  experience  with  the  question  of  taxation  of  mines  on  Indian 
lands,  and  hurriedly  glancing  at  the  letter,  I  thought  because  of  my 
familiarity  with  that  subject  that  perhaps  you  might  want  to  hear  from 
me  on  that,  and  in  a  measure  I  have  prepared  an  address  concerning 
the  authority  of  the  states  to  tax  mines  and  mineral  production  on 
Indian  lands.  It  is  true  that  oil  and  gas  are  analogous  to  mineral 
production,  such  as  coal,  zinc  or  other  metals,  and  what  I  shall  have 
to  say  I  think,  although  it  may  be  more  directly  pertinent  to  mines,  is 
equally  applicable  to  oil  production. 

Mr.  Gamble's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  232  of  this  report. 

JUDGE  SHORT:  I  was  struck  with  the  idea  as  I  listened  to 
the  reading  of  the  very  instructive  paper  that  if  I  were  broke  instead 
of  approximately  so,  that  this  town  in  Minnesota  would  be  the  one 
I  would  go  to.  We  have  heard  a  good  deal  of  the  unearned  increment, 
and  it  seems  to  me  in  that  town  a  man  entirely  broke  would  be  given 
a  fairer  show  of  what  we  call  the  unearned  increment  than  in  any  town 
I  know  of.  I  would  certainly  e.njoy  living  there  if  I  were  broke. 

Now,  gentlemen,  the  next  matter  that  is  on  the  program — I  am 
acquainted  with  Judge  Patrick,  I  don't  see  him  here — is  an  address  by 
Judge  George  H.  Patrick,  of  Washington,  D.  C,  "Oil  Land  With- 
drawals." Is  Judge  Patrick  present?  Is  there  anyone  here  represent- 
ing Judge  Patrick? 

If  there  „ is  no  one,  the  next  matter  on  the  program  is  an  address, 
"The  Relation  of  the  Federal  Government  to  Western  Oil  Production," 
by  Governor  James  N.  Gillett,  of  San  Francisco,  California.  In  intro- 
ducing Governor  Gillett,  I  suppose  all  of  you  know  the  Governor 
extremely  well,  or  at  least  by  reputation,  and  I  think  that  all  of  us 
who  know  Governor  Gillett  can  depend  upon  anything  and  everything 
that  he  says  as  carrying  the  weight  of  absolute  truth  and  absolute 
conviction.  That  is  the  reputation  he  has  earned  by  long  years  of 
service.  I  take  pleasure  in  introducing  Governor  Gillett. 

Governor  Gillett's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  613  of  this  report. 

MR.  J.  C.  McDOWELL  (Pennsylvania):  Mr.  Chairman,  I  have 
been  very  much  interested  in  this  matter.  I  am  thoroughly  familiar 
with  the  oil  industry  as  it  has  been  carried  on  for  the  last  forty  years 
in  the  United  States,  Canada  and  Mexico.  1  have  operated  in  every 
field,  and  am  largely  interested  in  many  fields  at  the  present  time. 
I  have  watched  the  progress  of  the  Ferris  bill,  having  been  requested 
to  make  some  suggestions  in  relation  to  it,  but  finally  abandoned  it  as 
a  hopeless  task.  I  think  the  bill  might  better  be  labeled  "A  Bill  for  the 


124  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

Prevention  of  the  Development  of  the  Oil  Business"  than  any  other 
label.  I  don't  know  anything  that  will  more  completely  prevent  devel- 
opment than  the  conditions  that  they  propose  to  require  for  develop- 
ment. 

I  do  not  know  of  any  legitimate  prospector  anywhere  in  the  world 
that  would  go  ten  miles  from  developed  territory  and  sink  a  well  for 
a  quarter  of  640  acres  and  give  the  Government  the  balance,  as  he 
must  do  if  the  Ferris  bill  becomes  a  law.  Suppose  an  operator  would 
drill  a  well  on  640  acres,  suppose  that  well  should  produce  as  much  as 
two  thousand  barrels  per  day,  which  is  not  unusual,  what  will  the  bal- 
ance of  the  640  acres  of  land  be  worth?  The  operator  would  have 
one-quarter  of  that,  or  160  acres,  and  would  give  the  Government  480 
acres  that  would  be  worth  more  than  a  million  dollars.  In  other  words, 
the  operator  would  be  developing  the  land  for  the  Government,  which 
it  will  offer  at  public  sale  and  the  operator  might  bid  for  it.  I  don't 
know  anyone  who  would  make  an  undertaking  of  that  kind,  and  when 
you  go  more  than  ten  miles  from  development  you  have  2,560  acres.  I 
don't  know  of  any  man  who  would  drill  so  rank  a  wildcat  well  on  so 
small  a  lease  as  640  acres,  and  I  am  acquainted  with  all  the  large 
operators  in  the  United  Stated.  I  think  this  bill  is  seriously  defective, 
and  will  result  in  a  conservation  that  is  very  complete. 

JUDGE  SHORT:  The  matter  will  in  a  few  moments  be  thrown 
open  for  discussion. 

Senator  James  D.  Phelan,  of  California,  who  was  to  speak  on  the 
"Federal  Government  and  the  California  Oil  Claimants,"  is  absent,  and 
the  discussion  is  to  be  led  by  Mr.  Louis  Titus,  who  is  present. 

Before  Mr.  Titus  starts  the  regular  discussion  there  is  one  phase 
of  the  matter  discussed  by  Governor  Gillett  that  I  wish  briefly  to 
mention;  that  is  to  say,  that  after  this  leasing  bill  that  has  been  referred 
to  has  been  reported  by  the  Senate  Committee,  and  without  any  dis- 
sent so  far  as  the  relief  portions  of  the  bill  were  concerned,  and  had 
been  recommended,  at  least  as  to  the  recommendations  for  relief  by 
the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  and  the  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land 
Office,  and  others,  there  were  accusations  made  that  the  California  and 
Wyoming  oil  men  were  trying  to  loot  the  public  lands  and  to  deprive 
the  Government  of  something  that  justly  belonged  to  it,  and  to  take 
away  from  the  Navy  something  that  justly  belongs  to  it. 

Now,  there  are  just  one  or  two  considerations  in  addition  to  those 
mentioned  by  Governor  Gillett  that  I  wish  to  refer  to. 

In  submitting  a  charge  of  this  kind,  amounting  to  accusations  of 
fraud  and  bad  faith,  it  is  necessary  to  be  somewhat  specific.  For  in- 
stance, if  I  desired  to  charge  a  man  with  larceny  I  must  charge  that 
he  took,  stole  and  carried  away  the  property.  And  it  is  well  to  con- 
sider that  these  "looters,"  so  called,  that  went  upon  the  public  lands, 
made  their  locations  many  miles  from  water,  and  where  the  average 
well  is  from  two  to  three  thousand  feet  deep  to  discovery,  and  some 
of  them  all  of  four  thousand  feet.  These  men  may  have  intended  to 
steal  these  locations  and  lands  from  the  Government.  But  they  cer- 
tainly did  not  intend  to  take  and  carry  them  away,  for  the  very  suffi- 
cient reason  that  they  would  have  to  be  on  the  ground  openly  at  work 
for  two  or  three  years  at  least  on  the  average  before  they  could  even 
apply  to  the  Government  for  a  patent.  Arid  this  after  they  had  been 
inspected  from  month  to  month  and  day  to  day  reported  on,  and  in  the 
face  of  this  publicity  they  would  have  to  ask  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  for  a  patent.  Every  one  of  them,  of  course,  knew  that 
he  could  not  get  a  patent  unless  his  location  was  honestly  made  and 
free  from  fraud,  and  was  held  in  the  open  and  developed  in  the  open, 
and  unless  he  made  a  discovery. 

We  cannot,  of  course,  expect  people  who  write  muckraking  articles 
for  the  newspapers  to  overwork  their  minds  in  the  effort  to  ascertain 
the  truth,  because  the  truth  would  spoil  most  muckraking  stories.  But 
they  ought  to  use  their  minds  just  a  little  bit  before  they  accuse  people 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  125 

of  trying  to  loot  the  public  domain,  especially  in  instances  where  such 
looting  is  both  physically  and  legally  impossible.  They  ought  to  con- 
sider whether  it  could  possibly  be  done  under  the  circumstances  and 
conditions  in  question,  or  not.  And  there  never  was  anything  more 
utterly  impossible  than  the  practice  of  any  actual  fraud  under  such 
conditions. 

I  wish  to  add  that  these  people  have  been  subject,  to  judicial  investi- 
gation. The  Government  filed  a  number  of  suits  in  California,  and  in 
one  of  them  there  were  between  one  hundred  and  fifty  and  two  hundred 
different  corporations  and  persons  named  defendants.  And  these  cases 
were  all  on  trial  for  months  before  Judge  Bean  of  the  United  States 
Court.  And  although  in  one  of  the  cases  oil  had  been  discovered  in 
the  well  before  the  passage  of  the  Pickett  bill,  it  was  held  as  a  legal 
conclusion  that  nevertheless  the  provisions  of  that  bill  prevented  the 
issuance  of  a  patent. 

It  is  perfectly  well  settled  in  the  law  that  the  locator  of  a  placer 
mining  claim,  or  any  mining  claim,  who  remains  in  possession  and 
who  is  not  ousted  by  anybody  who  jumps  his  claim  and  who  has  con- 
tinued in  possession  and  who  has  discovered  the  mineral  or  the  oil,  is 
entitled  to  a  patent,  regardless  of  the  intervening  delay,  so  long  as  he 
is  not  ousted  by  others.  This  has  been  the  law  ever  since  we  have 
had  a  mining  law  until  recently.  Some  of  these  oil  claimants  had  actu- 
ally discovered  oil  before  the  passage  of  the  Pickett  bill,  which  bill 
provided  that  if  at  the  date  of  the  withdrawal  the  locators  were  dili- 
gently engaged  in  work  leading  to  discovery  and  diligently  continued 
without  interruption  to  discovery  of  oil  "work  leading  to  discovery"  as 
to  any  of  them  they  would  be  entitled  to  patents. 

Some  of  them  had  actually  performed  these  conditions,  the  condi- 
tions of  the  placer  mining  law,  before  the  passage  of  the  Pickett  bill. 
But  in  many  instances  it  is  made  to  appear  that  on  September  27,  1909, 
when  the  presidential  withdrawal  occurred,  that  they  were  not  thus 
engaged  in  work  leading  to  discovery,  and  it  has  been  held  that  even 
though  Congress  passed  the  rule  of  diligence  after  they  had  discovered 
oil,  yet  the  rule  is  made  to  relate  to  forfeit  the  claim  before  the  law 
was  passed  and  before  the  rule  was  in  existence. 

This  sounds  unreasonable,  not  to  say  absurd,  but  the  holding  is  in 
substance  to  the  effect  that  inasmuch  as  the  locators  had  no  vested 
interest  before  discovery,  no  matter  what  the  morals  or  the  equity  of 
the  situation  may  have  been,  that  their  later  right  to  title  depended 
upon  the  will  of  Congress,  and  Congress  having  legislated,  the  legisla- 
tion applies,  regardless  of  whether  the  acts  resulting  in  the  forfeiture 
were  done  or  omitted  prior  to  the  passage  of  the  act  of  Congress  and 
the  creation  of  the  new  rule  of  diligence  therein  called  for. 

In  one  or  more  instances  the  locators  or  their  successors  have  been 
denied  patents  because  ten  months  after  the  withdrawal  Congress  estab- 
lished a  rule  of  diligence  that  had  the  effect  to  forfeit  the  title  for  a 
delay  that  occurred  where  the  law,  as  it  then  existed,  made  no  provision 
for  such  forfeiture.  Nevertheless,  because  the  locator  had  not  done 
something  that  he  was  not  required  to  do  at  the  time  he  failed  to  do 
the  same,  nevertheless,  a  requirement  later  enacted  has  been  applied 
that  is  construed  to  have  the  effect  that  although  as  between  him  and 
the  United  States  no  such  diligence  was  required  of  him  at  the  time, 
nevertheless,  not  having  performed  his  work  with  the  diligence  later 
required,  although  not  required  at  the  time,  he  has  forfeited  his  claim, 
although  he  had  remained  in  possession  and  made  discovery  before  the 
passage  of  the  new  law  and  the  new  rule  of  diligence. 

Obviously  this  does  not  seem  very  sensible,  and  I  have  been  for 
a  great  many  years  trying  to  train  my  mind  to  work  along  lines  that 
were  altogether  logical  lines,  that  we  sometimes  refer  to  as  legal 
thought,  and  I  admit  that  it  does  not  sound  logical,  that  it  does  not 
sound  legal  to  a  logical  mind  or  logical  to  a  legal  mind  to  say  that 
a.n  American  citizen  under  an  American  law  has  lost  something  because 


126  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

he  did  not  do  something  that  was  not  required  to  be  done  at  the  time, 
but  which  was  later  required.  Nevertheless  this  is  exactly  what  has 
happened,  and  we  are  considering  what  amounts  in  effect  to  "ex  post  facto" 
law. 

The  true  situation  is  that  the  United  States  Government  came  into 
these  fields  three  years  after  they  were  developed  and  after  five  or  six 
millions  of  dollars  had  been  expended  in  the  development  of  Reserve 
No.  2,  and  wherein  there  had  been  discovered  a  very  large  number  of 
proven  and  developed  oil  claims. 

The  Naval  Reserve  No.  2  was  established  in  December,  1912,  and 
the  presidential  order  of  withdrawal  was  made  in  September,  1909,  and 
the  courts  of  the  United  States  have  held  and  found  as  a  fact  that  in 
this  intervening  time  between  the  withdrawal  in  September,  1909,  and 
the  establishment  of  Naval  Reserve  No.  2  in  December,  1912,  the  Gov- 
ernment, its  officers,  agents,  examiners  and  special  representatives  stood 
by  and  saw  these  locators  and  oil  developers,  at  the  expense  of  millions 
of  dollars,  develop  and  demonstrate  the  mineral  value  of  this  property, 
and  that  the  Government  gave  no  notice  or  intimation  that  their  claims 
were  illegal,  or  that  their  right  or  claim  to  patent  would  be  denied, 
but  that  it  stood  by  and  saw  all  these  developments  carried  out  and 
these  expenditures  made,  and  now  attempts  to  assert  title  and  oust  the 
locators. 

While  no  one  citizen  could  act  in  this  way  toward  another,  it  is 
held  that  the  United  States  Government,  because  it  is  a  Government, 
can  do  this  thing  that  its  own  laws  would  not  permit  its  own  citizens 
to  do. 

The  courts  of  the  United  States  have  twice  decided  that  these  men 
were  in  good  faith,  even  as  to  those  who  entered  after  the  withdraw- 
als; that  although  they  made  a  mistake  in  believing  the  law  to  be  as 
five  judges  out  of  ten  of  the  United  States  Court  thought  when  they 
came  to  decide  the  cases,  that  the  locators  did  make  a  mistake  in 
assuming  that  the  withdrawals  were  involved,  that  it  was  an  honest 
mistake  and  that  they  entered  and  developed  in  good  faith. 

And  they  are  held  responsible  for  this  mistake  because  all  laymen 
are  supposed  to  know  the  law,  although  lawyers  rarely  do. 

In  this  connection  I  wish  to  emphasize  that  it  is  bad  enough  for  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States  to  have  his  property  withheld  and  for  the 
Government  to  deny  them  what  is  morally  and  justly  theirs,  and  to 
have  receivers  placed  in  charge  of  the  properties  they  have  developed. 
It  is  bad  enough,  I  repeat,  that  they  should  be  placed  in  this  position, 
but  it  is  wholly  gratuitous  and  wrong  that  they  should  be  charged  with 
bad  faith  and  bad  intentions  when  the  courts  of  the  United  States  have 
specifically  held  that  they  were  proceeding  in  good  faith  and  with 
good  intentions. 

Now,  I  am  sorry  to  have  trespassed  so  far  upon  the  position  of  the 
Chairman,  but  it  is  a  subject  with  which  I  am  familiar  and  in  which 
I  am  interested,  and  I  am  very  frank  to  say  that  for  a  good  while  I 
have  been  employed  in  many  capacities  to  try  to  relieve  those  people 
that  were  expending  their  energy  and  their  money  in  the  effort  to 
develop  the  resources  of  the  public  lands,  and  in  this  instance  I  speak 
in  that  capacity  as  a  special  representative  of  these  people,  but  I 
believe  I  speak  the  absolute  justice  and  equity  and  truth  of  the  matter, 
and  I  therefore  speak  without  hesitation. 

Now,  the  general  discussion  will  be  led  by  Mr.  Louis  Titus,  of 
California,  who  is  thoroughly  familiar  with  all  of  the  phases  of  the 
oil  industry.  Mr.  Titus. 

Mr.  Titus'  paper  will  be  found  on  page  606  of  this  report. 

CHAIRMAN  SHORT:  Gentlemen,  the  matters  that  have  been 
presented  to  this  assembly  are  now  open  for  discussion,  and  we  hope 
you  will  be  free  in  the  expression  of  your  views. 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  127 

DR.  NORMAN  BRIDGE:  Mr.  Chairman,  may  I  ask  the  Governor, 
or  Mr.  Titus,  just  the  number  of  acres  reserved  in  the  Naval  Reserve, 
the  three? 

MR.  GILLETT:  There  are  38,000  acres  in  the  Naval  Reserve  No. 
1— 

DR.  BRIDGE:     30,000,  you  say? 

MR.  GILLETT:  38,000;  30,720  in  the  second  one,  and  there  are 
nine  thousand  and  some  hundred  in  the  third,  nearly  10,000  acres  in  the 
third.  The  first  two  are  in  California  and  the  third  is  in  Wyoming. 

DR.  BRIDGE:  How  many  barrels  do  you  figure  there  are  on  an 
average  of  oil  in  those  acres? 

MR.  GILLETT:  Well,  I  never  made  an  estimate  of  that.  I  couldn't 
tell. 

MR.  TITUS:  The  Geological  Survey  estimate,  George  Otis  Smith, 
made  a  very  conservative  estimate  that  there  were  100,000,000  barrels 
in  Naval  Reserve  No.  1  and  30,000,000  barrels  in  Naval  Reserve  No.  3. 
The  amount  of  oil  in  Naval  Reserve  No.  2  I  don't  know  that  they  esti- 
mated, because  it  is  being  taken  out  every  day.  At  the  last  count  there 
were  180  oil  wells  in  Naval  Reserve  No.  2,  all  of  them  pouring  out  oil  in 
great  quantities  every  day. 

MR.  GILLETT:  Mr.  Titus,  how  many — what  is  the  average  yield 
in  that  California  field  per  acre? 

MR.  TITUS:  It  is  hard  to  say.  We  have  had  territory  there  yield- 
ing as  high  as  100,000  barrels  per  acre,  and  on  small  areas  much  larger 
than  that.  Of  course  40,000  to  50,000  barrels  per  acre  is  generally 
considered  by  oil  men  to  be  a  fair  average  of  that  particular  territory, 
and  these  estimates  of  the  Geological  Survey  are  probably  made  very 
conservative. 

MR.  McDOWELL :  May  I  ask  Mr.  Titus  if  the  operators  of  these 
180  wells  within  the  Naval  Reserve  No.  2  are  permitted  to  operate  their 
wells  and  mine  their  oil? 

MR.  TITUS:  Well,  yes,  sir.  You  must  understand  that  every  other 
section  of  the  Naval  Reserve  belongs  to  the  Southern  Pacific  Railway 
Company,  patented  to  them  in  1894.  It  is  true  the  Government  has  a 
suit  against  the  Southern  Pacific  to  invalidate  those  claims,  but  in  the 
meantime  the  Southern  Pacific  is  operating  a  great  number  of  wells. 
Secondly,  the  Standard  Oil  Company  owns  within  the  limits  of  this 
Naval  Reserve,  holds  by  patent,  some  1,100  acres,  upon  which  they  have 
a  large  number  of  wells,  and  of  course  they  are  operating  them,  and 
they  can't  be  stopped  from  operating  them.  The  Honolulu  Consoli- 
dated Oil  Company  has  about  1,000  acres  of  patented  land,  upon  which 
it  has  some  wells. 

Now,  in  addition  to  all  this  patented  land  upon  which  there  are 
wells,  there  are  a  great  many  wells  on  land  which  isn't  patented.  Just 
as  I  have  explained  to  you,  the  men  go  there  before  the  withdrawal,  and 
afterwards  drilled  the  wells,  and  they  are  operating  those  wells. 

Now,  recently  on  several  claims  of  that  kind,  but  not  on  all,  the 
Government  has  filed  a  suit  and  placed  a  receiver  in  charge  of  the 
property.  The  receiver  does  not  stop  the  operation.of  the  well.  On  the 
contrary,  he  works  those  wells  with  as  great  diligence  as  he  can  to  get 
out  every  barrel  of  oil  he  possibly  can  get  out.  So  the  idea  of  that 
being  a  Naval  Reserve  is  more  or  less  of  a  joke,  because  it  isn't  a 
reserve  for  the  navy  or  anybody  else. 

MR.  McDOWELL:  Are  there  any  wells  there  that  are  owned  and 
operated,  the  title  to  which  is  undisputed  by  the  Government? 

MR.  TITUS:     Oh,  yes,  a  great  many. 

MR.  McDOWELL:  And  then  this  Naval  Reserve  would  seem  to 
be  a  reserve  in  favor  of  the  operators  on  that  land? 

MR.  TITUS:  It  certainly  is  a  point  in  favor  of  the  man  that  has 
a  patent  of  the  lands  there  now.  That  is  exactly  what  it  is. 


128  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

MR.  McDOWELL:  I  am  quite  familiar  with  that  region,  and  know 
the  locations. 

MR.  TITUS:  You  hit  the  nail  exactly  on  the  head.  That  is  ex- 
actly what  it  does. 

On  this  Naval  Reserve  No.  1  I  might  say  there  are  no  wells  in 
operation  at  all. 

MR.  McDOWELL:     Where  is  that  location? 

MR.  TITUS:  It  is  what  is  known  as  the  Elk  Hill,  and  is  about 
two  or  three  miles  east  of  the  Buena  Vista  Hill,  east  and  north. 

DR.  BRIDGE:  It  seems  to  me,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  the  Naval 
Reserve,  as  explained  to  us,  is  sentimental  mainly.  The  United  States 
Government  might  get  out  of  all  of  that  reserve  land,  sooner  or  later, 
in  oil  or  its  equivalent,  the  value  of  perhaps  two  dreadnaughts.  Pos- 
sibly not  more  than  one.  All  these  difficult  questions  are  to  be  con- 
sidered in  relation  to  the  rights  of  a  lot  of  these  people,  and  to  my  mind 
it  is  absurd  to  regard  those  reservations  as  of  any  great  consequence 
to  the  Government  or  to  the  Navy. 

The  Navy  of  the  future — I  speak  as  a  director  of  the  Navy  League, 
and  I  am  absolutely  loyal  to  the  Navy,  but  it  doesn't  seem  to  me  it  is 
necessary  for  the  Government  to  take  a  fictitious  attitude  regarding  the 
Navy  in  the  matter  of  oil  or  anything  else.  The  Government  is  able  to 
pay  for  what  it  gets  and  what  it  needs  in  the  way  of  a  Navy  and  an  Army. 
It  is  simply  a  trifling  advantage  to  the  Government  to  have  in  the  long 
run  to  have  set  aside  a  lot  of  this  land  for  a  Naval  Reserve,  as  though 
if  it  were  not  done  the  Navy  might  some  day  be  crippled  for  the  want 
of  just  that  oil. 

The  Navy  of  the  future  is  going  to  need  an  enormous  amount  of 
oil,  if  it  uses  oil,  and  no  navy  can  afford  to  use  coal  if  it  can  get  oil. 

The  reason  why  navies  have  been  slow,  governments  have  been 
slow  in  building  ships  to  burn  oil,  is  largely  the  fact  that  oil  hasn't 
always  been  procurable. 

In  the  long  run,  the  oil  has  got  to  be  bought.  The  Navy  will  not 
use  exclusively  the  oil  from  our  own  country.  The  oil  supply  of  the 
world  is  not  going  to  run  out  this  century.  There  is  oil  enough  in 
Colombia  and  Venezuela  to  supply  the  navies  of  the  world  for  half 
a  century,  if  not  a  century,  and  it  is  going  to  be  mined,  it  is  going  to  be 
procured. 

The  use  of  oil  on  all  sorts  of  ships  is  coming  into  vogue  rapidly. 
Depots  are  being  created  in  various  parts  of  the  world  so  that  oil-burn- 
ing ships  can  be  reoiled  easily.  There  is  so  much  oil  being  discovered, 
and  so  much  will  be  discovered  and  developed,  that  there  can  be  no 
monopoly  in  it,  and  these  are  some  of  the  reasons  that,  it  seems  to  me, 
unfortunate  that  the  Government  should  have  attacked  this  question 
on  a  sentimental  side. 

It  will  do  very  little  good  for  the  government  to  embarrass  a  lot 
of  good  people  and  to  throw  around  a  question  of  this  sort  a  sentimental 
quality  that  oughtn't  to  enter  into  it. 

MR.  McDOWELL:  To  convince  you  that  this  is  largely  a  senti- 
mental question,  as  vice-president  of  the  Indian  Territory  Illuminating 
Company,  having  a  large  lease  on  the  Osage  Indian  land  about  to 
expire,  knowing  that  the  Government  had  under  consideration  the  con- 
struction of  a  pipe  line  from  Oklahoma  to  the  gulf  coast,  I  made  a  prop- 
osition to  build  a  pipe  line  to  the  coast  so  that  they  might  use  the  oil 
produced  on  the  Osage  Indian  lands,  and  offered  to  contract  to  supply 
oil  at  the  coast  for  the  use  of  the  Government.  After  some  considera- 
tion, my  proposition  was  declined.  I  would  now  be  glad  to  take  a  fuel 
contract  for  the  next  five  years  for  the  United  States  navy  to  deliver 
them  oil  anywhere  in  the  gulf  coast  at  fifty  cents  a  barrel,  and  that  is 
cheaper  than  they  can  pipe  it  from  Wyoming. 


AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS  129 

MRS.  EMILY  F.  WELLS:  Mr.  Chairman,  that  gentleman  spoke 
of  lands  in  Louisiana  that  might  possibly  be  turned  into  a  Naval  Re- 
serve. May  I  ask  him  the  location  of  that  land? 

MR.  GILLETT:  Well,  there  is  a  large  tract  of  land  in  Louisiana 
that  at  one  time  was  covered  by  a  lake,  and  that  land  is  claimed  by  the 
state  of  Louisiana,  and  it  was  dicoyered  that  there  are  very  valuable 
and  extensive  oil  deposits  beneath  it.  It  has  been  decided  that  that 
land  now  is  owned  by  the  Government.  I  think  the  Department  of  the 
Interior  has  so  held  that  the  Government  is  the  owner  of  that  land,  that 
it  didn't  pass  to  the  state  of  Louisiana  under  the  Swamp  and  Overflowed 
Land  Act. 

MRS.  WELLS:     What  lake  was  that? 

MR.  TITUS:     Caddo: 

MR.  GILLETT:  Two  or  three  hundred  years  ago  they  claimed 
that  the  lake  was  no  lake  at  all,  that  the  Red  River  overflowed  and  made  a 
lake.  That  is  why  the  state  of  Louisiana  is  claiming  that  land  as  swamp 
and  overflowed  land. 

MR.  MAX  W.  BALL  (Washington,  D.  C) :  I  wish  Lieut.  Com- 
mander Halligan  and  Lieut.  Commander  Richardson  were  here  this 
afternoon  to  tell  you  whether  or  not  the  Naval  Reserves  are  purely 
sentimental.  In  their  absence  all  I  can  give  you  is  the  benefit  of  two 
or  three  conferences  we  have  had  with  them  down  in  Washington. 
There  is  a  newly  created  Naval  Fuel  Oil  Board,  a  board  created  some 
time  in  May  to  consider  the  question  of  adequate  fuel  supply  for  the 
navy,  present  and  future.  That  board  is  composed  of  four  officers.  It 
has  done  some  very  deep  studying  in  the  last  few  months  regarding  the 
naval  fuel  oil  question.  Whether  or  not  mistakes  have  been  made  in 
creating  the  various  reserves  that  were  created,  whether  or  not  mistakes 
have  been  made  in  including  within  those  reserves  land  that  was  already 
included  in  valid  claims,  even  including  patent  lands,  the  new  conclu- 
sion reached  by  this  new  board  which  has  given  the  matter  careful 
consideration  is  that  Naval  Reserves  are  highly  advisable.  That  con- 
clusion was  reached  in  full  recognition  of  every  fact  stated  by  Dr. 
Bridge,  that  oil  can  probably  be  bought  cheaper  now  than  it  -can  be 
produced  by  the  Government,  that  the  price  of  the  oil  contained  in  these 
reserves  is  not  much  greater,  as  Dr.  Bridge  says,  than  would  build  a 
couple  of  dreadnaughts,  that  a  large  part  of  the 'oil  burned  by  the 
United  States  navy  in  the  future  will  probably  come  from  fields  outside 
of  the  United  States,  and  that  as  far  as  our  navy  is  concerned  there  is 
going  to  be  no  sentimental  reason  why  it  shouldn't — why  the  navy 
shouldn't  just  as  well  burn  Colombian  oil  or  Mexican  oil,  or  any  other 
oil,  as  oil  produced  within  the  boundaries  of  the  United  States,  if  it  can 
be  purchased  more  cheaply. 

But  beyond  all  these  things,  the  United  States  navy  has  to  figure 
on  an  oil  supply  for  at  least  25  years.  That  is  to  say,  all  the  war  craft 
now  building  are  oil-burning  craft.  It  will  take  at  least  five  years  to 
complete  the  present  building  program.  The  average  life,  average 
effective  life,  of  each  of  those  war  craft  is  about  20  years.  Unless,  then, 
the  navy  can  be  assured  of  oil  to  burn  in  those  vessels  during  war  time 
for  25  years  there  is  no  use  building  oil-burning  vessels. 

Now,  that  doesn't  mean  that  the  navy  wants  to  reserve  a  25  years' 
supply  for  the  navy,  by  any  means,  but  the  navy  is  looking  forward  to 
the  time  when  oil  may  be  very  much  more  expensive  in  the  United 
States  than  it  is  now,  and  more  particularly  looking  forward  to  the 
time  when  the  major  part  of  the  fuel  oil  used  in  the  United  States  may 
be  produced  outside  of  the  United  States,  and  by  these  reserves  it  is 
desired  to  provide  against  a  contingency  whereby,  during  war  with  a 
power  across  the  seas  whose  navy  is  larger  than  purs,  or  war  with  an 
adjoining  country  from  which  some  of  the  future  oil  supply  might  come, 
it  might  be  impossible  to  import  fuel  oil  for  the  navy.  Thus  these  re- 
serves are  desired  not  primarily  as  a  means  ^of  keeping  down  the  com- 
mercial price  of  oil  for  the  navy,  but  as  a  limited  supply  to  tide  the  navy 


130  OFFICIAL.    PROCEEDINGS 

over  a  limited  period  in  case  of  an  emergency  when  foreign  oil  might 
not  be  obtainable. 

Now,  as  I  say,  that  is  entirely  aside  from  the  scheme  of  creating 
these  particular  reserves,  or  whether  these  reserves  were  so  created 
that  perhaps  they  violated  equities  which  these  people  have,  but  I  think 
that  is  enough  to  show  you  that  the  consideration  is  something  more 
than  a  purely  sentimental  one,  and  there  is  hard  business  basis  back 
of  it. 

Now,  going  back  to  something  Judge  Short  said.     I  don't  want  to 
reopen  an  old  argument,  but  Judge  Short  said,  and  Mr.  Titus  said,  and 
I   believe   that    Governor   Gillett   also    said   or   intimated,   that   the   first 
thought  of  oil  for  the  navy  in  this  withdrawal  matter  was  at  the  time 
of  the  creation  of  a  naval  petroleum  reserve,  in  1912.     Let  me  read  you 
just  a  few  words  from  a  letter  dated  February  24,  1908  (mind  you,  that 
is  before  the  1909  withdrawal  to  which  reference  has  been  made),  from 
the  Director  of  the  Geological  Survey  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior: 
I  have  the  honor  to  call  your  attention  to  page  15  (inclosed  here- 
with) of  the  Daily  Consular  and  Trade  Report  of  the  Department 
of    Commerce   and   Labor,   of   Saturday,    February    15,    1908,   which 
directs  attention  to  the  superiority  of  liquid  fuels,  that  is,  petroleum 
products  in  one   or  another  form,  on  steamships,  and  also  to   the 
policy    of    the    British    Government    in    using    such    liquid    fuels    as 
emergency  fuels  in  battleships;  also  to  the  editorial  on  page  3  of 
The  Oil  Industry  of  January  15,  1908. 

It  will  be  easy,  if  desired,  to  multiply  the  authoritative   state- 
ments already  in  print  concerning  the  superiority  of  liquid  fuel  for 
the  navy.     For  that  reason  I  have  to  recommend  that  the  filing  of 
claims  to  oil  lands  in  the  state  of  California  be  suspended  in  order 
that  the  Government  may  continue  ownership  of  valuable  supplies 
of  liquid  fuel  in  this  region  where  all  fuel  is  expensive.    . 
That  was  in  1908,  February,  1908.     In  December,  1908,  there  was  a 
letter  from  A.  C.  Veatch,  D.  T.  Day,  and  Ralph  Arnold,  restating  these 
points,  and  asking  that  action  be  taken. 

Then  the  withdrawal  of  September  27,  1909,  was  based  on  two 
letters  dated  September  17,  1909,  one  from  Director  Smith  of  the  Geo- 
logical Survey  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  the  other  from  the 
Secretary  of  the  Interior  to  the  President  of  the  United  States.  The 
letter  from  the  Director  to  the  Secretary  says: 

"I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  heiewith  a  copy  of  a  letter 
addressed  to  your  predecessor  in  February,  1908.  The  arguments 
presented  in  support  of  the  recommendation  made  at  that  time  are 
still  valid,  and  they  have  been  amplified  in  the  Survey's  Conservation 
report  on  the  petroleum  resources  of  the  United  States,  a  copy  of 
which  I  submit  herewith. 

"Taking  this  into  account  as  well  as  the  increasing  use  of  fuel 
oil  by  the  American  navy,  there  would  appear  to  be  an  immediate 
necessity  for  assuring  the  conservation  of  a  proper  supply  of  petro- 
leum for  the  Government's  own  use.  I  would  therefore  renew  my 
recommendation  that  pending  the  enactment  of  adequate  legislation 
on  this  subject,  the  filing  of  claims  to  oil  land  in  the  state  of  Cali- 
fornia be  suspended." 

In  the  letter  of  the  same  date  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  to 
the  President,  which  resulted  directly  in  the  withdrawal  of  September 
27,  1909,  the  Secretary  says: 

"I  have  the  honor  to  bring  to  your  attention  the  subject  of  the 
conservation  of  the  petroleum  resources  of  the  public  domain,  with 
special  reference  to  the  present  and  future  requirements  of  the 
American  navy. 

"The  six  largest  battleships  in  commission  or  under  construc- 
tion are  equipped  for  the  use  of  either  oil  or  coal  and  the  fourteen 
latest  destroyers  use  oil  exclusively. 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  131 

"The  navy  has  a  further  interest  in  the  conservation  of  the 
petroleum  supply  by  reason  of  the  absolutely  necessary  use  of 
petroleum  products  for  lubrication.  A  very  'conservative  estimate 
is  that  at  least  one-half  pint  of  lubricating  oil  is  used  for  every  ton 
of  coal  converted  into  power  and  that  this  quantity  of  lubricating  oil 
represents  over  a  half-gallon  of  crude  petroleum. 

"The  recommendation  was  made  by  the  Director  of  the  Geo- 
logical Survey  in  February,  1908,  to  my  predecessor  that  the  filing 
of  claims  to  oil  land  in  the  state  of  California  be  suspended  in  order 
that  the  Government  may  continue  the  ownership  of  a  sufficient 
supply  of  petroleum  on  the  Pacific  Coast  where  other  fuel  is  expen- 
sive. No  action  to  this  end  has  been  taken. 

"The  time  appears  opportune  for  legislative  action  that  will 
assure  the  conservation  of  an  adequate  supply  of  petroleum  for  the 
Government's  own  needs.  This  legislation  should  give  authority  to 
fix  the  terms  of  disposition  of  public  oil  lands  so  as  to  provide  for 
the  future  demands  of  the  navy  and  should  also  authorize  the  per- 
manent reservation  of  such  areas  as  the  Executive,  after  full  investi- 
gation, may  find  necessary  for  this  Federal  purpose.  It  is  believed 
that  such  legislation  would  not  interfere  with  the  profitable  develop- 
ment and  utilization  of  the  California  oil  pools. 

"In  aid  of  such  legislation  and  indeed  as  essential  to  the  accom- 
plishment of  its  purpose,  all  the  lands  hereinbefore  mentioned  should 
be  temporarily  withdrawn  from  all  forms  of  filing,  entry  and  dis- 
posal, including  mineral  entry." 

That  certainly  sets  at  rest  any  idea  that  naval  uses  were  not  con- 
sidered until  1912. 

There  is  another  argument  which  Judge  Short  and  I  have  already 
had  in  other  places.  I  don't  know  whether  that  is  worth  while  going 
into  on  the  floor  here  or  not. 

But  Judge  Short  and  Mr.  Titus  conveyed  the  idea  that  the  act  of 
1910  contained  the  first  declaration,  first  provision  requiring  diligent 
prosecution  of  work  leading  to  trie  discovery  of  oil,  and  gas  as  a  means 
of  holding  an  oil  placer  claim.  Now  if  that  were  true,  and  it  were  made 
to  relate  back  to  the  withdrawal  which  took  place  ten  months  earlier, 
it  would  be  the  grossest  injustice,  and  it  could  hardly  be  imagined  as 
coming  from  an  American  Congress  or  being  confirmed  by  American 
courts. 

What  actually  took  place,  as  I  see  it,  is  this:  The  placer  law  was 
made  to  apply  to  petroleum  deposits  in  February,  1897.  Well,  it  was  a 
misfit  law,  as  Mr.  Titus  has  said.  It  didn't  work.  A  man  couldn't  go 
out  with  a  pan  and  discover  oil  on  the  surface  without  any  particular 
expenditure.  It  took  months,  it  took  many  thousands  of  dollars  to 
make  discovery  wThich  would  give  a  man  a  vested  right  in  his  claim. 
What  assurance  did  he  have  that  some  other  fellow  wouldn't  come 
along  and  jump  his  claim  and  run  him  off?  Or  what  certainty  could  he 
have  that  something  might  not  happen  that  would  simply  take  away 
everything  he  had  invested  in  his  claim?  As  far  as  the  Federal  law  was 
concerned  there  was  nothing  to  give  him  any  assurance  of  such  secur- 
ity. There  was  no  provision  made  for  anybody  who  didn't  actually 
have  a  discovery  on  his  claim  except  in  an  enactment  of  the  revised 
statutes,  which  says  that  where  a  dispute  comes  up  between  two  claim- 
ants it  shall  be  adjudged  by  the  law  of  possession.  The  prospector, 
then,  had  to  turn  to  the  courts  to  determine  what  his  measure  of  pro- 
tection was  prior  to  the  time  of  making  the  discovery,  and  the  court  laid 
down  a  very  clear  and  very  distinct  line  of  decisions  which  said  exactly 
under  what  circumstances  he  would  be  protected  in  the  ownership  of 
those  claims,  in  the  possession  of  those  claims  prior  to  his  making 
discovery.  Judge  Short  had  a  good  deal  to  do,  I  believe,  with  the  shap- 
ing of  that  policy,  as  attorney  for  several  of  the  claimants,  and  the 
Supreme  Court  of  California  has  laid  down  a  line  of  decisions  that  is 


132  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

so   clear  and   consistent  as'  to  be   almost   classical.     Let   me   read  you 
just  a  few  of  them: 

"Cosmos  Exploration  Co.  v.  Gray  Eagle  Oil  Co.  (112  Fed.  4). 
Land  was  not  "vacant  and  open  to  settlement"  and  subject  to  selec- 
tion under  such  act  where  at  the  time  of  the  application  it  was  in  the 
actual  occupancy  of  others  engaged  in  exploring  it  for  oil,  under 
oil  placer  mining  locations  previously  made  by  them,  although  such 
locations  did  not  appear  by  the  records  of  the  local  land  office,  and 
although  they  were  not  valid  as  against  the  United  States,  because 
there  had  been  no  previous  discovery  of  oil  on  the  land,  where  the 
locators  prosecuted  the  work  of  exploration  with  due  diligence,  and 
with  the  result  of  discovering  oil  in  paying  quantities  before  the 
selection  by  the  applicant  under  the  forest  reserve  act  had  been 
approved  by  the  land  department. 

As  has  been  said,  in  the  case  of  other  minerals  discovery  preceded 
the  demarkation  of  the  boundaries,  the  posting  and  recording  of  the 
notice.  In  the  case  of  oil,  discovery,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  would 
rarely  or  never  be  made  except  at  the  end  of  much  time  and  after  the 
expenditure  of  much  money  the  discovery  of  oil  involving  the  erection 
of  a  derrick  and  the  laborious  drilling  of  a  well,  frequently  to  the  depth 
of  3,000  feet  and  more.  If,  therefore,  the  placer  mining  laws,  which  were 
declared  by  Congress  to  be  the  only  laws  under  which  oil  locations 
could  be  established,  were  to  be  made  of  any  practical  benefit  to  the 
oil  locator,  it  must  be  by  permitting  him  to  mark  the  boundaries  of  his 
location  and  post  and  record  his  notice,  and  protect  him  in  possession 
while  he  was  with  diligence  prosecuting  the  labor  of  digging  his  well 
to  determine  whether  or  not  a  discovery  could  be  made. 

What  the  attempting  locator  has  is  the  right  to  continue  in  pos- 
session undisturbed  by  any  form  of  hostile  or  clandestine  entry,  while 
he  is  diligently  prosecuting  his  work  to  a  discovery. 
Miller  y.  Chrisman  (73  Pac.  1083). 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  it  is  not  essential  to  the  validity 
of  a  location  that  the  discovery  shall  have  preceded  or  shall  coexist 
with  the  posting  of  the  notice  and  the  demarkation  of  boundaries. 
The  discovery  may  be  made  subsequently,  and  when  made  operates 
to  perfect  the  location  against  all  the  world,  saving  those  whose 
bpna  fide  rights  have  intervened.  One  who  thus  in  good  faith  makes 
his  locations,  remains  in  possession,  and  with  due  diligence  prose- 
cutes his  work  toward  a  discovery,  is  fully  protected  against  all 
forms  of  forcible,  fraudulent,  surreptitious,  or  clandestine  entries  and 
intrusions  upon  his  possession. 
Borgwardt  v.  McKittrick  Oil  Co.  (130  Pac.  417): 

The  rights  of  the  person  or  persons  endeavoring  to  locate  an 
oil  claim,  after  the  posting  of  notice,  etc.,  are  well  settled  by  the 
decisions.  Until  the  inchoate  location  is  perfected  by  discovery, 
the  locator  has  no  vested  right  which  Congress  is  obliged  to  recog- 
nize. But  where  his  location  is  made  in  good  faith,  he  has  the 
right,  as  against  third  persons,  which  is  transferable,  "to  be  pro- 
tected against  all  forms  of  forcible,  fraudulent,  surreptitious,  or 
clandestine  entries  and  intrusions  upon  his  possession,"  so  long  as 
he  "remains  in  possession  and  with  due  diligence  prosecutes  his 
work  toward  a  discovery."  Miller  v.  Chrisman,  140  Cal.  440,  447, 
73  Pac.  1084,  98  Am.  St.  Rep.  63;  Weed  v.  Snook,  144  Cal.  439,  77 
Pac.  1023.  As  long  as  such  a  condition  continues,  no  one,  without 
his  consent,  can  make  the  actual  entry  of  the  land  essential  to  legally 
initiate  a  new  location.  But  actual  possession  of  the  land,  coupled 
with  continued  diligent  prosecution  of  discovery  work,  are  essential 
to  his  protection. 

The  requirement  of  diligent  prosecution  of  the  work  was  de- 
scribed in  McLemore  v.  Express  Oil  Co.,  supra,  as  follows:  "This 
diligent  prosecution  of  the  work  of  discovery  does  not  mean  the 
doing  of  assessment  work.  It  does  not  mean  the  pursuit  of  capital 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  133 

to  prosecute  the  work.  It  does  not  mean  any  attempted  holding, 
by  cabin,  lumber  pile,  or  unused  derrick.  It  means  the  diligent, 
continuous  prosecution  of  the  work,  with  the  expenditure  of  what- 
ever money  may  be  necessary  to  the  end  in  view."  It  is  only  one  so 
actually  possessed  and  so  engaged  in  the  diligent  prosecution  of 
the  work  of  discovery  who  is  thus  protected,  by  reason  of  his  at- 
tempted location,  against  an  entry  by  another. 

In  a  still  more  recent  case  (Smith  v.  Union  Oil  Co.,  135  Pac.  966) 
the  same  court  says: 

If  a  qualified  person  peaceably  enters  upon  public  lands  of  the 
United  States  for  the  purpose  of  discovering  oil  or  other  valuable 
mineral  deposits  therein,  and  such  land  is  at  the  time  unoccupied, 
and  there  is  at  the  time  no  valid  mineral  location  or  lawful  entry 
thereon,  under  the  land  laws  of  the  United  States,  such  person  has 
the  right  to  continue  in  possession  so  long  as  he  continues  to  occupy 
the  same  to  the  exclusion  of  others,  and  diligently  and  in  good 
faith  prosecutes  thereon  the  work  of  endeavoring  to  discover  such 
mineral  therein. 

Now,  that  means  this:  That  the  act  of  1910  which  requires  due 
diligence  as  a  criterion  whether  or  not  a  man  should  hold  a  placer 
claim  was  not  new  law,  but  merely  declaratory  of  the  law  that  had  been 
laid  down  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  California  for  many  years,  and  had 
been  approved  by  the  supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  at  least 
one  case. 

MR.  GILLETT:     May  I  ask  you  one  question,  Mr.  Ball?    All  those 
cases  you  referred  to  were  cases  where  there  were  individual  claimants, 
both  claiming  the  land? 
MR.  BALL:     Yes. 

MR.  GILLETT:  Now,  did  you  know  of  any  law,  or  any  rule  of  the 
department,  that  would  hold  in  passing  upon  a  patent  that  if  a  man 
for  two  months  during  the  time  he  was  on  this  land  was  idle  he  couldn't 
get  a  patent  after  he  discovered  oil? 

MR.  BALL:  You  are  getting  me  now  into  the  realm  of  interpre- 
tation. 

MR.  GILLETT:  No,  I  am  asking  you  whetHer  you  knew  of  any 
case  in  which  this  requirement  of  diligent  prosecution  had  been  invoked 
against  a  claimant  where  there  was  no  outsider  interfering  with  his 
rights,  and  when  he  was  dealing  alone  with  the  Government. 

MR.  BALL:  Until  the  present  cases  came  up  the  matter  of  pos- 
session as  against  the  Government,  as  far  as  I  know,  had  not  been 
raised.  But  if  diligent  prosecution  of  work  leading  to  discovery  was 
necessary  to  hold  a  claim  against  an  adverse  claimant,  it  would  seem 
at  least  reasonable  that  it  should  be  necessary  to  hold  a  claim  against 
a  Government  withdrawal. 

That  matter  of  what  constituted  due  diligence  is  a  matter  of  going 
back  to  court  decisions.     That  is  getting  into  interpretation. 
DR.   BRIDGE:     Mr.   Chairman,  may  I  ask  you  a  question? 
JUDGE  SHORT:     Yes. 

DR.  BRIDGE:  The  first  decision  Mr.  Ball  referred  to  was,  I  as- 
sume, in  that  case  in  which  you  were  associated. 

JUDGE  SHORT:  Referring  to  the  cases  cited  by  Mr.  Ball,  I  must 
plead  guilty  to  having  been  connected  with  nearly  all  of  those  cases. 
I  am  quite  sure,  however,  there  is  not  any  serious  difference  between 
Mr.  Ball  and  myself  in  these  matters.  The  only  trouble  is  that  I  am 
not  able  to  make  Air.  Ball  understand  me  as  well  as  he  is  able  to  make 
me  understand  him.  Now,  there  is  no  question  but  that  to  hold  these 
oil  lands  or  locations  prior  to  discovery  against  an  adverse  locator, 
usually  called  a  "jumper,"  that  a  certain  measure  of  diligence  was 
required,  and  that  diligence,  of  course,  was  reasonable  diligence  under 
the  circumstances  and  in  view  of  the  situation. 


134  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

Mr.  Ball  wants  to  know  what  protection  the  locator  had  who  was 
not  proceeding  with  his  work  in  those  instances  in  the  Midway  field 
during  1910  when  water  was  not  available.  There  were  two  things  that 
protected  him;  in  the  first  place,  there  was  the  moral  sentiment  of  the 
neighborhood  that  would  tolerate  no  one  going  on  and  interfering  with 
the  possession  of  a  man  or  a  set  of  locators  where  he  or  they  were 
doing  all  they  could  do.  Public  sentiment  just  wouldn't  tolerate  any 
such  thing.  Every  mining  man  is  familiar  with  that. 

In  the  next  place  the  man  who  was  on  the  ground  and  who  was 
not  progressing  with  his  work  because  he  could  not  get  water  was 
making  just  as  much  progress  as  an  adverse  claimant  or  jumper  could 
do  if  he  jumped  the  claim.  So,  since  the  jumper  could  not  make  any 
greater  progress  than  the  locator  in  possession,  there  was  no  danger 
of  jumpers. 

Therefore,  the  question  arises,  if  the  United  States,  where  a  locator 
and  claimant  is  in  possession  and  where  no  great  progress  can  be  made, 
for  instance  on  account  of  the  absence  of  and  inability  to  get  water,  or 
other  like  insurmountable  difficulties,  and  therefore  where  nobody  could 
jump  his  claim,  whether  the  United  States  would  under  such  circum- 
stances be  justified  in  assuming  the  position  of  a  jumper?  Legislating 
a  man  out  of  his  claim,  suing  him  in  court  and  getting  a  receiver  ap- 
pointed for  his  property.  That  is  the  question. 

With  relation  to  the  locators  and  those  who  were  developing  these 
properties,  nobody  believed  that  anything  of  the  kind  was  intended  or 
would  be  done,  and  the -records  of  the  committee  hearings  before  Con- 
gress show  that  nothing  of  the  kind  was  intended  to  be  done  either  by 
the  President  or  by  the  Congress,  and  nevertheless  this  appears  by  the 
court  decisions  to  have  been  the  result  inadvertently  brought  about. 

The  records  of  the  decisions  of  the  court  further  show  that  the 
United  States  Gdvernment,  its  agents  and  representatives  on  the  ground, 
allowed  these  developments  to  be  proceeded  with,  referring  to  those 
made  before  any  withdrawal,  and  where  the  locators  were  in  possession 
at  the  date  of  the  withdrawal — the  Government  allowed  the  locators  and 
developers  to  spend  millions  of  dollars  in  the  development  of  these 
claims  without  the  slightest  indication  that  the  United  States  regarded 
them  as  unlawful  or  that  it  ever  intended  to  proceed  in  hostility  to 
those  claims  or  deny  the  right  to  patent. 

Mr.  Ball  does  not  assert  and  nobody  will  assert  that  the  United 
States  Government,  in  justice  or  in  equity,  ought  to  proceed  as  it  is 
doing  under  the  undisputed  facts  as  found  by  the  courts  in  which  these 
cases  have  been  tried. 

Mr.  Ball  I  know  understands  this  situation,  and  I  know  he  sym- 
pathizes with  the  position  and  difficulties  of  the  oil  men  and  has  been 
very  fair  to  them  in  the  past  and  no  doubt  will  be  in  the  future. 

The  position  is  not  that  the  United  States  could  not  forfeit  these 
lands  and  the  improvements  placed  on  them  by  the  locators  and  devel- 
opers and  sue  them  and  recover  for  the  proceeds  of  the  oil  extracted 
from  the  lands  and  drive  them  into  bankruptcy. 

Judging  by  the  present  decisions  of  the  courts  construing  the  effect 
of  the  presidential  withdrawal  and  the  legislation  by  Congress,  we 
assume  that  this  could  be  done.  Those  who  ask  that  this  be  done  ask 
that  it  be  done  in  the  interest  of  the  United  States  navy.  The  United 
States  is  not  only  going  to  need  fuel  oil  for  the  navy,  but  it  is  going 
to  need  patriotic  citizens  of  the  United  States,  who  trust  in  and  believe 
in  the  honesty,  the  integrity  of  their  Government,  and  who  are  loyal 
and  patriotic  because  they  believe  it  to  be  a  just  and  honest  Govern- 
ment. There  is  no  reason  in  this  world  why  a  government,  acting  for 
all  of  the  people,  should  not  deal  just  as  honestly  with  any  one  citizen 
as  the  laws  of  the  country  require  one  citizen  to  deal  with  all  of  the 
citizens  or  with  the  government  representing  the  citizens. 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  135 

Referring  to  the  situation  of  the  navy,  I  do  not  think  there  is  any 
real  conflict  between  the  oil  locators  and  the  navy.  Some  day  there  is 
going  to  be  a  real  conflict  upon  the  question  of  the  industrial  necessi- 
ties of  the  country  and  the  retention  of  oil  for  the  navy. 

With  reference  to  the  Geological  Department,  with  which  Mr.  Ball 
until  recently  was  connected,  I  think  I  express  the  sentiments  of  every 
man  here  when  I  say  that  during  the  administration  of  George  Otis 
Smith  every  citizen  has  received  the  benefit  of  the  truth,  and  nobody 
has  been  played  as  a  favorite,  either  the  Government  or  any  citizen. 

I  think  there  is  nothing  that  I  could  say  of  any  official  that  would 
express  a  higher  opinion  of  his  honor  and  integrity  than  a  simple  state- 
ment of  this  character. 

In  this  connection,  under  the  advice  of  the  Geological  Department 
of  the  Government,  the  President  has  withdrawn  over  three  million 
acres  of  land  from  location  as  oil  land.  And  as  to  these  three  million 
acres,  Mr.  Smith  has  stated  that  it  was  withdrawn  because  the  Gov- 
ernment believed  it  contained  valuable  quantities  of  petroleum  oil  justi- 
fying its  development. 

For  the  purpose  of  illustration,  assume  that  in  this  instance  Mr. 
Smith  was  90  per  cent  wrong,  and  that  there  is  only  10  per  cent  of  this 
land  that  will  be  demonstrated  to  be  good  oil  producing  land — even  that 
will  leave  three  hundred  thousand  acres.  There  is  only  forty  thousand 
acres  involved  in  this  entire  dispute,  and  probably  the  real  net  amount 
of  land  involved  that  has  been  developed  and  that  in  the  absence  of 
relief  legislation  would  not  be  patented  does  not  exceed  twenty  thou- 
sand acres.  Keep  in  mind  that  there  is  no  dispute  between  the  United 
States  Government  and  the  oil  operators  of  California,  except  as  to 
land  that  the  oil  operators  have  developed  and  upon  which  discoveries 
exist  and  where  developments  have  been  made  at  great  expense. 

If  it  should  turn  out  that  only  three  hundred  thousand  acres  put 
of  three  million  acres  that  has  been  withdrawn  is  good,  productive, 
undeveloped  oil  land,  it  is  interetsing  to  consider  what  this  would  mean 
with  relation  to  the  fuel  supply  for  the  navy.  If  only  one  well  were 
put  down  on  five  acres,  when  you  could  reasonably  drill  twice  that 
number,  and  you  would  have  on  three  hundred  thousand  acres  some 
sixty  thousand  wells.  With  an  average  production  of  fifty  barrels  per 
day,  and  the  average  production  would  probably  be  twice  that  amount, 
you  have  a  total  production  of  three  million  barrels  of  oil  per  day,  and 
therefore  two  days'  production  would  be  sufficient  for  the  use  of  the 
navy  fully  developed  in  times  of  war;  in  other  words,  practically  ten 
times  the  amount  of  oil  at  this  date  used  by  the  navy  would  be  pro- 
duced in  two  days! 

The  real  and  obvious  truth  is  that  the  undeveloped  but  undoubtedly 
productive  oil  lands  of  this  country  will  produce  ten  times  as  much  oil 
as  will  be  used  by  the  navy  within  any  reasonable  period  of  years.  And 
probably  not  one-tenth  of  the  oil  produced  from  undeveloped  lands  in 
the  next  fifty  years  will  be  used  by  or  will  be  needed  by. the  navy, 
because  oil  for  at  least  fifty  years  will  continue  to  be  one  of  the  nation's 
great  sources  of  power  and  energy. 

The  lands  in  Naval  Reserve  No.  2  are  all  so  far  developed  and  are 
so  far  producing  and  must  continue  to  produce  that  they  in  no  event 
could  represent  a  reserve  supply  of  oil  for  the  navy.  It  would  simply 
be  a  question  to  take  away  the  dollars  and  cents  involved  from  those 
who  have  in  good  faith  and  enormous  expense  developed  these  prop- 
erties and  donate  their  investments  and  their  developments  and  their 
discoveries  to  the  navy. 

I  think  Naval  Reserve  No.  1  is  not  largely  in  dispute,  because  it  is 
not  largely  developed.  The  navy  reserve  in  Wyoming  is  not  in  dispute 
because  it  is  not  developed.  There  are  hundreds  of  thousands  of  acres 
of  undeveloped  but  productive  oil  lands  in  this  country  that  are  not  in 
.dispute.  Therefore,  until  we  get  to  a  point  where  we  are  going  to  use 
more  than  two  million  barrels  of  oil  per  day,  where  we  use  less  than 


136  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

that  at  the  present  time  in  a  year,  there  is  no   reason  for  any  dispute 
between  the  oil  operators  and  the  navy. 

As  to  the  undeveloped  oil  lands,  there  is  very  likely  to  be  a  serious 
dispute  as  to  whether  or  not  this  oil  shall  be  kept  in  the  ground  and  in 
storage  for  future  wars,  or  whether  the  industries  of  the  country  shall 
receive  it  and  use  it. 

This  question  we  will  allow  other  people  to  thrash  out  because  it 
is  or  will  be  a  large  question  of  public  policy.  But  when  it  is  asserted 
that  there  is  a  legitimate  controversy  or  a  real  controversy  between 
the  oil  operators  and  the  navy,  that  is  utterly  untrue,  because  there  is 
no  such  dispute.  It  may  be  that  there  is  a  dispute,  but  it  is  a  dispute 
without  a  difference  and  arising  out  of  a  misapprehension  of  the  real 
situation. 

What  the  navy  wants  is  undeveloped  land,  and  what  the  oil  oper- 
ators want  is  land  that  has  already  been  developed  by  them  or  their 
predecessors  in  interest.  This  they  have  done  by  the  sweat  of  their 
faces  and  by  the  expenditure  of  money  and  the  labor  of  their  hands,  and 
we  therefore  repeat,  the  land  should  not  be  taken  away  from  them, 
and  I  think  that  when  the  situation  is  understood  in  connection  with 
the  position  of  the  oil  men  and  their  rights,  there  is  no  conflict. 

I  wish  to  submit  this  resolution,  which  I  would  like  this  section  to 
adopt  and  refer  to  the  Resolutions  Committee  of  the  Mining  Congress: 

Be  It  Resolved,  That  this  Congress  is  deeply  interested  in  the  just 
operation  of  the  mining  laws.  As  a  result  of  certain  orders  of  with- 
drawal by  the  President  and  legislation  by  Congress,  many  p-erspns  who 
at  great  expense,  and,  as  adjudged  by  the  courts,  in  good  faith  have 
developed  the  oil  lands  of  the  country,  are  threatened  with  ejectment 
and  forfeiture  of  their  developed  lands  and  their  investments,  in  all 
such  cases  we  urgently  urge  prompt  and  appropriate  relief  legislation 
so  that  those  who  have  in  good  faith  developed  such  lands  shall  be 
protected  and  shall  receive  prompt  and  appropriate  relief." 

I  am  assuming  that  this  body  is  not  sufficiently  informed  to  state 
what  that  relief  should  be,  but  I  believe  there  can  be  no  dissent  from 
the  sentiment  that  appropriate  relief  should  be  granted  by  Congress, 
and  granted  promptly. 

Dr.  Bridge  moved  the  adoption  of  the  resolution,  which  was  sec- 
onded and  unanimously  carried. 

Whereupon  an  adjournment  was  taken  to  November  15,  1916,  at 
2  o'clock  p.  m. 

Wednesday,  November  15,  1916. 

AFTERNOON  SESSION. 

Dr.  Norman  Bridge,  of  Los  Angeles,  California,  Presiding. 

CHAIRMAN  BRIDGE:  Gentlemen,  I  expect  that  on  account  of 
some  noise  in  the  building  that  you  can  hear  better  if  you  will  sit 
farther  forward. 

For  convenience  of  Dr.  White  and  others  who  are  detained  in  "the 
other  section  for  a  little  time,  and  are  anxious  to  hear  the  paper  of 
Mr.  McDowell,  we  will  postpone  that  until  some  of  the  other  papers 
are  read.  The  first  paper,  therefore,  that  we  will  listen  to  is  that  by 
Dr.  Walter  F.  Rittman,  "Through  the  Use  of  Petroleum." 

Dr.  Rittman's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  524  of  this  report. 

DR.  BRIDGE:  We  now  will  have — we  will  postpone  the  discus- 
sion on  these  papers,  if  you  please,  until  they  are  all  presented,  then 
we  will  listen  to  discussions  of  them  all. 

We  will  now  have  the  paper  that  was  postponed,  the  paper  of 
Mr.  J.  C.  McDowell,  of  Pittsburgh.  We  regret  very  much  that  a 
bereavement  in  his  family  has  made  it  necessary  for  Mr.  McDowell  to 
go  back  to  Pittsburgh.  This  paper  will  therefore  be  presented  by  a 
friend  who  now  has  the  floor,  Mr.  Edward  J.  Disher. 

Mr.  McDowell's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  284  of  this  report, 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  137 

DR.  BRIDGE:  We  will  vary  the  order  that  we  established  at  first 
regarding  these  papers  as  to  discussion.  I  suspect  that  Dr.  White  will 
have  to  go  back  to  the  section  over  which  he  is  presiding,  and  we  will 
be  glad  if  he  will  take  the  floor  and  discuss  this  paper  now. 

Dr.  White's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  550. 

DR.  BRIDGE:  We  will  now  have  the  paper  of  Mr.  Welch,  fol- 
lowed by  that  of  Mr.  James,  then  we  will  take  up  further  discussion  of 
these  papers. 

MR.  R.  L.  WELCH  (Chicago,  111.):  Mr.  Chairman,  ladies  and 
gentlemen:  I  am  grateful  for  the  opportunity  to  listen  this  afternoon. 
I  am  more  thankful  for  the  opportunity  of  hearing  these  papers  than 
for  reading  one  myself.  I  consider  it  a  great  pleasure  to  be  on  the  same 
program  with  Dr.  Rittman.  Something  over  eighteen  months  ago  I 
couldn't  help  but  think  what  an  affinity  the  human  mind  has  for  error. 
At  that  time  we  had  a  tremendous  overproduction  of  oil,  as  you  all 
know,  or  perhaps  two  years  ago.  At  that  time  Dr.  Rittman  was  at 
Washington,  and  he  was  then  as  far  ahead  in  his  ideas  as  he  is  today. 

It  is  a  great  thing  that  a  man  doesn't  have  to  work  for  the  Govern- 
ment in  order  to  serve  the  human  race,  because  one  of  the  painful 
things  in  our  history  is  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  dis- 
pensed with  the  services  of  Dr.  Rittman,  something  which  no  other 
government  in  the  world  would  have  done.  But  it  is  certainly  a  great 
thing  for  the  human  race  and  for  the  country  that  he  continues  with 
his  wonderful  mind  to  serve  the  human  race. 

As  Dr.  Rittman  stood  here  and  talked  to  us,  I  wished  that  we  could 
visualize  a  prize-fight  between  Dr.  Rittman's  mind  and  an  idea  to  see 
how  long  the  idea  would  last.  There  is  something  about  the  operation 
of  the  human  mind  that  is  interesting,  and  I  am  sure  if  Dr.  Rittman 
delivered  an  address  in  a  foreign  language  which  none  of  us  under- 
stood, that  we  nevertheless  would  gather  from  his  remarks  invigorating 
ideas  that  form  the  mere  operation  of  his  mind.  It  is  a  great  thing 
to  be  on  a  program  with  him. 

A  lawyer  is  unfortunate;  he  never  leads,  he  always  follows.  Scien- 
tists and  geologists  lead.  Lawyers  never  lead,  we  always. snoop  around 
and  try  to  find  out  what  has  happened,  then  we  try  to  make  the  law. 

A  law,  a  proper  law,  is  founded  upon  natural  law.  If  a  law,  if  a 
statutory  law  stands  the  test  of  time  it  is  in  harmony  with  certain 
natural,  fundamental  laws,  and  if  it  does  not  stand  the  test  of  time  it  is 
out  of  harmony  with  those  laws. 

It  is  a  serious  question  at  the  present  time  in  this  country  what 
is  the  natural  law  of  business.  Is  the  Sherman  law,  especially  as  it 
has  been  applied  to  the  oil  industry,  in  harmony  with  the  natural  law 
of  modern  industrial  life?  I  have  prepared  a  very  short  paper,  I  want 
to  say  for  your  comfort  upon  that  subject,  and  I  will  take  the  liberty 
of  reading  a  portion  of  it.  I  want  to  say  to  you  that  it  is  short. 

Mr.  Welch's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  407  of  this  report. 

DR.  BRIDGE:  We  will  now  listen  to  an  address  by  Mr.  H.  G. 
James,  of  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  on  "Federal  Co-operation  with  the  Oil 
Industry." 

MR.  JAMES:  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen:  I  feel  like  a  boy  I 
heard  of  once.  You  have  been  sitting  here  for  the  last  two  or  three 
hours  and  I  assume  feel  like  the  boy  did.  The  chairman  called  upon 
a  delegate  to  make  some  remarks;  arising,  the  man  looked  over  the 
audience  and  asked  what  he  should  talk  about,  and  the  little  fellow 
had  an  idea  immediately,  and  said:  "Please,  Mister,  talk  about  a 
minute." 

I  have  a  long  paper  here,  but  I  am  going  to  read  only  part  of  it. 

Mr.  James'  paper  will  be  found  on  page  491  of  this  report. 

DR.  BRIDGE:     These  subjects  are  open  to  you  people  for  discus- 


138  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

sion.  Will  someone  please  discuss  the  first  paper?  Dr.  White  has 
already  discussed  it. 

Does  any  gentleman  wish  to  be  heard  on  the  paper  of  Mr.  McDow- 
ell? If  not,  does  anyone  wish  to  discuss  the  paper  of  Dr.  Rittman? 
If  not,  does  anyone  care  to  discuss  the  paper  of  Mr.  Welch?  Does 
anyone  care  to  discuss  the  last  paper? 

MRS.  EMILY  F.  WELLS:  I  wish  to  suggest  to  Mr.  James  that 
the  last  legislature  of  Oklahoma  at  the  last  session  passed  a  law  for 
the  conservation  of  gas,  and  since  then  we  have  been  going  ahead  and 
we  have  got  gasoline  from  the  gas.  It  is  probable  that  most  of  the 
audience  are  acquainted  with  the  process  of  extracting  gasoline  from 
natural  gas,  which  is  extremely  simple;  we  put  the  gasoline  into  a 
pump  and  it  comes  out  by  blending  with  naphtha,  about  fifty-fifty;  it 
comes  put  about  21  per  cent  gasoline.  It  seems  to  me  that  if  every 
state  would  pass  a  conservation  law  that  that  would  overcome  the 
problem  of  the  loss  of  gas. 

MR.  JAMES:  It  isn't  a  question  of  passing  laws.  It  is  a  question 
of  co-operation.  It  isn't  a  question  of  Oklahoma  passing  a  conserva- 
tion law.  It  is  a  question  of  Oklahoma  meeting  the  honest  developer 
half-way  and  not  trying  to  take  the  life  blood  out  of  him  by  a  gross 
production  tax  which  the  oil  men  of  that  state  were  compelled  this 
year  to  pay  aggregating  $960,000  after  paying  the  usual  taxes  paid  by 
all  other  property  owners.  It  is  not  a  question,  gentlemen,  of  the  state 
passing  a  law  regulating  the  oil  industry.  It  is  a  question  of  the  state 
passing  a  law  to  co-operate  with  and  build  up  this  great  industry.  We 
have  gone  into  Oklahoma,  we  have  brought  millions  of  dollars  into 
Oklahoma,  and  all  we  have  ever  gotten  from  the  state  was  mis- 
use. Nor  have  we  had  any  co-operatio.n  or  encouragement  from 
the  Federal  Government.  When  we  went  into  Oklahoma  to  exploit 
this  great  industry,  what  did  we  encounter?  Every  time  we  went 
down  to  Washington  we  were  prejudged  before  we  got  there.  We 
were  hirelings  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company,  and  unable  to  get  an 
unprejudiced  hearing.  It  was  always  a  question  of  the  Indian  first 
and  the  oil  man  and  developer  last.  If  we  developed  the  oil  industry 
in  Oklahoma  we  did  it  in  spite  of  official  Oklahoma,  and  we  did  it  by 
surmounting  the  hurdles  of  the  Federal  Government  in  the  early  days 
of  the  field.  The  oil  business,  like  everything  else,  if  it  would  enjoy 
its  greatest  possibilities,  must  have  federal  and  state  co-operation.  I 
want  to  say  to  you  it  is  a  hard  thing  to  secure  co-operation.  Witness 
the  Rittman  process.  It  has  suffered  for  want  of  friends.  The  great 
need  of  American  business  today  is  the  right  sort  of  fellowship  among 
its  masters — a  constant,  healthful,  legitimate  uplift,  not  a  jealous, 
demoralizing  down  pull. 

Meeting  adjourned. 

OIL  AND  GAS  SECTION. 
Thursday,  November  16,  1916. 

MORNING  SESSION. 
Dr.   I.   C.   White,  presiding. 

DR.  WHITE:  I  have  been  drafted  into  presiding  for  a  short  time 
this  morning,  so  that  you  will  please  come  to  order.  The  Secretary  of 
the  Congress  has  a  word  to  say. 

MR.  CALLBREATH:  I  would  like  to  say,  gentlemen,  that  I  am 
a  little  disturbed  at  the  fact  that  we  have  had  to  shift  around  here  so 
many  times,  but  I  guess  it  is  because  we  have  got  too  many  rings  to  our 
circus.  The  Metal  Section  and  the  Coal  Section  are  both  meeting  this 
morning  in  the  Grand  Ball  Room,  if  any  of  you  are  interested  in  those 
sections. 

I  want  to  particularly  call  your  attention  to  the  banquet  this  evening. 
There  are  two  subjects  to  be  discussed  at  the  banquet,  two  of  the  most 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  139 

important  internal  questions  which  the  American  people  have  to  solve. 
One  of  these  is  the  questio.n  of  the  relations  of  labor  and  capital,  and 
the  other  is  the  public  lands  question  of  the  west.  Upon  those  two  ques- 
tions we  have  two  of  the  ablest  men  in  the  country  to  speak,  Col.  Pope 
in  the  industrial  field,  and  Judge  Short,  of  California,  in  the  field  of  the 
public  lands,  and  I  feel  that  we  should  give  both  those  gentlemen  a 
proper  reception. 

DR.  WHITE:  Some  are  under  the  impression  that  they  have  to 
wear  evening  dress,  or  at  least  a  Tuxedo.  Is  that  necessary? 

MR.  CALLBREATH:  Not  at  all.  It  is  a  business  gathering.  There 
may  be  some  people  that  feel  they  can't  go  to  a  banquet  without  a  dress 
su.it  on,  but  there  will  be  two  people  without  dress  suits  to  one  that 
wears  full  dress,  so  I  think  that  need  not  deter  anybody  from  coming. 

We  have  one  paper  just  received  from  Mr.  Franklin  D.  Roosevelt, 
Assistant  Secretary  of  the  U.  S.  Navy,  and  another  from  Mr.  Ralph 
Arnold,  but  my  idea  is  the  more  time  spent  in  discussion  and  the  less 
time  spent  in  reading  the  papers,  the  more  valuable  it  is. 

DR.  WHITE:  Gentlemen,  an  institution  with  which  I  am  con- 
nected, the  Geologists  Society  of  America,  has  an  invariable  rule  with 
reference  to  the  reading  of  papers.  Where  they  have  a  printed  program 
and  the  author  is  not  present,  it  requires  a  unanimous  vote  to  get  that 
paper  read  except  by  title.  The  reason  being  that  anyone  who  has  gone 
to  the  trouble  of  coming  to  a  convention  of  that  kind,  or  a  meeting, 
has  rights  inherent  over  anyone  who  is  absent.  And  there  is  usually  a 
surplus  of  papers.  Some  of  them  have  to  be  postponed  or  not  heard 
when  they  all  come,  so  that  anyone  who  is  not  present  when  the  place 
for  his  paper  comes  on  the  program,  the  paper  is  sent  to  the  rear  of 
the  list,  simply  read  by  title,  and  then  at  the  close  when  all'  others 
have  been  read  of  which  the  authors  are  present,  if  there  is  time  left, 
such  papers  are  then  read,  if  anyone  wishes  to  call  them  up. 

So  as  Mr.  Arnold  is  absent  and  his  paper  is  largely  o.ne  of  statistics, 
which  many  are  not  very  greatly  interested  in,  his  paper  will  go  to  the 
rear  of  the  list  according  to  the  ruling  of  your  temporary  chairman, 
unless  you  vote  otherwise. 

The  next  paper  is  one  on  adequate  acreage  and  oil  conservation  by 
Mr.  Max  W.  Ball,  of  Washington. 

Mr.  Ball's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  322  of  this  report. 

DR.  WHITE:  This  interesting  paper  of  Mr.  Ball's  is  now  open 
for  discussion. 

MR.  TITUS:  Mr.  Ball  stated  that  from  25  to  85  per  cent  of  the 
oil  is  left  in  the  ground  under  the  present  method  of  production.  What 
I  would  like  to  know  from  Mr.  Ball  is,  if  he  can  suggest  any  way  of 
recovering  that  large  percentage  of  oil  which  is  now  lost.  Is  it  due  to 
to  improper  methods,  or  is  there  any  better  method  known  of  producing 
oil  than  is  presently  in  use? 

MR.  BALL:  Well,  as  I  said,  I  did.n't  intend — I  don't  think  what  I 
said  constitutes  an  indictment  of  the  oil  operators.  It  is  not  a  matter 
of  the  carelessness  or  the  ignorance  of  the  operators,  but  of  conditions 
which  force  him  to  drill  as  he  does. 

Now,  I  am  not  petroleum  engineer  enough  to  give  you  the  detail 
of  the  25  to  85  per  cent  lost  underground.  My  position  is  simply  this, 
that  if  the  acreage  is  not  large  enough  the  ingenuity  and  the  resource- 
fulness of  the  oil  operators  can  be  depended  upon  to  find  a  way  to  save 
that  25  to  85  ner  cent  by  means  that  we  now  know,  or  by  means  which 
the  operator  himself  will  develop  if  he  is  given  an  opportunity  to  do  so. 

DR.  WHITE:     Has  any  other  gentleman  views  on  this  subject? 

MR.  TRUMBULL:  Answering  the  question  regarding  saving  part 
of  the  25  per  cent  remaining  in  a  sand,  I  believe  that  during  the  last 
year  or  so,  some  of  the  old  exhausted  Pennsylvania  oil  fields  have  been 


140  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

experimented  upon  and  the  operators  actually  arc  sub-flooding  those 
old  fields  and  getting  a  large  part  of  the  remaining  25  per  cent. 

We  of  course  all  agree  with  Mr.  Ball  that  a  larger  acreage  will  elim- 
inate many  of  the  unreasonable,  the  uncertain  things  pertaining  to  oil 
field  development.  The  very  evolution  of  the  oil  industry  is  going 
from  necessity  to  force  or  produce  larger  holdings  in  the  fields  that  may 
be  opened  in  the  future.  By  the  very  methods  of  their  discovery  a 
field  is  going  to  be  in  the  hands  of  a  few,  or  possibly  one  concern, 
instead  of  scattered  to  the  many,  in  the  States  where  the  lands  are  in 
private  ownership.  In  the  public  land  states  we  don't  know  what  is 
going  to  happen. 

In  our  State  of  Wyoming  we  are  greatly  concerned  over  the  ulti- 
mate use  of  the  gas  in  some  of  our  large  fields.  It  isn't  known,  prob- 
ably, that  Wyoming  has  tremendous  gas  areas,  but  we  have.  One 
field  that  we  know  enough  about  now  to  say  that  it  has  an  area  of  at 
least  six  square  miles,  a  hundred  feet  sa.nd,  a  rock  pressure  of  650  Ibs., 
and  we  can't  turn  that  into  a  penny.  It  is  a  long  way  from  everywhere, 
and  a  large  part  of  the  ground  belongs  to  Uncle  Sam  and  has  been  with- 
drawn "in  aid  of  legislation."  If  there  were  any  way  under  heaven  to 
assure  capital  that  it  would  be  protected  in  a  long  use  of  that  gas,  capital 
would  be  found  to  carry  it  to  the  nearest  towns,  which  are  a  long  way 
off.  But  at  the  present  time  there  is  no  assurance  for  capital  that  if  it 
put  in  the  pipe  line  it  will  get  the  use  of  the  gas,  because  perhaps  Uncle 
Sam  will  take  a  notion  to  divide  that  six  square  miles  up  into  quarter 
sections  or  quarter  quarters  and  distribute  it  to  a  multiplicity  of  owners 
or  lessees,  and  prohibit  them  from  pooling  their  holdings  or  production. 

DR.  WHITE:  I  should  say  the  most — one  of  the  most  notable  ex- 
amples of  the  desirability  of  having  a  large  acreage  under  one  manage- 
ment is  in  Mexico,  with  which  Dr.  Bridge  here  is  familiar,  since  he  is 
an  officer  of  the  company  that  owns  the  property,  the  famous  Casiano 
Pool,  which  covers  only  a  thousand  acres,  held  by  the  Huasteca  Petro- 
leum Company,  a  subsidiary  of  the  Mexican  Petroleum  Company.  I  be- 
lieve the  Mexican  Petroleum  Company  itself  now  is  a  subsidiary  of  the 
Pan-American.  Dr.  Bridge  is  an  officer  in  all  these  companies. 

This  famous  well  didn't  exactly  escape  from  control,  but  it  refused 
to  be  controlled.  They  shut  it  in,  but  it  wouldn't  stay  shut,  since  the 
oil  began  to  spout  up  through  fissures  in  the  ground  over  an  area  of 
2  to  3  acres  around  the  well.  In  these  Mexican  wells,  as  some  of  you 
may  not  know,  the  mother  rock  is  a  limestone  with  enormous  reservoir 
capacity,  faulted  and  fissured  and  possibly  caverned  and  domed.  This 
great  well,  which  started  off  with  many  thousands  of  barrels  per  day, 
refused  to  be  controlled  when  shut  in,  the  pressure  developing  about 
600  pounds  to  the  square  inch,  until  their  manager  conceived  the  idea 
of  opening  the  valves  and  relieving  a  part  of  the  pressure.  He  opened 
it  so  that  there  was  only  290  pounds  pressure  when  I  saw  it  first  in  1911, 
and  it  was  then  over  a  year  old,  and  under  that  pressure  it  was  produc- 
ing about  22,000  barrels  a  day. 

No.  6,  half  a  mile  from  No.  7,  had  previously  been  drilled  in  and 
before  completely  shut  in  was  producing  about  15,000  barrels  a  day, 
and  that  was  the  reason  they  thought  they  would  drill  in  No.  7,  see  what 
they  had,  and  then  shut  it  in. 

As  I  say,  the  shutting  in  process  wasn't  a  success,  and  that  well  has 
been  flowing  ever  since  it  started,  September  11,  1910.  They  laid  a 
gas  line  in  the  meantime  to  Tampico,  and  in  order  to  force  the  gas 
through  to  Tampico,  they  closed  the  valve  a  little  more  and  it  is  under 
325  pounds  pressure  now.  Under  that  pressure  it  produces  over  20,000 
barrels  a  day,  although  six  years  old  the  llth  of  last  September,  and  has 
put  into  tankage  over  50  million  barrels  of  oil. 

See  what  this  well  has  done.  If  that  thousand  acres  had  been  cut 
up  into  a  great  number  of  leases,  as  might  have  been  done  under  condi- 
tions like  we  have  in  this  country,  what  would  have  been  the  result? 
Probably  -that  whole  oil  pool  which  I  have  estimated  will  produce  over 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  141 

100,000,000  barrels,  and  that  may  not  be  half  of  what  it  will  do,  would 
have  been  dissipated  or  largely  destroyed.  Yet  you  have  one  well  which 
has  produced  over  50,000,000  barrels,  and  is  still  going  on  at  the  rate 
of  20,000  a  day. 

I  should  say  it  also  produces  from  7  to  8  million  cubic  feet  of  gas 
daily,  and  the  only  use  the  company  can  make  of  it  is  in  their  pipe- 
line stations  between  Casiano  and  Tampico,  75  miles  distant,  in  furnish- 
ing fuel  for  pumping  the  oil  through.  The  company  had  in  fact  already 
made  arrangements  to  lay  a  pipe-line  to  the  City  of  Mexico,  about  175 
miles  distant,  but  the  revolution  came  on,  when  conditions  were  so 
unsettled  it  was  all  they  could  do  to  keep  these  wells  in  operation  that 
they  had  already  drilled,  and  hence  that  waste  continues.  Dr.  Bridge 
showed  you  on  the  screen  the  other  night  those  dozen  torches,  each 
burning  from  five  to  eight  hundred  thousand  feet  daily,  and  that  waste 
is  still  going  on.  Of  course,  it  can't  be  helped  until  political  conditions 
in  Mexico  will  permit  its  utilization. 

There  is  a  large  amount  of  gasoline  in  that  oil;  the  company,  I 
believe,  had  contemplated  erecting  a  gasoline  compressing  plant  in  that 
region,  but  has  never  been  able  to  get  a  permit,  or  felt  safe  to  put  it 
up  under  present  political  conditions.  So  that  as  these  large  lease- 
holds work  out  in  Mexico  successfully,  they  certainly  ought  to  work  out 
in  other  regions.  Just  how  you  will  get  to  the  plan  of  having  large 
leaseholds  is  a  question,  but  it  is  certainly  a  very  desirable  condition 
from  the  standpoint  of  conservation. 

DR.  BRIDGE:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  agree  with  Mr.  Ball  very  largely 
about  the  great  misfortune  of  the  small  holdings  in  the  development  and 
mining  of  oil.  He  has  given  the  facts  and  they  can't  be  controverted, 
and  to  me  it  is  a  very  sad  situation. 

Public  sentiment  will  probably  never  lead  us  to  insist  on  preventing 
men  from  taking  at  their  own  risk  small  holdings,  developing  them  in  a 
wild  way,  and  wasting  their  substance  in  the  hope  of  some  gain.  We 
know  that  the  oil  business  has  come  today,  very  unfortunately,,  to  be 
a  business  where  it  is  very  hazardous  to  embark  in  the  development  and 
production  of  the  petroleum  except  with  large  capital,  and  that  is  the 
gist  of  what  Mr.  Ball  said,  and  the  moment  you  begin  to  preach  that 
gospel  people  will  tell  you  that  you  are  a  monopolist. 

I  suppose  I  have  as  little  business  to  preach  that  gospel  as  any- 
body else  in  this  room,  but  my  grief  about  the  business  of  mining, 
whether  oil  or  nuggets,  is  that  so  many  people  lose  their  money.  Some 
do  it  through  ignorance,  most  probably  do  it  through  carelessness.  They 
do  it  through  ignorance  that  might  be  avoided  if  we  could  inject  into 
the  oil  business  the  advice  and  the  wisdom  that  were  expressed  by  Mr. 
Hurley  the  other  day,  as  to  when  to  start  out,  how  much  it  costs  to 
produce  what  we  get,  what  the  overhead  costs  are,  and  all  that  sort  of 
thing. 

To  me  it  is  a  discouraging  situation,  and  I  see  it  exactly  as  Mr. 
Ball  has  stated  it,  and  it  is  a  great  shame  that  the  oil  is  lost,  and  that 
the  gas  is  lost. 

One  of  the  saddest  things  in  my  own  experience  about  Mexico,  after 
the  consideration  of  the  revolution,  is  the  loss  of  that  gas  that  Dr. 
White  spoke  of.  If  there  was  a  stable  government  there  we  would  long 
ago  have  been  delivering  it  to  the  City  of  Tampico,  and  they  could 
have  the  gas  for  a  very  low  price  and  become  a  great  manufacturing 
city. 

I  think  something  could  be  done  bv  legislation  to  prevent  the^waste 
such  as  Mr.  Ball  has  outlined,  but  any  attempt  at  legislation  is  going  to 
be  met  by  the  assertion  that  the  people  who  ask  for  it  are  developing  a 
monopoly. 

If  it  were  possible  for  the  people  of  small  means  to  unite  together 
and  make  large  companies  and  do  the  things  suggested,  with  money 
enough  to  carry  through  a  competitive  business  with  large  acreage,  that 
would  be  the  best  thing  to  do,  but  the  moment  any  company  or  any 


142  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

man  makes  a  large  amount  of  money  in  any  kind  of  business,  a  multi- 
tude of  small  operators,  people  with  small  money,  all  fancy  that  they 
can  do  the  same  thing,  and  they  cannot.  But  it  is  the  right  of  an 
American  citizen  to  try. 

MR.  TITUS:  I  think  we  have  all  been  impressed  with  the  fact 
that  Mr.  Ball  is  absolutely  correct  in  his  statement.  I  have  seen  some 
ridiculous  things  in  the  oil  fields  of  this  country.  I  have  seen  oil  fields 
divided  into  little  plots  of  30  or  40  feet  square,  sold  as  separate  hold- 
ings, which  of  course  is  ridiculous. 

But  there  is  another  side  to  the  lesso.n  which  he  has  taught  us 
this  morning,  and  that  is  this:  There  is  at  present  pending  in  Con- 
gress what  is  known  as  the  Ferris  bill,  a  bill  which  undertakes 'to  lease 
the  public  oil  lands  as  well  as  other  lands,  and  as  We  are  talking  about 
oil  I  should  confine  my  remarks  to  the  oil  features  of  the  bill,  which 
undertakes  to  provide  a  method  for  leasing  public  oil  lands  of  the  United 
States.  That  bill  has  already  passed  the  House  of  Representatives,  and 
will  appear  before  the  Senate  in  some  form  or  other  and  will  become 
the  law. 

Now,  that  bill  provides,  as  was  pointed  out  to  us  two  days  ago, 
that  a  man  who  takes  a  lease  of  government  land  within  ten  miles  of 
any  other  gas  or  oil  well,  can  only  obtain,  at  the  maximum,  a  patent  to 
160  acres  of  land.  I  didn't  state  that  exactly  correct.  I  mean  to  say 
that  a  man  who  takes  a  permit,  what  is  called  a  prospecting  permit  for 
the  exploration  of  oil  land,  when  he  has  yielded  oil,  gets  a  patent  at  the 
most  for  160  acres  of  land.  And  the  speaker  who  explained  that  to  us 
also  stated  that  he  thought  that  was  a  very  small  amount  of  acreage  to 
be  obtained,  and  yet  it  hasn't  been  suggested  in  Congress,  and  I  have 
been  present  at  most  of  the  debate  upon  this  bill;  it  has  hardly  been 
suggested  or  at  least  seriously,  that  that  acreage  was  entirely  too  small 
to  encourage  the  development  of  the  public  domain  in  the  way  it  should 
be  encouraged. 

I  think  it  would  be  an  extraordinarily  good  thing  for  this  conven- 
tion to  do,  if  representation  could  be  made  to  the  Public  Lands  Com- 
mittee of  the  House  of  Congress  who  have  this  bill  in  charge,  that  the 
acreage  should  .not  be  divided  up  in  such  a  small  way  as  that,  but  that 
some  other  method  should  be  provided  whereby  a  company  could  get  a 
larger  acreage,  because  if  that  bill  passes  as  it  is  now  written,  and  as 
it  has  already  passed  the  House,  it  to  my  mind  will  only  perpetuate  the 
disasters  which  Mr.  Ball  has  pointed  out. 

Now,  again,  there  are  other  features  of  that  bill  which  are  worse 
yet,  and  that  is  there  is  a  provision  there — I  don't  remember  the  exact 
wording  of  it,  but  which  absolutely  prohibits  any  one  person  to  be  in- 
terested in  more  than  one  tract  of  land  within  a  certain  area.  Perhaps 
you  remember  the  details  of  that.  In  other  words,  this  bill  is  going  to 
make  permanent  this  waste  which  Mr.  Ball  has  pointed  out,  and  it  would 
be  against  the  law,  mind  you,  it  will  be  a  crime  even  to  try  to  prevent 
that  waste. 

Just  think  of  the  iniquities  of  the  kind  of  a  bill  which  would  prevent 
a  combination  or  co-operation  of  small  producers  in  one  of  these  fields, 
and  yet  that  bill  is  going  to  pass.  It  has  already  passed  the  House,  and 
will  undoubtedly  pass  the  Senate  unless  some  effort  is  made  to  stop  it, 
and  it  will  become  a  law,  and  this  waste  which  has  been  discussed  will 
be  enforced  by  the  law  of  the  land.  It  applies  to  all  tjie  public  land, 
particularly  Wyoming  and  Montana.  While  I  am  not  interested  in  it 
myself,  I  really  think  that  some  measures  ought  to  be  taken  to  stop 
that  if  possible. 

DR.  WHITE:     Have  you  any  suggestions  to  make? 

MR.  TITUS:  Well,  perhaps  Mr.  Ball  might  like  to  close  the  dis- 
cussion. 

DR.  WHITE:  Mr.  Ball,  if  nobody  else  desires  to  speak  you  may 
have  a  minute  to  close  the  discussion. 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  143 

MR.  BALL:  I  don't  think  I  have  anything  to  add  to  what  has 
already  been  said. 

DR.  WHITE:  Have  you  any  remedy  to  suggest,  by  which  this 
larger  acreage  could  be  obtained?  For  instance,  this  matter  that  the 
gentleman  has  just  spoken  about,  what  remedy  would  you  set  forth? 

MR.  BALL:  Mr.  Titus  has  talked  on  a  subject  in  which  I  am  not 
very  much  interested,  because  I  am  in  the  Department.  I  am  not 
at  liberty  to  speak  out. 

DR.  WHITE:  Mr.  Titus,  have  you  any  suggestions  as  to  the  size 
of  the  acreage  that  should  be  allotted? 

MR.  TITUS:  Yes,  I  have.  I  think  the  acreage  should  be  in- 
creased in  that  bill  very  tremendously.  Now,  I  was  present  in  1914 
when  this  bill  first  came  up  in  the  Public  Lands  Committee  of  the 
House,  and  there  were  one  or  two,  perhaps  more,  me.n  who  objected 
to  this  feature  of  the  bill  which  prevents  small  operators  from  com- 
bining, but  it  was  brushed  aside  by  the  House  Committee  as  being 
a  monopolistic  argument  that  should  not  be  allowed  to  prevail.  And 
I  don't  know  what  headway  could  be  made  there,  but  it  does  seem  to 
be  a  dreadful  thing  that  Congress  should  hang  on  this  country  a  sys- 
tem of  that  kind,  which  will  absolutely  compel  the  most  enormous  kind 
of  waste,  and  no  remedy  to  prevent  it.  The  bill  even  not  only  makes 
it  unlawful,  but  it  makes  it  a  crime  for  men  to  do  the  things  which 
ought  to  be  done. 

Now,  Congress  meets  again  in  December.  The  bill  has  gone 
through  the  House.  It  is  going  to  be  taken  up  in  the  Senate,  and 
while  there  isn't  any  chance  perhaps  for  any  public  hearing  on  that  bill, 
if  this  Congress  here  could  pass  some  kind  of  a  resolution  and  have  it 
presented  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee,  sent  to  the  Secretary 
of  the  Interior,  to  the  different  departments  that  are  interested,  it 
might  be  that  an  amendment  could  be  had  to  that  bill,  even  at  this 
late  day,  which  would  save  that  situation. 

DR.  WHITE:  What  would  you  suggest  as  the  minimum,  a  square 
mile,  640  acres? 

MR.  TITUS:  Well,  'personally  I  think  that  is  a  fairly  liberal 
acreage,  yet.  It  is  not  too  large,  it  is  really  not  large  enough,  but 
I  doubt  if  you  could  get  it  larger  than  that. 

DR.  WHITE:  If  this  Oil  Section  desires  to  take  any  action  in  the 
matter,  the  Resolutions'  Committee  of  the  Congress  is  now  in  session, 
and  if  Mr.  Titus  is  familiar  with  this  question  there  is  no  objection 
to  your  expressing  your  wishes  and  having  him  present  it  to  this  Res- 
olutions' Committee  and  get  it  before  the  general  session  that  meets 
at  2  o'clock,  when  they  act  on  all  resolutions.  Does  the  Oil  Sectiori 
desire  to  take  any  action  in  the  matter? 

MR.  GILLETT:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  can  say  a  few  things  in  reference 
to  that  matter  that  might  throw  some  light  on  the  question.  The 
bill  which  passed  the  house  has  been  amended  in  some  particulars  by 
the  Senate  Committee  making  it  still  more  objectionable  than  the 
bill  that  passed  the  House.  The  bill  that  passed  the  House  decided 
that  no  land  could  be  given  by  the  government  in  excess  of  640  acres. 

But  it  seems  to  me  that  there  is  only  one  way  that  this  can  be 
determined.  The  fields  all  differ  in  size  and  character.  No  two  fields 
as  explained  yesterday,  are  exactly  alike.  It  seems  that  every  partic- 
ular field  presents  a  question  that  ought  to  be  examined  and  carefully 
looked  into  by  the  Geologic  Department,  and  the  question  of  drawing 
the  leases  could  be  figured  in  reference  to  that  particular  field  so  as 
to  meet  the  necessities  of  it.  You  can't  make  a  hard  or  fast  rule,  it 
seems  to  me,  to  govern  all  fields  alike  when  the  fields  are  not  all 
alike,  and  it  ought  to  be  left  to  the  Geological  Survey  and  to  the  de- 
partment to  investigate  these  fields  where  oil  has  been  discovered, 
get  its  size,  how  it  is  situated,  and  then  make  leases  accordingly,  under 


144  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

rules  to  be  adopted  by  the  Interior  Department.  I  don't  think  Con- 
gress can  legislate  in  advance  on  methods  in  this  section  and  that,  and 
this  field  and  that  field. 

I  don't  know  of  any  amendment  that  could  be  made  except  to  leave 
it  in  the  discretion  of  the  Interior  Department,  to  prepare  such  rules 
and  regulations  and  issue  such  leases  that  will  fit  the  particular  field. 
And  that  is  something  that  can  be  determined  only  upon  a  proper 
investigation.  It  seems  to  me  that  that  is  the  way  it  ought  to  be 
done. 

The  matter  was  discussed  by  Mr.  Oliver,  from  Kansas,  in  1915, 
before  the  Public  Lands  Committee  of  the  State.  He  testified  and 
introduced  that  map  over  there  which  Mr.  Ball  referred  to,  and  he 
made  the  argument  absolutely  conclusive,  it  seems  to  me,  on  the  waste 
and  the  way  to  stop  it.  It  wasn't  heeded  and  many  were  afraid  of 
large  leases,  on  the  ground  that  the  Standard  Oil  or  some  other  great 
company  might  get  too  large  a  control. 

I  think  the  Geological  Survey  should  be  probably  the  first  depart- 
ment to  consult  in  this  matter.  I  think  they  have  the  same  views 
entertained  by  Mr.  Ball,  and  some  amendment  could  be  offered  to 
take  care  of  the  oil  leasing  bill  so  as  to  make  it  a  splendid  bill,  and 
give  people  an  opportunity  to  go  on  and  properly  develop  the  field  with- 
out being  charged  with  crime.  As  suggested  by  Mr.  Titus,  the  bill 
makes  it  a  crime  for  people  to  get  together  and  combine  or  own 
a  certain  amount  of  stock  in  another  company.  It  seems  everything 
has  been  done  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  the  things  that  ought  to 
be  done.  I  have  paid  considerable  attention  to  the  matter,  and  I  have 
been  interested  in  it  for  two  years. 

I  think  the  Geological  Survey  is  the  proper  department  to  take  part 
in  starting  it,  and  the  Interior  Department  it  seems  to  me,  could  be 
safely  intrusted  with  handling  the  bill  in  a  way  that  will  be  to  the 
best  interests  of  the  people  and  give  us  the  most  effective  way  of 
taking  the  oil  out. 

There  is  an  argument  against  everybody  in  this  country  today 
who  wants  to  do  business  in  the  way  conditions  demand  that  it  should 
be  done. 

DR.  DAY:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  certainly  will  agree  that  Mr.  Ball 
has  given  us  an  extremely  valuable  paper,  something  to  think  about 
with  a  great  deal  of  care,  and  I  believe  the  Section  here  feels  very, 
very  grateful  to  Mr.  Ball  for  that,  and  every  thought  that  it  gives  out 
naturally  will  help  somebody  else  to  think  in  regard  to  obtaining  larger 
tracts  of  la.nd  in  the  development  of  oil. 

Behind  the  necessity  for  the  oil  producer  to  get  his  oil  out  as 
quickly  as  he  can;  because  somebody  else  will  get  it,  is  the  fact  that 
oil  as  it  conies  out  of  the  ground  bears  no  label  of  the  land  it  comes 
from.  The  Supreme  Court  has  declared  that  oil  and  gas  are  mineral 
wild  animals,  and  they  belong  to  any  one  that  gets  them.  Now  you 
can't  label  that  oil  as  to  whose  land  it  comes  from.  If  you  could 
you  would  have  some  help,  but  if  it  is  possible  to  get  at  that  some 
other  way,  that  might  help.  And  a  good  way  to  get  a  person  to  do 
a  thing  is  to  pass  some  kind  of  a  law  which  will  give  him  something 
worse  to  do,  and  he  will  take  the  thing  you  want  him  to  do  to  get  out 
of  the  worse  thing. 

If  you  look  at  the  chart  you  will  see  that  they  propose  that  wells 
shall  be  drilled,  say  1,000  feet  apart.  In  other  words,  one  well  is 
drawing  from  a  diameter  of  1,000  feet.  Now,  that  is<  to  say  that  we 
recognize  that  that  well  can  take  the  other  fellow's  oil  from  that  dis- 
tance if  it  happens  to  belong  to  the  other  fellow.  That  is,  in  a  way, 
labeling  that  oil  as  to  who  it  belongs  to. 

Suppose,  then,  that  you  say,  to  get  away  from  this  wild  animal 
feature,  namely,  the  oil  flowing  under  the  law  where  it  actually  oc- 
curs, that  every  square  foot  of  land  in  a  radius  of  500  feet  of  a  cer- 
tain well  shall  flow  in  a  direct  ratio  from  the  well  to  a  certain  extent 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  145 

in  the  output  of  that  well,  no  matter  who  owns  the  land.  Another 
man  drills  a  well  500  feet  away,  and  he  gets  an  equal  amount  from 
me  and  offsets  the  other,  but  you  have  secured  to  each  square  foot  of 
land  within  500  feet  radius  of  each  well,  a  certain  proportion  of  oil 
which  begins  to  flow  at  the  500  foot  mark.  You  will  of  course  vary 
that  for  different  fields.  And  you  will  hardly  carry  it  on  the  land  which 
is  geologically  shown  to  be  non-productive. 

DR.  WHITE:  Well,  it  is  hard  to  leave  this  interesting  subject, 
but  we  must  go  on.  Now,  the  paper  of  Mr.  Roosevelt  is  short.  It 
remains  with  the  Section  whether  they  will  read  it  now,  or  let  it  go 
till  later.  If  there's  isn't  any  motion  to  have  it  read,  why,  we  will 
pass  on. 

MR.  TITUS:  Mr.  Chairman,  might  I  revert  to  the  other  matter 
just  a  moment?  I  would  like  to  make  a  motion  to  get  this  matter 
before  this  committee,  that  is,  that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  draft 
a  resolution,  which  resolution  should  be  presented  to  the  Resolutions' 
Committee,  and  if  passed  by  them  should  then  be  presented  to  the 
Chairman  of  the  Public  Lands  Committee  of  both  houses,  and  also 
to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  and  possibly  other  departments, 
and  that  the  effect  of  that  resolution  be  a  protest  against  the  small 
acreage  allowed  in  the  present  bill,  and  also  protesting  in  toto  against 
the  provision  in  the  bill  which  prevents  small  operators  from  combining, 
and  it  is  the  last  feature  which  I  think  is  even  worse  than  the  other. 

DR.  WHITE:     What  is  your  pleasure,  gentlemen? 

MR.  TITUS:  I  make  that  motion,  that  a  committee  be  appointed 
to  draw  that  resolution. 

MR.  WELLS:     I  second  that  motion. 

DR.  WHITE:  You  have  heard  the  motion  and  the  second.  Any 
remarks? 

Motion  carried. 

DR.  WHITE:  I  will  appoint  Judge  Short,  Governor  Gillett  and 
Mr.  Titus. 

The  next  paper,  "Modern  Oil  Storage,"  by  G.  B.  James,  of  Chi- 
cago, will  now  be  presented. 

Mr.  James'  paper  will  be  found  on  page  307  of  this  report. 

DR.  WHITE:  Our  time  is  passing,  and  we  will,  postpone  dis- 
cussion to  hear  Dr.  David  T.  Day,  of  Washington,  D.  C. 

The  paper  by  Franklin  D.  Roosevelt,  "The  National  Need  of 
Petroleum  Reserves,"  was  then  read. 

Mr.  Roosevelt's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  393  of  this  report. 

Whereupon  the  paper  by  Mr.  Ralph  Arnold  was  read  and  will  be 
found  on  page  473  of  this  report. 

The  meeting  then  adjourned. 

UNIFORM  MINING  LAW  SECTION. 
MONDAY,  NOVEMBER  13,  1916,  MORNING  SESSION. 

The  Uniform  Mining  Laws'  Conference  was  called  to  order  at 
10:45  o'clock  a.  m.,  Monday,  November  13th,  in  the  La  Salle  Hotel, 
Chicago,  Illinois,  Mr.  Thomas  Jeremiah,  Chairman  of  the  Illinois 
Mining  Investigation  Commission,  in  the  chair. 

The  first  order  of  business  was  the  readi.ng  of  the  call  sent  out  by 
Governor  E.  F.  Dunne  to  the  governors  of  the  coal-producing  states 
in  the  United  States,  as  follows: 

"Coal  mining  is  one  of  the  great  industries  of  the  United  States,  and 
is  one  of  the  most  hazardous,  if  not  the  most  hazardous,  of  them  all. 
The  number  of  accidents,  fatal  and  others,  which  occur  yearly,  monthly 


146  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

and  practically  daily,  is  appalling,  and  is  a  reproach  upon  American 
industrial  methods.  Occasionally  a  catastrophe  of  unusual  magnitude 
startles  the  Union,  in  which  scores  and  even  hundreds  of  lives  are 
sacrificed  in  a  single  coal  mining  accident.  Scientific  methods  enforced 
by  law  can  go — and  experience  has  showri  do  go — far  toward  eliminat- 
ing the  danger  of  such  occurrences.  A  duty  rests  on  those  of  us  who 
are  in  positions  of  responsibility  to  bring  about  conditions  of  safety  in 
the  mines,  so  far  as  lies  in  our  power. 

Wo  competition  between  the  different  states  of  the  Union  should 
be  allowed  to  exist  based  upon  cheapness  of  production  at  the  cost  of 
human  life  and  limb,  and  which  tends  to  discourage  progressive  legisla- 
tion; no  premium  should  be  placed  upon  the  financial  conditions  of  reck- 
lessness in  mining  methods.  Uniform  legislation  in  those  states  in 
which  the  coal  mining  industry  is  a  factor,  should  be  brought  about 
as  speedily  as  possible.  The  benefit  of  uniform  legislation  has  been 
felt  on  more  strictly  commercial  subjects,  such  as  negotiable  instru- 
ments,, sales,  bills  of  lading,  etc.,  in  which  we  have  more  or  less  uni- 
form laws  as  between  the  different  states.  A  much  greater  necessity 
exists  for  the  establishment  of  uniform  mining  legislation. 

To  this  end,  may  I  ask  you  to  designate  a  commission  .  to  meet 
with  similar  commissions  from  other  mining  states  at  the  La  Salle 
Hotel,  Chicago,  on  the  13th  day  of  November,  1916,  at  10  o'clock  a.  m., 
to  continue  in  session  until  such  legislation  shall  have  been  agreed  upon 
by  the  convention  to  be  recommended  to  the  legislatures  of  the  sev- 
eral states  concerned?  The  commission  from  Illinois  will  consist  of 
nine  members,  whom  I  have  heretofore  named,  in  pursuance  to  law; 
three  of  them  are  coal  mine  operators;  three  miners;  and  three  citizens 
not  affiliated  with  either  employers  or  employees  in  the  mining  industry. 
May  I  recommend,  if  you  will  honor  me  by  acting  on  this  invitation,  to 
name  a  commission,  that  you  have  it  similarly  constituted?" 

Mr.  J.  G.  Grossberg  (111.)  assigned  the  subject,  "Statement  of 
Reasons  for  Calling  Conference,"  stated  that  Illinois,  some  years  ago, 
had  adopted  the  means  of  promoting  safety  in  mining  through  legisla- 
tion by  the  commission  method,  the  strong  incentive  arising  out  of 
the  Cherry  disaster  in  1909,  with  its  death  toll  of  several  hundred.  A 
Mining  Investigation  Commission  had  been  appointed,  consisting  of 
nine  members,  three  members  suggested  by  the  Illinois  Mine  Workers' 
organization,  three  members  by  the  Illinois  Coal  Operators'  Associa- 
tion, and  three  disinterested  members.  The  form  of  commission  was 
in  existence  to  date,  serving  practically  as  a  board  of  arbitration.  The 
method  of  procedure  was  for  the  miners'  representatives  to  submit 
their  proposed  recommendations,  the  operators'  representatives  theirs, 
while  the  three  disinterested  members  sat  as  arbiters.  Every  report  that 
had  been  submitted  by  the  commission  had  been  unanimous,  and 
practically  every  word  that  had  been  recomme.nded  had  been  written 
upon  the  statute  book. 

The  increasing  difficulty  encountered  by  him  as  a  member  of  the 
commission  was  that  measures  of  safety  calling  for  expense,  whether 
proposed  by  operators,  miners  or  independents,  had  "come  to  the 
mat"  with  this  question:  "Will  the  industry  bear  the  additional  ex- 
pense?" The  primary  consideration,  of  course,  was  the  safety  to  human 
lives;  next,  conservation  of  Droperty.  In  order  to  secure  the  greatest 
efficiency  in  the  matter  of  safety  both  to  life  and  property,  standardized 
mining  legislation  should  be  adopted.  One  reason  why  Europe  had  ad- 
vanced so  far  in  mining  legislation  was  due  to  her  more  centralized 
government,  which  condition  does  not  prevail  in  the  United  States. 
Here  each  state  is  sovereign,  and  each  state  in  great  degree  must  work 
out  its  own  problems;  yet  in  order  to  increase  efficiency,  some  standard- 
ization of  at  least  the  larger  aspects  should  be  had.  That  was  why 
Governor  Dunne,  who  is  a  humane  man  and  a  ma.n  at  all  times  inter- 
ested in  the  matter  of  measures  of  safety,  had  issued  this  call  to  con- 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  147 

sider  uniform  mining  legislation.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  killing 
of  a  man  not  only  means  an  additional  burden  on  the  community  in 
taking  care  of  his  family,  but  it  means  the  possibility  of  that  family, 
deprived  of  its  provider,  becoming  an  addition  to  the  criminal  and 
vagabond  element. 

The  working  out  of  these  problems  of  standardization  would  begin 
probably  with  technical  men,  who  attend  various  conferences  that  con- 
sider safety  measures.  Personally,  he  would  suggest  that  before  this 
conference  adjourned,  a  board  be  selected  of  nine,  seven  or  five,  whether 
from  delegates  to  the  conferenc  or  from  the  men  attending  the  Mining 
Congress,  competent  to  handle  the  matter  from  the  technical  and  legal 
aspects.  This  board  should  be  given  plenty  of  time  to  work  out  a 
standardized  system  of  legislation  between  now  and  next  year.  Illinois 
has  an  appropriation  for  its  commission.  It  is  possible  that  some  por- 
tion of  that  appropriation  might  be  used  to  some  extent  for  the  labor 
of  the  commission  appointed  by  the  conference.  If  that  is  inadequate, 
he  was  certain  the  state  would  make  a  reasonable  appropriation  for  the 
expense  involved.  The  original  appropriation  made  the  commission 
was  found  far  in  excess  of  its  wants,  but  it  showed  the  willingness 
of  the  state  legislature  to  back  up  a  reasonable  measure  for  the  pur- 
pose of  'safety  in  mines.  He  felt  confident  that  whatever  the  per- 
sonnel of  succeeding  commissions  or  of  the  coming  legislature,  Illinois 
had  set  the  precedent  and  would  do  everything  in  reason  to  back  up 
and  promote  legislation  in  the  interest  of  safety,  and  therefore  would 
probably  contribute  its  share  toward  the  expense  of  such  a  commission. 

His  main  suggestion  as  to  the  work  of  the  conference  would  be 
that  after  discussing  the  various  laws  and  suggestions  made  during 
the  sessions,  a  commission  be  named,  say  of  nine  members,  repre- 
senting the  different  states,  or,  one  from  each  state,  to  be  as  nearly 
as  possible  balanced  in  some  manner  like  the  Illinois  commission,  rep- 
resenting the  miners,  the  operators  and  the  public,  and  that  the  com- 
mission work  out  a  standardized  code  of  mining  laws  to  report  to  the 
conference  next  year;  if  possible,  these  men  to  be  compensated  for 
their  time  in  order  to  secure  the  best  results.  If  any  difficulty  arose 
concerning  compensation  from  any  state  for  its  representatives,  possibly 
the  different  miners'  and  operators'  organizations  would  contribute  their 
share  of  it. 

He  welcomed  the  assembly  in  behalf  of  Illinois  and  in  behalf  of 
the  Mining  Investigation  Commission;  he  trusted  they  would  find  their 
visit  a  pleasure  and  their  labors  interesting  and  instructive. 

Professor  H.  H.  Stock  (Illinois),  Chairman  of  the  Program  Com- 
mittee, announced  that  everything  possible  would  be  done  to  arrange 
the  time  of  the  Uniform  Mining  Conference  so  as  not  to  conflict  with 
important  sessions  of  the  American  Mining  Congress.  Inasmuch  as 
Mr.  Van  H.  Manning,  whose  paper  was  first  on  the  program,  was 
delayed  by  a  late  train,  Mr.  Robert  H.  Harlan,  Member,  International 
Executive  Board,  United  Mine  Workers  of  America,  Seattle,  Wash- 
ington, read  his  paper. 

Mr.  Harlan's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  598  of  this  report. 

Some  discussion  arose  as  to  the  method  to  be  pursued  in  discussing 
the  papers. 

Mr.  H.  M.  Wilson  believed  that  the  commission  recommended  by 
Mr.  Grossberg  should  be  appointed  as  soon  as  possible. 

Professor  H.  H.  Stock  suggested  that  the  time  was  inopportune  for 
the  appointment  of  such  commission,  as  its  appointment  should  follow 
the  reading  of  the  several  papers  prepared.  However,  it  might  be  well 
to  have  the  Chair  appoint  a  resolutions'  committee,  preferably  with  one 
representative  from  each  state. 

Mr.  J.  P.  Reese  believed  that  an  opportunity  should  be  afforded 
the  American  Mining  Congress  to  get  the  benefit  of  the  papers  read,  so 
that  the  mining  men  in  general  could  discuss  them.  He  further  be- 
lieved that  the  suggestion  of  a  commission  of  nine  members  to  formu- 


148  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

late  a  tentative  standardized  code  should  be  endorsed  by  the  Amer- 
ican Mining  Congress. 

Mr.  E.  W.  Parker  suggested  that  the  discussion  following  the 
reading  of  the  papers  be  limited  entirely  to  the  subject  matter  con- 
tained in  the  paper. 

Mr.  S.  A.  Taylor  suggested  that  a  committee  be  named,  obligated 
to  listen  to  each  paper  and  cull  out  what  they  wanted  to  embody 
in  resolutions.  Since  many  of  the  delegates  might  be  absent  at 
various  sessions  of  the  Mining  Congress,  the  appointment  of  this 
permanent  committee  would  ensure  continuous  hearing  of  the  papers 
and  discussion  arising  therefrom. 

Mr.  H.  M.  Wilson  approved  the  suggestion. 

Mr.  G.  S.  Rice  suggested  that  each  state  have  one  representative 
on  the  resolutions'  committee. 

Mr.  A.  J.  Moorshead  considered  this  number  too  unwieldly. 

Mr.  H.  M.  Wilson  suggested  the  committee  number  five  mem- 
bers. 

Moved  and  seconded  that  the  chairman  of  the  Mining  Investiga- 
tion Commission,  with  the  advice  of  the  commission,  appoint  the 
Resolutions'  Committee. 

Mr.  Grossberg  proposed  the  amendment  that  the  Chairman  ap- 
point the  committee.  The  amendment  accepted,  seconded  and  carried, 
whereupon  the  chairman  appointed  the  following: 

A.  J.   Moorshead,  operator,   Illinois. 

Robert  H.  Harlan,  miner,  Washington. 

G.   W.   Savage,  miner,   Ohio. 

Thos.   Kennedy,  miner,   Pennsylvania. 

Edward   Gray,  operator,   Iowa. 

Mr.  Kennedy  asked  Mr.  Harlan  if  he  proposed  to  include  the 
anthracite  coal  regions  of  Pennsylvania  in  the  proposed  standardized 
coal  mining  code. 

Mr.  Harlan  replied  that  he  had  not  given  that  matter  the  thought 
it  deserved,  but  he  realized  the  anthracite  conditions  were  almost  to- 
tally different  from  bituminous  conditions. 

Mr.  Kennedy  stated  that  for  years  the  anthracite  miners,  and  in 
fact  the  state  generally,  had  taken  the  position  that  the  mining  of 
anthracite  coal  was  a  subject  for  special  legislation,  and  to  that  end, 
there  were  two  distinct  mining  codes,  one  governing  soft  coal,  the 
other  governing  hard  coal.  Further  than  this,  the  anthracite  region 
had  what  is  known  as  the  miners'  certificate  law,  and  he  didn't  believe 
the  Illinois  law  pertaining  to  the  examination  of  miners  measured 
up  to  the  standard  of  the  Pennsylvania  Act.  In  1897  or  1898,  a  man 
had  been  imported  into  the  anthracite  region  for  the  purpose  of  testine 
the  miners'  certificate  act.  He  secured  work  with '.at  a  certificate,  and 
the  question  was  raised  as  to  whether  or  not  a  soft  coal  miner  was 
competent  to  mine  anthracite  coal.  The  case  was  taken  to  court,  and 
finally  reached  the  Supreme  court.  Since  then,  the  anthracite  region 
had  consistently  held  that  the  soft  coal  conditions  were  entirely  differ- 
ent, and  still  held  and  would  likely  continue  to  hold  the  position  that 
anthracite  mining  required  special  legislation.  However,  it  was  pos- 
sible that  further  discussion  might  bring  out  some  ideas  for  general 
laws  that  might  apply  commonly  to  both  regions. 

In  regard  to  state  mine  inspectors  being  kept  out  of  politics, 
Pennsylvania  had  dealt  with  that  question,  and  the  present  plan  seemed 
to  meet  with  the  approval  of  all  concerned.  The  candidates  for  state 
mine  inspectors'  positions  were  examined  by  a  state  board,  requiring 
a  grade  of  90  per  cent  to  obtain  a  certificate.  To  obtain  office,  the 
holders  of  certificates  must  be  chosen  by  the  electorate  of  the  county. 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  149 

In  1913,  a  commission  similar  to  the  Illinois  Commission  had  been 
appointed  to  revise  and  codify  the  laws.  Two  reports  were  submitted, 
the  miners  submitting  the  minority  report,  which  included  the  present 
method  of  selecting  mine  inspectors.  Dr.  J.  A.  Holmes,  after  reading 
it  carefully,  declared  it  to  be  the  best  mining  law  in  the  country. 

Mr.  Kennedy  said  that  personally  he  did  not  know  much  about  the 
bituminous  code  of  Pennsylvania,  but  he  understood  the  soft  coal  men 
considered  it  the  best  bituminous  code  in  existence. 

Mr.  Harlan  stated  that  he  deplored  the  influence  of  politics  in 
the  selection  of  such  important  officials  as  mine  inspectors,  and  be- 
lieved the  certificate  and  election  plan  of  Pennsylvania  far  more  prom- 
ising of  good  results. 

Mr.  Grossberg,  in  commenting  on  Mr.  Kennedy's  statement  that 
special  conditions  prevailed  in  the  anthracite  region,  stated  that  other 
states  also  mined  hard  coal.  A  uniform  code  could  classify  mining. 
For  example,  the  building  code  included  theatres,  warehouses,  office 
buildings,  etc. 

Mr.  E.  H.  Weitzell  (Colo.)  said  he  supposed  there  was  no  State 
in  the  Union  affording  such  various  conditions  as  Colorado.  They 
had  had  the  experience  of  oassing  a  mining  law  about  three  years  ago. 
After  it  had  been  passed  in  the  House,  it  was  referred  to  a  sub-com- 
mittee of  the  Senate,  representing  the  miners  and  operators,  and 
about  three  weeks  of  discussion  of  ten  or  eleven  hours  a  day,  revising, 
changing,  endeavoring  not  to  impose  hardships  on  any  one  district, 
were  needed  to  ccmplete  the  final  draft.  Yet  it  had  not  proved  satis- 
factory, and  needed  changing  again.  In  fact,  it  seemed  impossible 
even  in  one  state  to  get  a  satisfactory  mining  law.  While  he  believed 
there  were  some  questions  that  might  be  subject  to  federal  legislation, 
and  some  conditions  such  as  ventilation,  traveling  ways,  etc.,  that 
might  be  almost  general,  yet  it  seemed  hardly  possible  to  hope  to 
cover  the  whole  question  by  federal  legislation  or  uniform  state  laws. 
In  Colorado,  Utah  and  New  Mexico,  the  mines  have  atmospheric  con- 
ditions to  contend  with  that  eastern  mines  known  nothing  about.  It 
was  necessary  to  put  radiators  in  some  mines,  while  50  miles  away  the 
mines  needed  no  radiators.  The  provision  for  using  permissible  powder 
worked  a  hardship  on  some  operators  who  had  no  reason  for  using  it. 

The  death  rate  in  Colorado  had  decreased  very  rapidly  of  late, 
particularly  during  the  last  year.  Although  the  inspection  service  was 
most  competent,  he  believed  the  compensation  law  a  wonderful  help, 
as  it  stood  to  reason  that  men  were  more  careful  when  accidents  cost. 

Mr.  G.  S.  Rice  expressed  his  regret  that  such  emphasis  was  laid 
upon  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  proposed  uniform  mining  legisla- 
tion. He  believed  methods  would  be  found  to  overcome  them.  Great 
Britain  and  France  had  been  able  to  accomplish  something  toward  uni- 
formity in  general  provisions  regarding  ventilation,  gas  and  the  like. 

Mr.  Jas.  Dalrymple  (Colo.)  stated  that  in  his  opinion  if  it  was 
intended  to  propose  uniform  mining  legislation  for  local  conditions, 
the  project  was  practically  impossible.  He  had  worked  in  mines  of 
varying  conditions  and  appreciated  from  practical  knowledge  the  hope- 
lessness ji  local  conditions  governed  by  uniform  laws.  He  believed  this 
useless  debate  should  end,  and  some  information  be  given  as  to  just 
what  the  conference  hoped  to  accomplish. 

Mr.  H.  M.  Wilson  replied  that  the  commission  to  be  appointed 
later  would  deal  with  details. 

Mr.  Van  H.  Manning,  Director,  Federal  Bureau  of  Mines,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  having  arrived,  was  introduced  to  the  conference,  and 
read  a  paper  which  will  be  found  on  page  585  of  this  report. 

Adjournment  was  taken  at  1   o'clock  p.  m. 


150  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

NOVEMBER  13,  1916,  AFTERNOON  SESSION. 

The  afternoon  session  was  called  to  order  at  4:20  p.  m.,  Mr.  Thomas 
Jeremiah  presiding. 

Mr.  S.  A.  Taylor  (Pa.)  read  a  paper  which  will  be  found  on  page  581 
of  this  report. 

Mr.  G.  W.  Savage  (Ohio)  said  in  reference  to  the  Ohio  commis- 
sion's work  that  it  had  taken  up  the  old  mining  laws,  redrafted  and 
added  some  new  amendments  and  presented  the  mining  code  as  it 
now  exists  to  the  legislature,  which  had  passed  it.  He  believed 
that  if  the  miners  and  operators  would  confer  on  cases  of  this  kind, 
they  could  agree  to  a  law  that  would  protect  the  life  and  health  of  the 
miner  as  well  as  conserve  the  property  of  the  coal  operator.  He  thought 
the  time  had  arrived  when  they  should  try  to  do  it.  He  knew  what 
it  was  to  go  before  Legislatures,  the  operators  coming  in  with  their 
lobby,  fighting  the  miners'  propositions,  and  vice  versa.  He  believed 
that  a  commission  could  establish  a  basis  for  mining  laws  in  every 
state  of  the  Union.  Matters  affecting  local  conditions  could  be  ad- 
justed in  those  states.  He  did  not  think  a  commission  could  possibly 
recommend  a  law  that  would  cover  every  mining  district,  but  it  could 
establish  a  basis  of  good  laws  for  every  section.  If  the  proper  com- 
mission was  selected,  and  had  authority  delegated  from  the  different 
states,  and  took  matters  up  as  they  should,  he  had  no  doubt  but  that 
in  a  year's  time  they  could  report  something  tangible  upon  which  the 
conference  could  base  a  general  mining  law. 

Mr.  E.  T.  Bent  (111.)  said  that  Illinois  had  tried  the  commission 
plan,  which  had  proved  so  satisfactory  that  the  Legislature  had  con- 
tinued it.  He  thought  the  whole  theory  of  the  Illinois  laws  a  mistaken 
one,  as  the  mining  laws  should  be  generic,  not  specific,  and  the  mine 
inspectors,  controlled  by  the  Mining  Board,  should  make  rules  flexible 
enough  to  meet  changing  conditions  that  exist  in  the  different  fields. 

Mr.  G.  S.  Rice  stated  that  it  would  be  very  difficult  to  get  to- 
gether a  commission  from  all  parts  of  the  country  representative  of  all 
diverse  conditions.  It  was  his  thought  that  it  might  be  possible  through 
the  action  and  request  of  this  body  and  of  the  American  Mining  Con- 
gress to  petition  Congress  to  pass  a  bill  calling  for  the  appointment  of 
five  or  six  or  more  men  to  be  appointed  by  the  President,  such  com- 
mission to  visit  the  principal  mining  centers  and  give  hearings,  the 
hearings  being  public.  After  a  due  time  had  elapsed,  the  com- 
mission would  nresent  to  the  legislatures  of  the  various  states  a  pro- 
posed codification  of  mining  laws  which  would  apply  generally  through- 
out the  country,  leaving  such  details  as  seem  fit  to  tlie  states  to  be  han- 
dled by  the  states..  He  agreed  with  Mr.  Bent  that  mining  laws  were 
made  too  specific — they  should  be  ma^e  more  general  and  greater 
leeway  left  to  the  mining  departments  of  various  states  for  interpreta- 
tion. Some  mining  laws  precluded  improved  methods  because  of  limita- 
tions laid  down. 

Mr.  A.  J.  Moorshead  (111.)  prefaced  the  reading  of  his  Daper  by 
saying  that  Illinois  was  well  known  throughout  the  country  for  its 
mining  legislation,  its  particular  efforts  in  that  direction  having  been 
forced  on  it  by  disaster,  which  was  a  sad  but  true  commentary,  appli- 
cable also  to  other  states.  He  said  "that  a  great  deal  of  pains  had  been 
taken  by  the  original  Mining  Investigation  Commission  in  revising  the 
laws.  A  compilation  of  all  state  mining  laws  had  been  drawn  up  for 
comparison,  and  in  addition,  the  commission  had  the  benefit  of  advice 
from  Mr.  Carl  Scholz,  who  had  then  but  recently  returned  from  abroad, 
where  he  had  studied  mining  conditions. 

Mr.  Moorshead's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  361  of  this  report. 

Concluding,  Mr.  Moorshead  stated  that  he  believed  that  a  mining 
law  could  be  made  general  enough  to  cover  the  various  conditions  of 
mining,  so  that  a  mine  examiner  in  Illinois,  with  his  certificate  should 
be  competent  to  go  into  the  mine  whether  in  Pennsylvania  or  Wash- 
ington. 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  151 

Mr.  Stock  explained  that  one  good  feature  of  the  Illinois  commission 
plan  was  the  possibility  of  carrying  on  investigations.  For  example,  the 
powder  manufacturers  of  the  United  States  had  been  invited  to  appear 
before  the  commission  and  present  their  ideas  of  what  would  be  a  fair 
powder  law. 

Mr.  Stock  read  the  paper  of  Mr.  Michael  Scollard  of  Indiana. 

Mr.  Scollard's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  577  of  this  report. 

There  being  no  discussion  on  Mr.  Scollard's  paper,  Mr.  Grossberg 
suggested  that  two  things  be  done:  (1)  Elect  a  permanent  chairman,  as 
Mr.  Jeremiah  was  compelled  to  leave  the  city;  (2)  appoint  a  committee 
of  three  to  work  up  plans  for  the  proposed  interstate  national  com- 
mission, in  order  that  a  report  could  be  made  prior  to  final  adjournment. 

For  permanent  chairman  Mr.  Rice  Miller  (Illinois)  nominated  Mr. 
A.  J.  Moorshead. 

Mr.  A.  J.   Moorshead  nominated  Mr.  Schmick  of  St.  Louis. 

Mr.  Moorshcad's  nomination  being  seconded  and  nominations 
closed,  Mr.  Moorshead  was  elected  permanent  chairman. 

Mr.  Grossberg  withdrew  the  second  part  of  his  motion  concerning 
the  appointment  of  a  committee  upon  learning  that  committee  of  five 
appointed  previously  was  to  make  the  report  he  desired. 

Adjournment  was  taken  at  5:20  o'clock  p.  m.,  to  meet  the  following 
morning  at  9  a.  m. 

TUESDAY,  NOVEMBER  14,  1916. 
Morning  Session. 

Session  was  called  to  order   Mr.  A.  J.  Moorshead  presiding. 

Mr.  Grossberg  read  the  following  paper  by  Judge  J.  W.  Thompson 
of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Mines,  who  was  unable  to  be  present: 

Judge  Thompson's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  269  of  this  report. 

Mr.  Grossberg,  commenting  on  Judge  Thompson's  statement  re- 
garding the  diversity  of  construction  placed  by  the  different  state  courts 
in  sustaining  or  rejecting  various  acts  on  constitutional  grounds,  said 
that  his  own  experience  led  him  to  believe  that  of  late  years,  courts 
have  shown  a  growing  tendency  to  sustain  discretionary  powers  given 
administrative  officials  or  commissions,  and  in  this  connection,  he  would 
suggest  that  if  a  commission  were  formed  or  brought  about  by  this 
body,  and  it  should  come  to  draft  a  uniform  law,  it  would  be  best,  as 
nearly  as  possible,  to  leave  local  conditions  to  the  discretion  of  the 
state  commission  or  possibly  state  inspectors,  rather  than  inject  a 
diversity  of  laws  into  the  different  states. 

Mr.  J.  P.  Reese  stated  that  in  his  opinion  it  was  time  some  in- 
dividual liberty  should  be  taken  away  from  the  miners,  and  punishment 
devised  for  men  disobeying  safety  rules  which  endangered  not  only 
their  own  lives  but  the  lives  of  those  near  them. 

Mr.  H.  M.  Wilson  objected  to  the  irrelevancy  of  the  discussion  and 
suggested  that  the  chair  limit  the  discussion  to  the  subject  of  the  paper 
just  read. 

The  chairman  replied  that  technically  Mr.  Wilson  was  right,  but 
that  the  human  element  was  so  closely  connected  with  accidents  that 
the  matter  must  be  solved  before  prevalent  safety  could  be  attained. 

Mr^Harlan  said  that  he  was  well  aware  of  the  human  element  in 
connection  with  accidents,  but  believed  that  the  miner's  apparent  care- 
lessness grew  out  of  his  feeling  that  the  operator  was  not  sufficiently 
interested  in  safety.  He  believed  that  if  the  operator  took  every  possible 
precaution,  the  miners  would  be  so  touched  by  the  deep  interest  mani- 
fested that  they  would  exert  themselves  to  observe  every  safety  rule. 

At  this  Doi.nt,  the  chair  commented  on  the  very  small  number  present, 
saying  that  he  thought  it  wise  to  adjourn  until  the  following  morning. 

Mr.   Grossberg  moved  that  the  meeting  continue  in  order  that  the 


152  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

committee  of  live  could  hear  the  remainder  of  the  papers  and  be  pre- 
paring a  report.  Motion  seconded  and  carried. 

The  chair  was  directed  to  visit  the  session  of  the  American  Mining 
Congress  and  bring  in  the  missing  delegates. 

In  his  absence,  Professor  H.  H.  Stock  was  named  temporary 
chairman. 

Mr.  James  Dalrymple  stated  that  he  believed  Mr.  Reese  had  opened 
up  a  very  important  question;  that  if  the  miner  expected  100  per  cent 
safety,  he  would  have  to  furnish  99  per  cent  of  it  himself,  provided,  of 
course,  the  laws  were  reasonable  and  miners  furnished  with  necessary 
material  for  adequate  protection.  In  his  state,  the  timbering  has  to 
meet  with  the  approval  of  the  inspector  or  deputy,  and  it  is  put  on 
record  at  the  mine.  If  the  miner  does  not  timber  as  per  agreement,  the 
case  is  reported  to  the  superintendent.  If  it  is  the  miner's  first  offense, 
and  his  previous  work  has  been  satisfactory,  the  superintendent  may  or 
may  not  cause  him  to  lose  that  day's  work.  On  second  offense,  the  man 
is  either  discharged  or  given  a  lay-off  of  ten  days.  For  the  third  offense, 
he  is  discharged. 

The  mining  law  in  Colorado  is  printed  in  ten  different  languages,  so 
that  every  miner  can  read  the  requirements.  It  was  hardly  fair  to 
compare  European  fatalities  with  American  fatalities  for  the  reason  that 
the  old  country  miners  universally  spoke  the  country's  language,  while 
in  America  ten  to  fifteen  nationalities  could  be  worknig  in  one  mine. 

Mr.  Weitzell  stated  that  they  were  offering  prizes  as  an  incentive 
to  the  men  to  take  safety  precautions.  Each  month,  at  the  mine  having 
the  best  record,  the  foreman  receives  S15,  each  assistant  $10,  each  fire 
boss  $10  and  boss  driver  $5.  In  addition,  a  banner  was  hung  up  at  the 
office.  One  mine  in  five  months  had  no  accident,  and  no  man  laid  off  a 
single  day.  On  one  occasio.n,  three  mines  made  100  per  cent.  Another 
plan  was  now  being  tried,  viz.:  if  a  man  laid  off  for  disregarding  a  safety 
rule,  a  yellow  descriptive  slip  hung  over  his  check.  Prizes  were  offered 
also  for  the  best  suggestion  in  behalf  of  safety. 

Mr.  G.  S.  Rice  commented  on  foreign  mining,  saying  that  he  did  not 
believe  it  fair  to  compare  the  death  tolls  in  view  of  the  widely  different 
methods  pursued.  For  example,  i.n  France  the  operators  were  compelled 
by  law  to  fill  in  the  mine  for  two  reasons,  viz.:  (1)  To  get  complete 
recovery  of  coal,  and  (2)  to  prevent  subsidence  of  surface.  In  one  mine, 
they  had  to  quarry  rock  outside  and  bring  it  in  for  filling,  requiring  as 
many  men  doing  dead  work  as  men  working  in  coal. 

Mr.  Grossberg  suggested  that  in  order  to  make  progress,  the  pro- 
gram of  prepared  papers  should  be  resumed. 

Mr.  H.  M.  Wilson  moved  that  the  papers  be  read  in  order,  the 
debate  following  each  paper  as  read,  discussion  to  be  limited  to  three 
minutes,  the  gross  debate  to  fifteen  minutes  for  each  paper. 

Mr.  Savage  disagreed,  saying  that  no  man  could  express  himself  in 
three  minutes. 

The  chairman,  Mr.  Moorshead,  stated  that  he  wished  everybody  to 
be  satisfied,  and  believed  that  ten  minutes'  debate  allowed  each  speaker 
would  be  sufficient,  and  yet  warrant  progress.  There  being  no  objections, 
this  rule  was  adopted. 

Mr.  H.  H.  Stock  (Illinois)  announced  that  Mr.  Shiflett,  Chief  Mine 
Inspector  of  Tennessee,  was  detained  by  illness  and  for  the  same  reason 
had  not  been  able  to  prepare  his  paper,  but  had  presented  his  views  on 
the  subject  of  uniform  mining  legislation  to  the  Governor  of  Tennessee 
in  the  form  of  a  letter,  the  pertinent  part  of  which  was  read  as  follows: 
While  I  agree  with  the  honorable  Governor  of  Illinois  that 

every  possible   effort  should  be  made  to  protect  life  and  limb,  and 

that  a  commission  such  as  he  designates  from  all  the  mining  states 

should  be  appointed  to  consider  the  matters  referred  to  in  his  letter, 

from   which    there   is   no    doubt   much    good   could   be   brought   out. 

However,   I   do  not  believe  that  a  uniform  mining  law  as  outlined 

in  Governor  Dunne's  letter  would  be  practical.     I  think  each  state, 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  153 

and  in  fact  every  mine  should  be  under  special  laws  and  rules  that 
may  be  applicable  to  conditions  in  each  and  every  mine  as  conditions 
in  no  two  mines  are  alike.  Realizing  this  years  ago,  I  prepared  a 
measure  which  is  now  the  mining  law  of  Tennessee,  a  greater  part 
of  which  is  a  departure  from  any  other  mining  law  in  existence, 
that  is,  the  Chief  Mine  Inspector  has  authority  under  the  laws  of 
Tennessee  to  formulate  special  rules  regulating  the  development, 
management  and  governing  the  employes  and  management  of  every 
mine.  .No  other  mining  laws  in  the  U.  S.  give  the  Chief  Mine 
Inspector  such  authority  or  imposes  on  its  chief  mine  inspector 
such  a  responsibility. 

I  do  not  believe  that  any  commission  of  mining  men,  no  matter 
how  intelligent,  could  prepare  a  uniform  mining  law  that  would  meet 
the  diverse  conditions  that  arise  from  day  to  day  in  the  mine,  and 
after  years  of  study  and  practical  experience  with  mining,  I  am  of 
the  opinion  that  if  you  appoint  such  a  commission  as  suggested  by 
Governor  Dunne,  I  would  appoint  mining  men  that  are  favorable  to 
the  mining  laws  of  Tennessee. 

Yours  very  truly, 

(Signed)     R.  A.  SHIFLETT. 

Further  than  an  inquiry  as  to  the  names  of  the  delegates  suggested 
by  Mr.  Shiflett  in  his  letter,  no  discussion  was  held. 

Mr.  Grossberg  read  the  following  paper  written  by  J.  A.  Garcia, 
Chicago. 

Mr.  Garcia's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  281  of  this  report. 

Mr.  Paul's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  572  of  this  report. 

Mr.  Stock,  commenting  on  Mr.  Paul's  paper,  said  that  it  contained 
one  idea  that  had  not  received  due  attention,  namely,  the  recognition 
of  the  mine  inspection  service  on  a  commission  considering  mining  laws. 
The  Illinois  Commission,  realizing  the  need  for  consultation  with  the 
inspection  force,  had  requested  the  State  Mining  Board  to  appoint  a 
committee  to  deliberate  with  the  commission. 

Mr.  J.  P.  Reese  remarked  that  the  inspection  force  should  be  taken 
out  of  politics.  For  examnle,  the  twelve  inspectors  in  Illinois  would  soon 
be  displaced  because  of  the  new  incoming  administration.  The  Pennsyl- 
vania plan  of  electing  certificated  men  was  preferable  to  the  political 
spoils  system. 

Mr.  Savage  said  that  the  commission  plan  was  all  right  if  composed 
of  men  interested  in  coal  mining.  In  Ohio,  the  Industrial  Commission 
did  not  include  one  mining  man,  yet  the  commission  controlled  the 
mining  department  and  mine  inspectors. 

The  chair  announced  that  he  preferred  not  to  serve  on  the  Resolu- 
tions Committee  and  named  Mr.  J.  G.  Grossberg  in  his  stead. 

Adjournment  was  taken  at  4  p.  m.  to  reconvene  the  following  morn- 
ing at  9  o'clock. 

WEDNESDAY,  NOVEMBER  15,  1916. 
Morning  Session. 

Conference  was  called  to  order  at  9:50  o'clock  a.  m.,  Mr.  A.  J. 
Moorshead  presiding. 

Mr.  R.  W.  Ropiquet  (East  St.  Louis,  111.)  read  a  paper. 

Mr.  Ropiquet's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  250  of  this  report. 

There  being  no  discussion  of  Mr.  Ropiquet's  paper,  the  chairman 
announced  that  since  an  important  meeting  of  the  American  Mining 
Congress  was  now  in  progress,  the  conference  would  adjourn  until  2 
p.  m.  to  meet  in  Room  1708. 

Adjournment  was  taken  at   10:45  a.  m. 


154  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

WEDNESDAY,  NOVEMBER  15,  1916. 
Afternoon  Session. 

The  conference  reconvened  at  2:20  p.  m.,  Mr.  A,  J.  Moorshead 
presiding. 

The  chairman  stated  that  the  Resolutions  Committee  was  now 
ready  to  report. 

Mr.  J.  G.  Grossberg,  chairman  of  the  Resolutions  Committee,  read 
the  following  resolutions  separately  and  moved  their  individual  adoption, 
asking  that  the  committee  be  authorized  to  change  the  phraseology  later 
on,  since  the  work  had  been  very  hurriedly  done. 

Resolution  No.  1. 

The  name  of  the  organization  shall  be  "Uniform  Coal  Mining 
Laws  Association." 

Its  adoption  was  moved,  seconded  and  duly  carried. 

Resolution  No.  2. 

The  organization  shall  proceed  to  the  election  of  permanent 
officers,  consisting  of  president,  vice  president,  secretary  and  treas- 
urer, to  arrange  for  the  next  annual  meeting  of  the  organization,  and 
to  carry  on  the  business  of  the  organization  in  the  interim. 

Resolution  No.  3. 

This  body  when  convening  in  annual  session,  shall  consist  of 
commissions  of  nine  from  as  many  of  the  coal  producing  states  as 
will  be  represented  by  the  members  appointed  by  the  governors  of 
the  different  states,  and  this  body  recommends  that  these  commis- 
sions shall  consist  of  nine  members  each,  three  miners,  three  oper- 
ators and  three  presenting  the  public. 

Resolution  No.  4. 

It  is  the  sense  of  the  conference  on  Uniform  Mining  Legislation 
that  it  is  entirely  feasible  to  draft  a  uniform  coal  mining  law 
covering  the  fundamental  operations  and  conditions  of  mining  in  the 
different  states,  leaving  the  local  conditions  to  be  handled  in  each 
state. 

It  is  the  sense  of  the  conference  that  a  commission  of  nine 
members  be  selected  to  consist  of  three  representatives  of  the 
miners  to  be  appointed  by  the  International  Executive  Board  of  the 
United  Mine  Workers  of  America;  three  representatives  of  the  coal 
operators  to  be  appointed  by  the  American  Minine  Congress;  and 
three  reoresentatives  of  the  general  public  to  be  appointed  by  the 
director  of  the  Federal  Bureau  of  Mines  as  soon  as  he  has  been 
notified  of  the  appointment  of  the  miners'  and  operators'  repre- 
sentatives. 

We  earnestly  request  Congress  to  ^appropriate  requisite  funds 
for  carrying  on  the  work  of  the  commission. 

Mr.  Grossberg  said  it  was  the  understanding  of  the  committee  that 
if  adopted,  Resolution  No.  4  would  be  immediately  submitted  to  the 
American  Mining  Congress  so  that  action  could  be  taken  by  the 
Congress  before  adjournment. 

ftlr.  Reese  asked  if  the  commission  would  be  a  separate  and  distinct 
organization  from  the  American  Mining  Congress. 

Mr.  Grossberg  replied  that  it  would  be,  because  the  membership 
of  the  American  Mining  Congress  was  limited,  and  the  committee  be- 
lieved the  commission  should  be  separate  and  apart  in  order  to  have 
wider  representation. 

Mr.  Rice  said  he  did  not  understand  how  it  was  expected  such  a 
large  body  could  conveniently  assemble,  as  there  were  thirty-five  states 
mining  coal  and  the  representation  on  that  basis  would  number  three  or 
four  hundred. 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  155 

Mr.  Harlan  replied  that  the  plan  was  based  on  the  Illinois  plan,  with 
its  three  groups  of  representatives,  and  it  was  hoped  that  out  of  the 
apparently  large  number,  enough  would  be  able  to  attend  to  give  equal 
representation  of  the  three  groups.  It  has  been  suggested  that  the 
session  of  the  commission  be  held  at  the  same  time  and  place  of  meeting 
of  the  Mining  Congress  because  of  the  large  number  of  mining  men 
attending. 

Mr.  Grossberg  said  that  it  was  expected  the  Commission  of  Nine 
would  do  the  actual  work. 

Mr.  Reese  maintained  that  the  commission  should  be  a  part  of  the 
Mining  Congress  because  of  its  power  and  influence. 

Mr.  Harlan  replied  that  the  miners  were  not  members  of  the  Con- 
gress, although  he  understood  a  formal  invitation  would  be  sent  the 
Union  in  the  near  future. 

Mr.  H.  M.  Wilson  suggested  as  an  amendment:  "Which  association 
shall,  so  far  as  practicable,  meet  as  a  section  of  the  Mining  Congress." 
Mr.   Reese   said  he  would  withdraw  his  objection  to  the  body  not 
being  a  part  of  the  Mining  Congress. 

Mr.  Grossberg  said  that  the  committee  believed  it  wise  to  leave  the 
matter  of  affiliation  with  the  Mining  Congress  to  the  discretion  of  the 
Executive  Committee. 

Mr.  Manning  (Washington,  D.  C.)  said  he  was  strongly  of  the 
opinion  that  the  commission  should  be  connected  with  the  American 
Mining  Congress,  as  it  had  offices  in  Washington,  and  the  secretary 
devoted  most  of  his  time  to  matters  pertaining  to  the  mining  industry. 
Mr.  Callbreath  would  be  of  great  assistance,  particularly  in  obtaining  an 
appropriation  from  Congress. 

The  chairman  asked  if  the  endorsement  of  the  commission  by  the 
American  Mining  Congress  would  not  be  sufficient. 

Mr.  Grossberg  asked  if  there  were  any  objections  to  leaving  the 
matter  of  connection  with  the  American  Mining  Congress  to  the  dis- 
cretion of  the  executive  officers  of  the  commission. 

Mr.  Bent  stated  that  he  thought  it  vitally  important  that  the  services 
of  the  secretary  of  the  American  Mining  Congress  be  secured  in  connec- 
tion with  the  commission. 

Mr.  S.  A.  Taylor  said  he  had  already  prepared  a  resolution  to 
present  a  little  later.  His  idea  was  a  little  different.  He  was  satisfied  that 
the  work  the  Bureau  of  Mines  had  done  in  reference  to  a  code  of  laws 
for  metal  mines  should  be  carried  out  in  this  instance.  He  doubted  if 
the  committee  had  a  true  idea  of  the  amount  of  work  involved  in  codi- 
fying the  mining  laws  of  the  states.  He  suggested  that  the  American 
Mining  Congress  be  asked  to  co-operate  to  the  extent  of  having  its 
secretary  present  a  bill  to  Congress  asking  for  the  authorization  of 
certain  work  and  an  appropriation  therefor. 
Mr.  Taylor  read  the  following  resolution:4 

"We  authorize  the  Secretary  of  the  American  Mining  Congress 
to  prepare  a  bill  and  have  it  introduced  in  Congress  authorizing  the 
Bureau   of   Mines   to   codify   the   laws   of   the  various   states   and   to 
prepare  a  formal  law  to  present  to  the  various  mining  states,  carry- 
ing with  it  an  appropriation  of  $12,000  for  two  years." 
Mr.  Taylor    said    that    in    his    opinion,  if    the  proposed  commission 
acted  as  an  advisory  body  to  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  far  greater  headway 
would  be  made. 

Resolution    No.   2,   concerning   permanent   officers   for   the   Uniform 
Coal  Mining  Laws  Association,  was  duly  adopted. 
The  following  resolution  was  adopted: 

"It  is  the  sense  of  this  body  that  Governor  Edw.  F.  Dunne,  who 
called  this  conference  on  Uniform  Mining  Laws,  and  the  governors 
of  several  states  who  appointed  representatives  to  attend  it,  have 
rendered  a  distinct  public  service  in  furthering  the  cause  of  uniform 
coal  mining  legislation  and  in  promoting  general  safety  and  efficiency 
in  coal  mining." 


156  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

The  following  resolution  was  read: 

"The  usefulness  of  any  law  is  no  greater  than  its  enforcement. 

The  safety  of  many  thousands  of  lives  and  many  millions  in  property 

is  dependent  upon  a  proper  enforcement  of  the  mining  laws. 

It   is   therefore   the   sense   of  this   conference   that  the  mine  in- 
spection   service,    like    the    Army    and    Navy,    and    police    and    fire 

departments  should  be  scrupulously  and  rigidly  kept  out  of  politics. 
In  view  of  forthcoming  changes  of  administration  in  a  number 

of  states,  the  press  are  requested  to  give  this  resolution  the  widest 

possible   publicity." 

Mr.  H.  M.  Wilson  suggesting  leaving  out  the  words  "police  and 

fire   departments." 

Mr.  Grossberg  said  that  the  idea  was  not  implied  that  the  police 
and  fire  departments  were  out  of  politics,  but  that  they  should  be. 

Mr.  Wilson  withdrew  his  objection,  and  the  resolution  was  duly 
adopted. 

The  discussion  of  Resolution  No.  4  was  again  taken  up. 

Mr.  Harlan  (Washington)  explained  that  the  committee  believed 
the  inspection  service  should  be  represented  on  the  commission,  but 
deemed  it  not  fair  to  dictate  to  the  Federal  Bureau  in  the  matter.  The 
committee  had  also  spoken  of  an  engineer  being  one  of  the  three 
independents,  but  decided  to  leave  the  matter  to  the  discretion  of  the 
bureau.  They  had  named  the  American  Mining  Congress  to  appoint 
the  three  operators  because  there  was  no  organized  national  body  of 
operators. 

Mr.  Bent  (Illinois)  asked  if  it  was  the  thought  of  the  committee 
that  the  Federal  Bureau  would  appoint  members  from  the  bureau  or 
outside. 

Mr.  Harlan  (Washington)  replied  that  it  was  the  thought  ^  the 
bureau  would  select  a  man  from  its  corps  of  engineers.  At  all  times 
the  co-operation  of  the  Federal  Bureau  would  be  expected  and  desired. 

Mr.  Manning  stated  that  the  words  "Director  of  the  Federal  Bu- 
reau" should  be  changed  to  "Secretary  of  the  Interior,"  as  the  Bureau 
of  Mines  was  a  section  of  the  Interior  Department. 

This  change  was  duly  made. 

Mr.  Bent  (Illinois)  suggested  that  the  Director  of  the  Federal 
Bureau  be  an  ex  officio  member  of  the  commission. 

Mr.  Rice  (Pennsylvania)  stated  that  the  commission  appointed  by 
the  Indiana  Legislature  requested  a  mining  engineer  named  by  the 
bureau,  but  he  was  an  outside  man  not  connected  with  the  bureau. 

Mr.  Taylor  said  that  he  believed  the  commission  should  be  known 
as  the  consulting  body  to  the  Federal  Bureau.  A  large  part  of  the 
Pennsylvania  operators  did  not  recognize  the  union,  and  this  feature 
might  interfere  with  its  work  as  a  separate  commission. 

The  Chairman  suggested  that  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed 
to  withdraw  for  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  to  revise  the  resolution. 

Mr.  Harlan  objected  to  another  committee  redrafting  the  resolu- 
tion. 

Mr.  Grossberg  suggested  the  following  amendment: 
"It   is    the    sense    of   the    conference    that    the    commission    of   nine 
members  be  selected  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  draw  up  and  recommend 
a  standardized  code  of  mining  laws  for  adoption  to  the  several  states." 
Mr.    Wilson    objected,    saying    that    Congress    never    appropriated 
money  to  other  than  Federal  departments.     It  was  idle  to  talk  of  getting 
Federal  assistance  outside  of  the  Federal  Bureau  of  Mines. 

Mr.  Wilson  moved  "That  the  Secretary  of  the  American  Mining 
Congress  be  authorized  to  prepare  a  bill  to  be  introduced  into  Congress 
authorizing  an  appropriation  of  $12,000  for  the  codification  of  coal  min- 
ing laws  of  the  various  states,  and  that  the  above  committee  shall  act 
as  an  advisory  committee  to  the  Director  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines  in 
carrying  out  its  duties." 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  157 

Mr.  Grossberg  said  that  he  did  not  agree  with  Mr.  Wilson  that 
the  proposed  commission  be  simply  an  advisory  body  to  the  Federal 
Bureau.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  actual  legislation  would 
have  to  be  enacted  not  by  Federal  Congress,  but  by  the  several  states. 
The  proposed  commission  would  really  be  advisory  to  the  states  in 
recommending  the  tentative  mining  code.  To  state  specifically  that 
it  should  be  an  advisory  body  to  the  Federal  Bureau  of  Mines  would 
undoubtedly  create  opposition  in  some  quarters.  There  was  still  alive 
the  feeling  of  state  sovereignty,  and  it  would  hardly  be  wise  to  present 
to  the  state  legislatures  a  bill  labeled,  "This  bill  is  drawn  by  the  Federal 
Bureau  of  Mines — please  pass  it."  Some  states  would  declare  it  a 
violation  of  their  individual  rights.  It  was  the  idea  of  the  commission 
to  avail  itself  of  the  assistance  and  co-operation  of  the  Federal  Bureau, 
and  to  have  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  name  the  Director  as  a  mem- 
ber. But  instead  of  having  the  commission  advisory  to  the  bureau,  he 
believed  it  wiser  to  have  the  bureau  advisory  to  the  commission. 

Mr.  Harlan  said  he  approved  Mr.  Grossberg's  position.  He  doubted 
if  an  appropriation  could  be  secured  from  Congress,  in  which  event 
the  miners'  and  operators'  organizations  would  have  to  bear  the  neces- 
sary expense. 

Mr.  Grossberg  offered  the  following  amendment  specifying  the 
duties  of  the  proposed  commission:  "Whose  duties  it  shall  be  to  draft 
and  recommend  to  the  next  annual  session  of  this  body  a  uniform  set 
or  code  of  mining  laws  to  be  recommended  for  adoption  by  the  several 
mining  states." 

Mr.  Wilson  offered  the  following  motion:  "It  shall  be  the  duty 
of  this  commission  to  codify  the  mining  laws  of  the  several  states  and 
prepare  a  draft  of  the  uniform  code  of  mining  laws,  and  we  earnestly 
request  Congress  to  appropriate  $12,000  to  the  Federal  Bureau  of  Mines 
to  carry  out  the  work  of  the  commission." 

Mr.  Grossberg  replied  that  he  had  no  objection  to  the  first  part 
of  the  motion,  but  did  not  approve  of  the  second  part.  He  therefore 
offered  the  following  motion:  "The  duties  of  this  commission  shall  be 
to  draft  a  report  to  the  next  annual  meeting  of  this  organization  and 
a  code  of  uniform  mining  laws  to  be  recommended  for  adoption  by  the 
legislatures  of  the  several  coal  mining  states." 

Mr.  Bent  suggested  that  the  commission  consist  of  ten  members, 
the  tenth  being  the  Director  of  the  Federal  Bureau  serving  as  ex  officio 
member. 

Mr.  Wilson  suggested  that  the  paragraph  asking  for  an  appropria- 
tion from  Congress  be  amended  to  read:  "We  earnestly  request  Con- 
gress to  appropriate  requisite  funds  to  the  Federal  Bureau  of  Mines  for 
carrying  on  the  work  of  the  commission." 

The  motion  as  amended  seconded  and  carried. 

Mr.  Grossberg  moved  that  the  Chairman  appoint  a  committee  of 
three,  the  Chairman  also  serving,  to  appear  before  the  American  Mining 
Congress  immediately  upon  adjournment  of  the  session  to  present  reso- 
lutions for  the  formation  of  the  commission  with  the  request  that  they 
act  upon  the  matter  before  final  adjournment. 

Motion   seconded   and   carried. 

Whereupon  the  Chairman  appointed  Messrs.  Grossberg,  Harlan  and 
Taylor. 

Mr.  Harlan  asked  to  be  excused,  as  he  was  leaving  town  very 
shortly. 

Mr.  Taylor  stated  that  he  was  not  a  delegate,  and  therefore  could 
not  serve. 

Mr.  W.  R.  Crane  was  appointed  in  Mr.  Taylor's  place. 

Mr.  Grossberg  moved  that  a  resolution  be  adopted  extending  the 
thanks  of  the  conference  for  the  courtesies  ^  shown  by  the  American 
Mining  Congress.  Motion  seconded  and  carried. 


158  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

The  resolution  concerning  make-up  of  proposed  commission  was 
read  as  finally  amended: 

"It  is  the  sense  of  this  organization  that  a  Commission  on  Uniform 
Coal  Mining  Legislation  be  selected  to  consist  as  follows: 

"Three  coal  miners  to  be  appointed  by  the  International  Executive 
Board  of  the  United  Mine  Workers  of  America,  three  coal  operators  to 
be  appointed  by  the  American  Mining  Congress  and  three  representa- 
tives of  the  general  public  to  be  appointed  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Interior  as  soon  as  he  has  been  notified  of  the  appointment  of  the 
miners'  and  operators'  representatives,  the  Director  of  the  Federal 
Bureau  of  Mines  to  be  an  ex  officio  member  of  the  commission. 

"The  duties  of  this  commission  shall  be  to  draft  and  report  to  the 
next  annual  meeting  of  this  organization  a  tentative  code  of  uniform 
coal  mining  laws  to  be  recommended  for  adoption  to  the  legislatures 
of  the  several  coal  mining  states. 

"We  earnestly  request  Congress  to  appropriate  the  requisite  funds 
to  the  Federal  Bureau  of  Mines  for  the  purpose  of  co-operating  in 
carrying  on  the  work  of  the  commission."  Duly  adopted. 

The  election  of  permanent  officers  of  the  Uniform  Mining  Laws 
Association  being  next  in  order,  Mr.  Kennedy  (Pennsylvania)  nomi- 
nated Mr.  A.  J.  Moorshead.  Motion  seconded  and  carried. 

Mr.  Kennedy  nominated  Mr.  Robert  Harlan  (Washington)  as  Vice- 
president.  Seconded  and  carried. 

Mr.  Kennedy  nominated  Mr.   Grossberg  as   Secretary-Treasurer. 

Mr.  Grossberg  asked  to  decline  for  two  reasons:  First,  he  believed 
the  offices  should  be  distributed,  and  his  election  would  mean  two  offi- 
cers from  Illinois;  second,  he  did  not  believe  he  had  any  talent  for  the 
detail  duties  of  Secretary. 

Mr.  Grossberg's  nomination  was  seconded  and  carried. 

Mr.  Grossberg  announced  that  the  committee  of  three  would  meet 
immediately  upon  adjournment. 

Adjournment  sine  die  was  taken  at  4:20  o'clock  p.  m. 


ANNUAL  MEETING  OF  MEMBERS 


Tuesday  Evening,  November  14,  1916. 

East  Room,  La  Salle  Hotel,  Chicago. 

Secretary  Callbreath  called  the  meeting  to  order  at  7:30  p.  m. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  In  the  absence  of  the  higher 
official,  may  I  be  permitted  to  call  this  meeting  to  order?  The  annual 
members'  meeting  has  been  called  in  accordance  with  the  by-laws,  to 
meet  at  7:30  this  evening.  The  usual  order  of  business  is  listening  to 
the  financial  statement  of  the  Secretary  and  the  election  of  the  Board 
of  Directors. 

The  first  thing  in  order  this  evening  will  be  the  selection  of  a 
Chairman  of  this  meeting.  Who  will  you  have  for  your  Chairman? 

DR.   PURDUE:     I  nominate   Mr.  George  E.  Collins,  of  Colorado. 

The   nomination   was   seconded   and   carried. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  Fortunately,  the  duties  of  Chairman  do 
not  require  any  speech.  I  think  this  meeting  is  only  called  for  the  pur- 
pose of  adjourning  until  tomorrow,  is  it  not? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  That  is  the  real  purpose,  except 
that  it  has  been  thought  wise  that  we  shall  select  now  a  Nominating 
Committee  who  might  have  under  consideration  the  names  of  the  men 
whom  they  will  nominate  as  members  of  the  Board  of  Directors  to  be 
voted  upon  at  the  meeting  of  tomorrow  evening. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  Gentlemen,  shall  we  listen  to  the  state- 
ment of  the  Secretary  or  shall  that  be  postponed  until  tomorrow 
evening? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  The  fact  is,  Mr.  Chairman,  that 
I  am  not  prepared  to  make  that  statement  now.  I  have  been  away  from 
the  office  for  three  months  and  I  have  not  even  looked  over  the  ac- 
counts. An  auditor  has  gone  over  the  books,  but  I  have  not  looked 
over  his  statement  yet.  I  hope  you  will  pass  that  until  tomorrow  even- 
ing, when  I  will  be  ready  to  make  my  report. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  If  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  are  agree- 
able, the  Secretary  will  be  excused  from  making  his  statement  until 
tomorrow  afternoon.  Is  there  a  motion  to  that  effect? 

DR.  PURDUE:  I  move  that  we  defer  the'  hearing  of  the  Secre- 
tary's report  until  tomorrow  evening. 

MR.  H.  EVSMITH:     I  second  the  motion. 

The  motion  was  carried. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  Nominations  are  now  in  order  for  the 
Nominating  Committee.  How  large  is  it  usually,  of  how  many  members 
does  it  usually  consist? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  It  usually  consists  of  three  or 
five;  sometimes  five  and  sometimes  three. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  Three  sounds  good.  How  many  direc- 
tors are  to  be  elected  this  time?  How  many  of  the  present  directors 
retire  on  this  occasion? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Those  who  retire  at  this  meeting 
are  M.  S.  Kemmerer  of  New  York  City,  E.  A.  Montgomery  of  Los 
Angeles,  California,  W.  J.  Richards  of  Pottsville,  Pennsylvania,  and  one 
vacancy.  We  also  have  received  the  resignation  of  Dr.  William  B. 
Phillips,  who  was  elected  last  year  for  three  years  as  a  representative 
of  Colorado.  After  his  election  he  resigned  the  presidency  of  the  Colo- 
rado School  of  Mines,  moved  to  Texas,  and.  therefore,  sent1  in  his  resig- 


160  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

nation  as  a  member  of  the  Board.  We  should  elect  four  directors  for 
a  term  of  three  years  and  one  director  to  take  the  place  of  Dr.  Phillips 
for  a  period  of  two  years. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  Suggestions  would  be  in  order.  Can 
you  make  any  suggestions  for  the  Nominating  Committee,  Mr.  Secre- 
tary? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  would  like  to 
make  this  suggestion:  Some  gentlemen  from  the  iron  interests  of 
northern  Michigan  and  Minnesota  have  become  affiliated  with  the 
organization  today  and  they  are  very  anxious  that  somebody  represent- 
ing the  iron  industry  should  be  put  on  the  board.  I  feel  myself  that 
that  is  a  very  wise  suggestion.  I  think  that  this  committee,  this  Nom- 
inating Committee,  should  consist  of  some  of  the  gentlemen  who  are 
present  here  in  order  that  their  interests  may  be  considered. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  You  mean  some  gentlemen  present  this 
evening? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Not  necessarily,  but  somebody 
who  is  present  at  the  convention  and  who  can  attend  the  meeting 
tomorrow  evening,  somebody  who  can  meet  with  the  other  members 
of  the  committee. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  With  that  in  view,  Mr.  Secretary,  can 
you  suggest  to  this  meeting  any  persons  who  would  be  desirable  to 
serve  on  the  Nominating  Committee? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  I  think,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  I 
ought  to  be  excused  from  that.  There  are  two  things  that  I  have  always 
tried  religiously  to  keep  my  hands  off;  one  was  the  selection  of  the 
meeting  place  of  the  convention,  and  another  was  the  election  of  the 
directors.  I  have  been  obliged  to  dip  in  the  first  one.  My  purpose 
for  keeping  clear  of  that  was  the  fact  that  where  there  was  rivalry 
between  towns  asking  for  the  convention  that  the  Secretary  ought  not 
to  be  placed  in  the  position  where  he  could  be  charged  with  favoring 
one  as  against  the  other  and  thereby  creating  any  animosities  during 
the  session.  I  have  felt  when  there  was  no  rivalry  and  when  re- 
quested that  I  might  take  a  hand  in  the  selection  of  the  city  where  the 
convention  could  be  properly  cared  for. 

I  have,  however,  religiously  kept  my  hands  off  of  the  election  of 
directors.  I  feel  that  the  directors,  who  are  to  select  the  Secretary, 
should  be  elected  without  any  voice  from  the  Secretary.  The  Secre- 
tary, whether  he  is  interested  or  not,  ought  not  to  be  put  in  the  position 
where  he  might  be  charged  with  having  some  influence  in  that  respect. 
In  other  words,  I  don't  want  to  be  put  in  a  position  of  trying  to  secure 
my  own  election  and,  therefore,  I  think  it  ought  to  be  left  out  of  my 
hands  except,  possibly,  where  advice  is  needed  by  the  committee. 
Otherwise,  I  would  not  like  to  be  put  in  that  position. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  You  have  heard  the  statement  of  the 
Secretary.  I  would  like  to  have  suggestions  for  the  Nominating  Com- 
mittee. Whom  will  you  gentlemen  have? 

MR.  H.  Ey SMITH:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  represent  North  Dakota. 
I  live  in  Duluth.  There  are  a  number  of  gentlemen  from  Minnesota 
present  at  this  convention,  but  I  do  not  see  them  here  this  evening. 
Their  choice  is  George  H.  Crosby  of  Minnesota. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:     For  Director? 

MR.  H.   EVSMITH:     Yes. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  We  are  talking  about  the  Nominating 
Committee  now.  We  would  like  to  have  suggestions  as  to  whom  you 
would  like  to  have  on  your  Nominating  Committee. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  I  would  suggest  in  that  case  that 
Mr.  Evsmith  be  on  the  Nominating  Committee,  where  he  would  be  in 
position  to  suggest  Mr.  Crosby  as  a  Director  of  the  Congress. 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  161 

MR.  EVSMITH:  That  was  my  idea,  Mr.  Chairman,  if  I  am  elected 
to  serve  on  the  Nominating  Committee  I  will  support  Mr.  George  H. 
Crosby  as  a  Director. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  We  have  Mr.  EvSmith  suggested  as 
one  member  of  the  Nominating  Committee.  Are  there  any  other  sug- 
gestions for  the  Nominating  Committee? 

DR.  PURDUE:     I  suggest  Mr.  S.  A.  Taylor. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  Any  other  suggestions  for  the  Nom- 
inating Committee  to  report  to  the  meeting  tomorrow  night  with  their 
recommendations? 

MR.  J.  S.  GRASTY  (Virginia):     I  suggest  Dr.  Purdue. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  Dr.  Purdue,  from  Arkansas.  Any  other 
nominations? 

DR.  HENRY  MACE  PAYNE:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  believe  the  Com- 
mittee was  to  be  three  in  number? 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  That  was  my  suggestion  to  this  meet- 
ing, but  this  meeting  was  to  settle  the  question  as  to  how  many  mem- 
bers we  were  to  have  on  our  Nominating  Committee. 

DR.  HENRY  MACE  PAYNE:  I  move  that  the  nominations  be 
closed. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  It  is  moved  that  the  nominations  for 
Nominating  Committee  be  closed.  Is  there  any  second? 

MR.  J.  S.  GRASTY:     I   second  the  motion. 

Upon  the  motion  being  put  by  the  Chairman  it  was  declared 
carried. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  It  is  unanimously  carried.  The  Nom- 
inating Committee  will  therefore  consist  of  Mr.  EvSmith,  Mr.  S.  A. 
Taylor  and  Dr.  Purdue.  The  chair  will  request  Mr.  EvSmith  to  act 
as  chairman  and  to  see  that  the  other  two  members  of  the  Committee 
meet  as  soon  as  possible  and  submit  nominations  tomorrow  evening 
at  the  meeting  of  the  members. 

Is  there  any  other  business  which  should  come  before  this  meeting? 
Have  you  any  other  business  to  present,  Mr.  Secretary? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  I  would  only  like  to  express  my 
pleasure  of  the  fact  that  we  have  a  lady  member  present  who  is  attend- 
ing the  meetings  and  who  is  intensely  interested  in  the  work  of  the 
Congress,  Mrs.  Staight,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  her  son,  who  have  "been 
faithful  members  for  a  long  time.  While  they  do  not  preside  at  meet- 
ings and  make  speeches,  we  have  no  warmer  friends  than  Mrs.  Staight 
and  her  son.  I  would  like  to  express  my  appreciation  of  her  presence 
at  this  meeting. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  We  are  honored  in  having  Mrs.  Staight 
and  her  son  here.  We  will  not  ask  Mrs.  Staight  to  respond.  Perhaps 
she  would  prefer  not. 

Is  there  any  other  business  to  present? 

SECRETARY    CALLBREATH:      I   think   not,   except  to   adjourn. 

CHAIRMAN  COLLINS:  Then  the  motion  to  adjourn  this  meet- 
ing to  tomorrow  evening  at  8  o'clock  will  be  in  order. 

MR.  T.  L.  LEWIS:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  move  that  we  adjourn  this 
meeting,  to  meet  again  in  the  Red  Room  tomorrow  evening  at  8  o'cl'ock. 

DR.  PURDUE:     I  second  the  motion. 

The  motion  was  carried. 

Whereupon  an  adjournment  was  taken  to  8  o'clock  November  15, 
1916. 


162 


OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 


ADJOURNED  MEMBERS'  MEETING. 

Wednesday,  November  15,  1916. 
Red  Room,  La  Salle  Hotel,  Chicago. 

President  Carl  Scholz  presided,  and  called  the  meeting  to  order  at 
8  o'clock  p.  m. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Gentlemen,  the  adjourned  meeting  of  the 
members  of  the  American  Mining  Congress  will  come  to  order. 

The  first  order  of  business  is  the  financial  statement  of  the  Secre- 
tary and  Treasurer. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  President,  Gentlemen  of  the 
Congress:  This  report  covers  a  period  of  fourteen  months,  from  Sep- 
tember 1,  1915,  to  October  31,  1916,  our  convention  last  year  having  been 
held  in  September. 

Secretary's  Financial  Report. 

September  1,  1915-October  31,  1916. 

Cash  on  hand  September  1,  1915 $     389.75 

Receipts. 

Membership    fees    $     210.00 

Membership   dues    3,287.67 

Life    membership    100.00 

Special    contributions    10,901.17 

Holmes    Memorial 887.00 

Advertising  in  Journal 5,128.61 

Subscriptions   to   Journal 704.71, 

Interest  on  bank  balance .43 

Note,  Munsey  Trust   Company $500.00 

Less  discount   7.50           492.50 

Banquet,   San   Francisco 495.00 

Total    receipts    22,207.09 

Total  to  be  accounted  for .  $22,596.84 

Disbursements. 

Secretary's  salary    $  6,500.00 

Secretary's    traveling    expenses 1,246.73 

Assistant    Secretary's     (Wolcott)     salary 

and   expenses 185.75 

Stenographic  and  office  help 2,055.40 

Office  rent,  Washington  and   Denver....  870.00 
Freight  and  storage,  removal  Denver  of- 
fice to  Chicago  and  Washington 201.84 

Telephone    and    telegraph 169.25 

Postage    631.45 

Printing,   stationery  and  office   supplies..  922.90 

Office  equipment    25.00 

Incidental    expenses,    including    audit    of 

books    84.83 

Reporting    convention     180.00 

Badges   66.00 

Commission    on    membership 10.00 

Banquet,  San  Francisco,  including  menus 

and    extra    help 492.50 

Dues   refunded    6.00 

Payment    of    note 500.00 

Interest   on   notes..                       39.50 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  163 

Expenses   of  Journal — 

Editor's    salary    $1,437.50 

Editor's   expenses    120.12 

Printing   and    engraving 4,635.90 

Commission    and    expenses    securing 

advertisements    807.14 

Articles   for  Journal 2000 

7,020.66 


Total    expenditures     $21,207.81 

Less    Secretary's    expenses    short 

paid    14.00 


Total    disbursements    21,193.81 

Cash  on  hand  October  31,  1916..  $  1,403.03 

In  National    Metropolitan    Bank,    Washington $    325.33 

In  Munsey   Trust    Co.,    Washington ;. .  . .        70.80 

In  First   National   Bank,   Denver,   Colo 6.90 

In  office  (deposited  Metropolitan  November  3) 1,000.00 


Total    $1,403.03 

Expenses  covered  by — 

Vouchers  Nos.  112  to  182 — Munsey  Trust   Co. 
Vouchers  Nos.  198  to  255 — National   Metropolitan   Bank. 
Respectfully  submitted, 

J.  F.  CALLBREATH,  Secretary. 

HOWARD   C.   BECK 
Certified   Public   Accountant 

Baltimore,  November  11,  1916. 

I  hereby  certify  that  I  have  examined  the  books  and  accounts  of 
the  American  Mining  Congress,  J.  F.  Callbreath,  Secretary,  covering  the 
period  from  September  1,  1915,  to  October  31,  1916,  and  find  that  the 
total  transactions  were  as  follows,  all  disbursements  being  evidenced  by 
vouchers  and  canceled  checks: 

Cash   on   hand   September   1,   1915 $      389.75 

Total    receipts    22,207.09 


Total  to   be   accounted   for $22,596.84 

Disbursements    21,193.81 


Cash  on  hand  October  31,  1916 $  1,403.03 

National   Metropolitan   Bank,  Washington $    325.33 

Munsey  Trust   Co.,  Washington 70.80 

First  National  Bank,  Denver 6.90 

In  office,  deposited  November  3,   1916 1,000.00 

$  1,403.03 

As  per  bank  pass  book  and  statements,  less  outstanding  checks.  The 
balance  due  the  Secretary  for  his  salary  account  to  November  1,  1916, 
is  $14,200.  Respectfully  submitted, 

HpWARD  C.  BECK, 
Certified   Public  Accountant. 

THE  PRESIDENT:     Gentlemen,  what  shall  we  do  with  the  Sec- 
retary's report? 

MR.   TAYLOR:      I   think  we   ought   to   know  how  much   we  owe 
the  Secretary,  as  it  has  been  in  the  past,  I  think  we  ought  to  know  it. 

THE   PRESIDENT:     Mr.   Secretary,  a  member  requests   that  you 
give  the  amount  that  is  owed  you  by  this  Association. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:     Fourteen  thousand  two  hundred 
dollars. 


164  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

MR.  TAYLOR:     It  is  not  very  much  better  than  it  has  been,  is  it? 

SECRETARY  CALLBR.EATH:  Yes;  it  is  better.  We  have  not 
only  reduced  the  amount  owing  the  Secretary  during  the  last  year,  but 
we  have  got  $1,400  in  the  bank.  There  has  been  quite  a  little  more 
money  sent  in  that  is  either  in  transit  or  likely  to  come  in  during  the 
present  month.  Therefore,  the  financial  statement  at  the  close  of 
this  year  is  so  much  better  than  it  has  ever  been  before  that  your 
Secretary  entertains  a  real  belief  that  the  Mining  Congress  is  hereafter 
going  to  go.  I  want  to  say,  Mr.  President,  that  these  accounts  are 
based  upon  the  monthly  account  statements,  which  I  think  I  might  out- 
line for  the  benefit  of  the  members  who  may  not  have  been  here  at  pre- 
vious meetings.  The  system  is  that  all  money  is  paid  out  by  check  and 
voucher.  The  checks  and  vouchers  are  all  of  the  same  number.  All 
checks  are  sign.ed  by  the  Secretary  and  by  the  President.  Each  month 
a  statement  is  made  out  showing  the  amount  of  cash  received,  the 
'amount  paid  out,  and  duplicate  vouchers  with  the  monthly  statement 
are  sent  to  the  President's  office  for  his  examination.  We  have  here 
in  addition  to  the  monthly  statements  the  bank  balances,  the  check 
books,  the  canceled  vouchers  and  the  bank  books  of  the  banks  in  which 
our  accounts  are  kept,  subject  to  your  examination. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Now,  for  the  benefit  of  the  members,  I  might 
say  that  those  statements  are  submitted  to  me  regularly  monthly  and 
are  carefully  gone  over.  The  surprising  part  to  me  is  how  little  money 
we  have  been  spending  with  the  amount  of  work  that  has  been  done. 

Gentlemen,  you  have  heard  the  Secretary's  report.  What  is  your 
pleasure  in  regard  to  it? 

MR.  TAYLOR:     I  move  the  adoption  of  the  report,  Mr.  President. 
MR.  GRANBERG:     I  second  the  motion. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Motion  has  been  made  and  seconded  that 
the  report  of  the  Secretary  be  adopted.  Are  there  any  remarks? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  I  would  be  greatly  pleased  if 
you  gentlemen  would  undertake  an  examination  of  these  books  to  see 
that  they  are  correct.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  have  seen  but  very  little 
of  the  books.  I  have  been  away  from  Washington  a  great  deal  of  the 
time.  I  have  only  been  there  two  or  three  days  during  the  last  four 
months.-  This  account  came  to  me  this  afternoon  from  the  auditor,  who 
is  a  very  careful  accountant.  I  am  ready  to  endorse  what  he  says  that 
the  books  show.  But  I  feel,  as  I  have  asked  on  several  other  occasions, 
that  it  would  be  wise  if  the  association  would  each  year  go  over  the 
accounts  in  order  that  if  there  be  a  mistake  it  may  be  rectified.  At 
least,  I  would  be  better  satisfied  myself. 

MR.  S.  A.  TAYLOR:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  can  corroborate  what  you 
said.  The  year  I  was  President  I  had  the  same  experience.  I  checked 
over  the  vouchers  with  Mr.  Callbreath  in  the  same  way  as  related  by 
Mr.  Scholz,  when  I  was  President.  However,  I  think  it  might  be  very 
interesting  to  some  of  the  members  if  they  would  take  the  time  to  look 
over  some  of  the  accounts  and  see  how  much  work  we  had  done  with 
the  small  amount  of  money  that  we  used. 

However,  I  am  gratified  to  know  that  the  Secretary  feels  sanguine 
over  his  financial  statement.  I  would  personally  like  to  see  that  deficit 
in  his  salary  wiped  out  before  feeling  particularly  sanguine  over  the 
financial  statement. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  There  is  a  question  before  the  house,  now, 
gentlemen.  You  want  to  decide  now  whether  you  want  to  pass  the 
motion  to  adopt  the  report  or  wish  to  set  it  aside  for  some  future  time 
and  have  an  Auditing  Committee  look  over  the  Secretary's  report. 
There  is  a  motion  before  the  house.  What  is  your  pleasure?  Any 
further  discussion? 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  165 

MR.  TAYLOR:     Question. 

Upon  the  motion  being  put  by  the  President,  it  was  carried  unani- 
mously. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Unanimously  adopted.  What  other  reports 
are  we  to  receive,  Mr.  Secretary? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  There  are  no  other  reports.  I 
think  we  ought  to  say  something,  Mr.  President,  about  the  special  con- 
tributions in  that  justice  may  be  done  to  those  who  have  made  sub- 
stantial contributions  in  the  very  recent  past.  If  that  is  in  order, 
Mr.  President? 

THE  PRESIDENT:    Yes  sir. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  Harry  L.  Day  of  Wallace, 
Idaho,  recently  sent  in  his  check  for  one  thousand  dollars.  Mr.  L.  A. 
Friedman,  of  Lovelock,  Nevada,  sent  in  his  check  for  a  thousand  dollars. 
Mr.  M.  S.  Kemmerer  sent  in  his  check  for  a  thousand  dollars.  The 
Anthracite  Bureau  of  Information  have  ordered  that  they  send  us  a 
check  for  a  thousand  dollars.  I  think  that  covers  the  personal  contribu- 
tions that  have  been  made  directly  into  our  funds.  Mr.  Walter  Douglas 
gave  us  a  check  for  one  thousand  dollars  last  spring,  for  special  work 
looking  to  the  creation  of  a  Bureau  of  Mining  Economics,  upon  which 
a  considerable  amount  of  work  has  been  done.  I  think  we  should  discuss 
the  Mining  Congress  Journal  regarding  which  our  members  ought  'to 
know  more  fully  the  details. 

The  balance  of  these  contributions  have  been  made  by  different 
coal  operators'  associations.  For  instance,  the  Illinois  Coal  Operators' 
Association  has  contributed  two  thousand  dollars  a  year  for  a  number  of 
years  past.  The  Indiana  Association  has  contributed  a  thousand  dollars 
a. year.  The  Northern  Ohio  people  contributed  five  hundred  dollars.  The 
Southwestern  Association  contributed  a  thousand  dollars  a  year,  and 
the  JNew  Mexico  Association  has  contributed  five  hundred  dollars.  That 
contribution  has  not  been  made  as  yet  this  year,  but  it  will  be  made 
in  the  very  near  future.  Now,  we  have  more  money  coming  in  in  the 
future.  I  might  say  that  the  Indiana  contribution  was  made  to  the 
office  within  a  few  days,  so  that  we  have  a  good  deal  more  money  than 
the  account  shows  at  this  time,  this  being  up  to  the  first  of  November. 
I  feel  that  some  special  reference  to  the  personal  contributions  of 
members  who  have  taken  enough  interest  in  our  work  to  make  sub- 
stantial contributions  ought  to  appear  in  the  record. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  I  think  that  is  a  very  proper  statement  to 
go  into  our  records. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  I  am  sorry  that  Mr.  Friedman, 
who  is  ill  and  in  the  hotel,  is  not  with  us. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  As  being  the  father  of  the  Mining  Journal, 
at  least  the  one  who  urged  its  creation,  believing  that  it  was  the  most 
essential  thing  to  keep  the  membership  informed  of  the  work  going  on, 
I  feel  that  we  should  have  a  full  discussion  regarding  its  merits  and 
regarding  whatever  value  it  may  have  to  the  Congress  and  that  this 
discussion  might  as  well  be  had  now  as  later.  • 

I  am  disappointed  that  the  Mining  Congress  Journal  did  not  prove 
to  be  a  revenue  producer  from  the  very  beginning.  However,  it  was  not 
with  that  in  view  exactly  that  it  was  started.  I  felt  that  to  have  a 
meeting  once  a  year  was  not  sufficient  to  keep  the  members  in  touch  with 
the  work  that  was  going  on.  From  the  subscriptions  that  we  have 
received  and  the  comments  made,  as  well  as  the  opinion  expressed  at 
the  time  of  the  creation  of  the  Journal,  I  feel  that  it  was  a  point  well 
taken  that  we  should  publish  a  journal  which  would  go  to  every  member 
and  to  many  outsiders  with  a  view  to  bringing  them  in  closer  touch 
with  the  association,  into  fuller  knowledge  of  its  work,  and  in  that  way 


166  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

secure  members.  It  stands  by  itself  as  a  means  of  disseminating  in- 
formation of  value  to  the  mining  industry.  I  think  it  has  proved  its 
work  along  that  line.  As  I  said  before,  it  was  disappointing  to  me 
that  we  were  unable  to  make  it  a  revenue  producer  from  the  very 
beginning,  although  I  think  indirectly  it  has  been  a  revenue  producer. 
Of  all  the  papers,  trade  papers,  that  I  receive  I  read  the  Mining  Congress 
Journal  first,  because  it  gives  me  in  concise  form  information  that  I 
can't  find  elsewhere  without  a  great  deal  of  difficulty.  I  feel  that  we  owe 
a  great  deal  to  Mr.  Callbreath  and  his  associates  for  getting  up  a 
journal  with  so  much  merit  and  with  such  a  small  number  of  assistants 
and  with  as  little  help  as  they  have  had  at  their  command.  I  want  to 
engage  the  interest  of  all  the  members  of  the  Congress  with  a  view  to 
having  them  give  the  journal  more  notice  and  to  aid  us  by  obtaining 
advertising  space  with  a  view  toward  making  it  a  revenue  producing 
medium. 

MR.  TAYLOR:  What  is  the  distribution?  How  many  copies  are 
you  publishing  now? 

THE  PRESIDENT:  A  member  desires  to  know  how  many  copies 
you  are  publishing  monthly. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  We  print  twenty-five  hundred 
copies  monthly. 

.     MR.  TAYLOR:    Twenty-five  hundred  that  go  or.t  monthly? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  This  last  issue  we  printed  ten 
thousand  copies  but  we  carried  special  advertising.  Of  course,  the  enor- 
mous extra  cost  incident  together  with  the  extra  and  special  postage  that 
we  had  to  pay  made  it  auite  a  burden  so  that  we  didn't  get  so  very  far 
ahead  with  it  except  that  we  have  carried  the  advertisements  of  a  great 
many  different  concerns.  Many  contributors  to  the  convention  fund 
were  given  space  for  which  the  Journal  receives  no  returns.  The  extra 
burden  of  all  that  and  the  extra  burden  of  the  larger  circulation  and 
the  extra  postage  which  we  had  to  pay  because  we  couldn't  get  the 
Journal  through  at  the  second  class  rate,  will  practically  eat  up  the 
extra  money  we  received  for  the  advertising.  However,  we  felt  that  the 
larger  circulation  justified  us  in  doing  it. 

MR.  CRESSEY  MORRISON:  Mr.  President,  I  would  like  to  say  a 
word  about  the  Mining  Congress  Journal.  When  it  first  came  out  I 
noticed  that  it  was  the  very  thing  that  I  wanted.  I  might  mention  that 
it  gave  to  me  more  concise  news  than  any  other  publication  and  I  think 
so  much  of  it  that  I  have  every  line  of  the  publication  read,  capped 
and  marked  the  minute  it  comes  in,  and  then  eco  over  every  bit  that 
has  been  marked.  Frequently  not  only  those  things  which  have  been 
marked  as  of  possible  interest,  but  I  read  all  the  others  so  that  there 
is  nothing  in  it  that  I  miss.  I  find  it  extremely  useful  and  if  I  got  nothing 
else  out  of  the  Mining  Congress  but  the  Journal  I  should  be  very  glad 
of  my  association  and  very  glad  to  pay  the  fee.  I  cannot  say  enough 
about  the  Journal.  I  think  it  is  one  of  the  best  publications  in  the  trade. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Thanks  have  been  accorded  to  me 
in  connection  with  this  publication  which  T  greatly  appreciate,  but  I 
would  like  to  pass  on  the  honor  to  the  man  to  whom  it  is  due.  I  have 
done  some  work  on  the  Journal,vas  much  as  I  could  do.  I  have  written 
some  of  the  editorials,  but  in  the  manifold  duties  which  are  upon  me  I 
have  only  been  able  to  write  for  it  at  times  when  I  could  write.  Some- 
times I  have  been  able  to  write  the  editorials  and  sometimes  I  have  had 
to  let  somebody  else  do  it.  I  have  wanted  to  write  the  editorials  largely 
myself,  but  as  I  said,  I  have  not  been  able  to  do  it.  The  mass  of 
information  which  is  gathered  in  the  Journal,  the  credit  for  that  is  due 
to  our  editor,  Mr.  Paul  Wooton,  and  I  would  be  very  glad  to  have  you 
listen  to  him,  if  the  chairman  will  allow  it,  and  have  him  tell  us  some- 
thing more  about  the  Journal. 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  167 

THE  PRESIDENT:  We  will  be  glad  to  hear  from  Mr.  Wooton. 

MR.  PAUL  WOOTON:  There  is  a  great  pleasure,  Mr.  President,  in 
writing  for  such  appreciative  readers  as  are  the  members  of  the  American 
Mining  Congress.  So  many  of  you  have  gone  to  the  trouble  of  sending 
us  letters  saying  nice  things  about  the  Journal  that  I  want  to  take  this 
opportunity  of  thanking  you  collectively.  I  want  to  thank  Mr.  Morrison, 
specifically,  for  his  very  kind  tribute  tonight.  It  makes  our  work  worth 
while. 

I  am  the  News  Editor  of  the  Journal.  Mr.  Callbreath  looks  after  the 
writing  of  the  editorials  and  I  try  to  handle  the  news  end.  I  am  a  news- 
paper man,  having  been  in  that  business  nearly  all  of  my  life.  I  am  at 
present  Washington  correspondent  of  the  New  Orleans  Times  Picayune, 
in  addition  to  this  work  I  am  doing  for  the  Mining  Congress  Journal. 
I  pointed  out  to  Mr.  Callbreath,  a  year  and  a  half  ago,  that  the  mining 
industry  was  one  of  the  few  industries  not  paying  close  attention  to 
the  news  developing  in  Washington.  He  thought  we  could  develop  the 
Journal  so  as  to  supply  this  need.  We  have  gone  ahead  with  that  end  in 
view.  We  are  paying  particular  attention,  as  all  those  who  read  the 
Journal  know,  to  the  vast  amount  of  work  the  Government  is  doing  in 
behalf  of  mining.  The  Government  spends  $60,000,000  a  year  in  scientific 
and  technical  work.  Of  course,  much  of  this  expenditure  has  no  direct 
bearing  on  mining,  but  a  considerable  portion  of  it  is  used  for  purposes 
having  some  bearing  on  mining.  It  seems  to  me  that  with  such  a  large 
amount  of  money  being  spent  in  behalf  of  the  miners,  either  directly  or 
indirectly,  this  news  ought  to  go  promptly  to  those  engaged  in  mining. 

The  Journal  is  not  a  competitor  of  the  technical  mining  papers  as 
most  of  them  are  really  engineering  papers,  their  greatest  interest  is 
in  the  engineering  side  of  mining.  They  print  some  Washington  news 
but  it  is  in  very  condensed  form  and  it  is  hardly  adequate,  it  seems  to 
me.  The  mining  industry,  until  this  Journal  was  established,  had  less 
opportunity  to  read  Washington  news  than  did  any  other  industry  of 
importance.  The  lumber  papers  offer  a  good  example.  One  lumber 
paper,  with  which  I  am  familiar,  orints  eight  pages  of  Washington  news 
weekly.  That  compares  with  a  very  few  paragraphs  in  the  mining  papers 
devoted  to  Washington  news.  But,  as  I  say,  the  mining  trade  papers  are 
largely  devoted  to  engineering  problems  and  technical  news.  Therefore, 
the  Journal  hardly  can  be  considered  a  competitor  of  other  mining 
papers.  The  fact  is  they  are  mutually  helpful. 

"I  believe  it  has  been  the  experience  of  newspapers  generally  that 
it  takes  a  couple  of  years,  or  even  more,  to  get  them  on  a  paying  basis. 
With  trade  papers  I  think  it  takes  longer.  Of  course,  the  Journal  carries 
no  market  quotations.  The  need  for  the  Journal,  therefore,  is  not  so 
apparent  as  for  publications  carrying  information  for  which  there  is 
a  pressing  demand.  Therefore,  the  Journal  will  be  a  little  slower,  I 
think,  in  reaching  a  profit-earning  point  than  the  average  trade  paper. 

We  have  not  had  the  support  we  should  have  had  from  some  of 
the  manufacturers  of  mining  machinery,  and  other  advertisers,  it  seems 
to  me.  At  the  same  time  I  realize  they  have  to  be  conservative  in  going 
into  new  publications.  I  believe  as  they  come  to  understand  that  our 
paper  is  being  read  and  as  they  learn  that  users  of  mining  machinery  are 
interested  in  the  Journal,  more  of  them  will  use  our  columns. 

If  there  is  any  question  that  anyone  would  like  to  ask  about  the 
Journal  I  would  be  glad  to  answer  it,  if  I  can. 

MR.  MORRISON:  I  would  like  to  ask  what  method  of  solicitation 
for  advertising  do  you  use?  Here  is  a  publication  that  goes  to  every 
coal  operator  directing  mines.  It  ought  to  be  the  best  medium  for 
advertisers  of  any  in  the  field. 

MR.  PAUL  WOOTON:  I  have  no  connection  with  the  business 
management  of  the  Journal,  but  I  know  in  a  general  way  what  is  being 
done  in  regard  to  advertising.  We  feel  that  our  circulation  is  among  the 


168  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

very  best  customers  the  advertisers  could  wish  for  and  we  think  that 
they  will  come  to  realize  this.  We  have  been  a  little  unfortunate  in  ad- 
vertising men.  A  good  advertising  man  is  hard  to  get.  We  have  tried 
out  a  number  of  men.  It  resolved  itself  into  trying  to  find  the 
proper  man.  We  have  had  to  'pick  out  the  most  likely  applicants. 
In  that  way  we  have  bee.n  put  to  considerable  expense.  Men  would  go 
out  and  would  not  get  returns  and  their  expenses,  of  course,  would  be 
lost  without  any  return  to  us.  However,  we  think  we  have  been  very 
fortunate  recently  in  securing  a  Chicago  company  to  look  after  the 
advertising,  and  I  believe  that  the  advertising  from  now  on  is  going  to 
meet  nearly  all  the  expenses  of  the  publication.  Mr.  Callbreath  can  tell 
you  something  more  about  that. 

MR.  MORRISON:  I  suggest  that  you  write  me  a  letter  and  teli 
me  what  the  rates  are.  I  know  three  companies  that  are  likely  adver- 
tisers and  I  will  undertake  to  get  one  of  them. 

MR.  PAUL  WOOTON:     That  is  very  kind  of  you,  sir. 

MR.  MORRISON:  I  believe  you  have  the  best  medium  for  adver- 
tising there  is  in  the  field.  That  is  my  opinion  of  it. 

MR.  PAUL  WOOTON:     I  am  glad  to  hear  you  say  so. 

MR!  MORRISON:  I  am  going  to  see  these  three  people  about 
it  and  let  them  know  about  it  and  I  will  leave  it  to  you  to  write  me 
to  remind  me  of  it  and  to  give  me  some  information. 

MR.  PAUL  WOOTON:     I  will  certainly  do  that. 
MR.  MORRISON:     I  will  get  one  of  them  anyway. 

MR.  PAUL  WOOTON:  Under  present  conditions  we  are  not 
justified  in  hiring  anyone  to  help  me  gather  the  news,  but  as  it  is  we 
get  most  of  the  mining  news  in  Washington.  We  watch  Congress 
very  carefully.  Anything  of  interest  to  the  mining  industry  is  certain 
to  come  to  our  attention.  Through  daily  contact  with  members  of 
Congress  we  usually  learn  in  advance  of  any  legislation  that  is  being 
contemplated.  Then  we  cover  the  Geological  Survey  and  the  Bureau  of 
Mines  in  detail.  Incidentally,  I  lost  one  of  my  good  news  sources  when 
Mr.  Parker  went  to  the  Anthracite  Information  Bureau.  Very  little 
happens  in  the  Geological  Survey  or  the  Bureau  of  Mines  that  is  of 
interest  to  the  mining  industry  that  is  not  available  for  publication. 
Then  there  is  the  Land  Office,  which  develops  a  good  deal  of  news,  the 
Board  of  Appeals  of  the  Interior  Department,  the  Patent  Office  and  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission  and  other  bureaus. 

At  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  I  am  told  that  it  is  not 
understood  why  it  is  that  the  mining  industry  files  so  few  complaints. 
The  lumbermen  have  weeded  out  most  of  their  rate  inequalities.  They 
have  filed  complaint  after  complaint  until  they  have  their  rates  very  well 
adjusted.  Since  the  mining  industry  has  so  very  few  complaints  it  is 
wondered  whether  it  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  miners  are  perfectly 
satisfied  with  their  rates,  meaning  that  there  are  no  unjust  discrimina- 
tions against  the  movement  of  ore  and  coal  or  whether  the  miners  are 
not  paying  attention  to  their  traffic  situation.  I  am  rather  of  the  opin- 
ion, from  other  information  that  I  have  received,  that  there  are  many 
discriminations  on  rates  on  mineral  products  that  should  be  taken  up. 
I  know  that  some  of  the  coal  companies  have  taken  up  rate  matters 
quite  in  detail,  but  I  think  many  operators  neglect  their  traffic  questions. 
By  publishing  traffic  news  pertaining  to  the  mining  industry  some  may 
be  reminded  to  straighten  up  their  own  rates. 

Then  there  is  the  Treasury  Department.  The  Customs  Division 
and  the  Bureau  of  the  Mint  and  other  bureaus  develop  some  news. 

The  Department  of  Commerce  is  gathering  a  huge  volume  of  valu- 
able statistics.  It  receives  many  reports  from  foreign  countries  where 
mining  is  conducted. 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  169 

There  is  a  world  of  information  in  Washington  and  we  could  devote 
very  pro6tably  some  more  space  to  it,  but  we  have  been  limited,  of 
course,  by  the  lack  of  money. 

MR.  MORRISON:  I  think,  Mr.  President,  that  the  field  is  very 
well  covered,  but  there  are  other  sources  of  information  which  I  think 
should  be  taken  care  of.  I  think  a  good  deal  more  emphasis  should  be 
put  on  customs  decisions  on  ores  that  are  coming  into  our  country. 

MR.  PAUL  WOOTON:  Yes,  sir,  I  think  that  could  be  done  very 
profitably. 

MR.  MORRISON:  There  was  a  very  fine  question  just  decided 
by  the  Board  of  Appraisers.  If  you  could  cover  those  things  everybody 
using  or  dealing  in  ores  would  know  about  it.  I  think  the  Bureau  of 
Standards,  which  has  not  been  mentioned 

MR.  PAUL  WOOTON:  Yes,  we  keep  an  eye  on  the  Bureau  of 
Standards. 

MR.   MORRISON:   should   be  a   source   of  information.     I 

think  the  Forest  Service  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  with  all 
of  its  withdrawals,  should  be  a  source  of  information.  I  think  there 
is  in  this  country  a  growing  interest  in  the  affairs  at  Washington,  not 
only  on  the  part  of  individuals,  but  on  the  part  of  associations  like  the 
one  I  am  connected  with.  I  find  that  we  have  rather  ramified  interests. 
Now,  the  advance  information  of  the  intended  publication  of  a  docu- 
ment by  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  which  I  get,  is  immediately  answered  by 
an  inquiry  to  the  Bureau  of  Mines  to  list  me  for  that  document,  so 
that  the  moment  it  is  out  I  get  it.  If  I  did  not  have  that  source,  the 
Mining  Congress  Journal,  I  would  naturally  get  a  postal  card  from 
the  Bureau  some  time  later  and  I  would  be  a  month  behind.  People 
nowadays  must  not  be  a  month  behind,  but  must  be  up  to  the  minute. 
So  that  I  think  really  it  is  a  great  work  and  I  think  your  sense  of 
news,  which  is  very  well  cultivated,  is  leading  you  into  a  real  field  of 
usefulness.  So  the  remarks  I  made  before  I  stand  by.  I  stand  by  the 
further  remark  I  made  in  regard  to  advertising. 

MR.  PAUL  WOOTON:  If  there  are  any  further  questions  you 
desire  to  ask,  I  would  be  very  glad  to  answer  them.  Of  course,  I  have 
not  attempted  to  list  all  of  the  sources  of  information  in  Washington. 
I  watch  the  Treasury  decisions  Mr.  Morrison  mentions  and  you  will 
occasionally  see  that  we  have  something  from  the  Forest  Service. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  I  would  like  to  answer  Mr.  Morrison's  ques- 
tions on  two  points,  first  on  the  question  of  advertising  and  the  co- 
operation of  our  members  with  a  view  to  soliciting  advertisements. 

When  the  Mining  Congress  Journal  was  born  in  Phoenix  two  years 
ago  all  those  present  promised  definitely  that  they  would  write  to  their 
respective  supply  houses  and  firms  from  which  they  were  purchasing 
machinery  and  tell  them  that  they  were  members  of  the  Mining  Con- 
gress and  were  interested  in  the  welfare  of  the  Journal.  As  far  as  I 
know,  only  one  man  has  redeemed  his  promise,  and  that  is  myself. 
Some  letters  were  written  by  others,  perhaps,  but  if  they  were  we  heard 
very  little  about  it,  because  I  requested  especially  that  copies  of  the 
letters  be  sent  to  me  so  that  I  would  know  what  was  done,  but  as  yet 
I  have  not  received  a  single  copy.  Therefore,  the  question  which  Mr. 
Morrison  raised  is  a  live  one.  If  we  do  it  now  it  will  not  be  too  late 
to  mend  the  damage  which  has  been  left  unmended  in  the  past,  and  I 
would  suggest  that  we  urge  upon  our  members  to  do  that  thing.  We 
all  buy  from  different  houses,  different  manufacturers,  all  kinds  of  sup- 
plies going  into  the  industries.  I  know  that  the  people  who  sell  our 
equipment  are  interested  in  the  welfare  of  the  mining  industry.  There- 
fore, they  should  be  willing  and  are  willing,  as  I  judge  from  the  re- 
sponses that  I  received,  from  personal  appeals  I  made  to  these  people 


170  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

to  help  us.     If  they  just  know  what  we  are  after  they  will  come  across 
with  it.     A  little  persistence  will  go  a  long  ways  in  bringing  us  results. 

MR.  MORRISON:  Mr.  President,  in  answer  to  your  suggestion, 
I  would  like  to  say  that  now  would  be  a  much  better  time  than  before 
the  Journal  had  proved  its  value.  I  think  that  you  should  authorize 
your  publication  office  to  begin  a  systematic  personal  correspondence 
with  the  strong  people  in  the  association,  urging  them  to  do  the  very 
thing  that  you  are  suggesting.  I  think  that  you  can  induce  them  to 
write  even  a  half-dozen  letters,  and  if  you  can  get  them  to  write  even 
that  Amount  of  letters  at  the  present  time  each,  the  manufacturers  of 
machinery  and  the  supply  houses  would  soon  realize  that  here  was  a 
clientele  that  were  interested  and  they  would  be  very  anxious  to  assist 
the  Association.  I  believe  the  Journal  should  be  a  source  of  revenue 
and  could  be  made  to  be  a  source  of  revenue.  I  wrote  a  letter  myself 
some  time  ago  to  the  Association  and  suggested  I  might  be  useful  in 
that  regard.  I  got  a  very  courteous  reply,  but  I  wasn't  followed  up. 
I  was  particularly  busy  at  that  time  and  didn't  pay  the  attention  to  it 
that  I  should  have.  You  know  how  times  are  with  people.  I  know 
that  if  I  had  gotten  three  letters,  a  letter  once  in  every  so  often,  saying, 
"Here,  you  said  you  would  do  something  about  this.  Why  don't  you 
do  it?"  I  know  that  I  would  have  gotten  busy.  If  you  get  a  letter  of 
that  kind  reminding  you  of  what  you  said,  saying,  "Why  don't  you  do 
what  you  promised?  We  love  you  just  as  much  as  ever,  but  please  do 
something  for  us,"  if  I  had  gotten  a  letter  like  that,  for  instance,  I 
would  have  done  something  and  we  would  now  have  the  cash  in  the 
box  and  showing  in  the  report  as  a  result.  I  believe  if  you  follow  up 
that  matter  now  and  authorize  a  courteous  sort  of  appeal  to  the  friends 
of  the  Association  that  you  know  will  stand  for  a  nice,  pleasant  letter 
like  that,  saying,  "Get  busy  and  do  something,"  I  think  they  will  do  it. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  I  think  the  suggestion  is  very  timely,  Mr. 
Morrison,  and  I  will  not  only  suggest  but  instruct  the  Secretary  to  get 
such  letters  out  and  lay  them  before  the  President  for  signature,  to 
be  sent  out  as  soon  as  they  are  received,  or  for  him  to  send  them  out 
himself,  if  he  can  get  the  same  results. 

There  was  one  more  question  raised  by  Mr.  Morrison  in  his  state- 
ment to  which  I  would  like  to  reply,  and  that  is  the  question  of  effective 
work  at  Washington.  I  have  been  going  to  Washington  now  for  the 
last  fifteen  years,  almost  at  every  session  of  Congress,  after  one  thing 
or  another.  .  My  first  visit  to  Washington  was  after  Congress  had 
passed  a  bill  which  was  so  absurd  that  I  could  not  believe  that  it  was 
possible  that  such  a  thing  could  happen.  I  have  told  this  story  at  every 
annual  meeting  we  have  had  and  I  am  going  to  tell  it  again  for  the 
purpose  of  driving  home  the  evil  of  not  having  proper  representation  at 
Washington. 

We  are  operating  a  number  of  mines  on  leases  in  Oklahoma,  on 
Indian  lands.  At  that  time,  fifteen  years  ago,  we  were  under  the 
direct  supervision  of  the  Interior  Department.  Mr.  Allen  Hitchcock 
was  Secretary  of  the  Interior.  A  complaint  had  been  made  to  him  that 
the  coal  companies  were  careless  in  permitting  the  firing  of  shots.  So 
the  Department  of  the  Interior,  in  the  absence  of  the  assistance  of  and 
proper  information  from  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  drew  a  bill  which  called 
for  the  following:  That  in  each  mine  operating  on  Indian  lands  there 
shall  be  fired  each  day  no  more  than  one  shot.  (Laughter.)  Well,  the 
absurdity  must  appeal  to  all  of  you.  When  the  bill  came  down  and  the 
legal  department  sent  it  down  to  me  and  said,  "Are  you  complying  with 
this  bill?"  I  said,  "No.  One  shot  a  day  would  mean  three  tons  of  coal, 
or  four  at  the  most."  So  I  very  promptly  went  to  Washington  to 
interview  Mr.  Hitchcock.  I  obtained  an  audience  with  him  and  when 
I  explained  what  I  wanted  he  sent  for  one  of  the  assistants  in  the  legal 
department.  He  looked  the  bill  over.  I  said,  "What  does  this  mean?" 
He  said,  "You  can  fire  one  shot  a  day  in  each  mine."  When  I  explained 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  171 

to  him  that  in  some  of  the  mines  we  were  firing  five  hundred  shots 
a  day  and  that  one  shot  would  only  mean  three  tons,  or  possibly  four 
tons  of  coal  and  that  I  was  making  myself  liable  to  499  penalties  each 
day,  he  looked  at  me  in  astonishment.  He  said,  "Well,  I  guess  this 
means  that  you  must  fire  all  your  shots  at  one  time,  fire  five  hundred 
shots  at  one  time  each  day."  Well,  I  said,  "Will  you  modify  the  lan- 
guage of  the  bill  to  that  effect?"  He  said,  "Oh,  no,  I  can't  do  that 
You  go  ahead  and  do  it,  however,  and  I  will  take  care  of  the  penalties." 
Now,  that  emphasizes  the  fact  that  if  we  don't  plead  our  cause 
no  one  will  plead  it  for  us,  and  if  I  do  say  so,  I  have  been  a  continuous 
visitor  in  Washington  during  almost  every  session  of  Congress  since 
that  time  and  I  think  I  have  benefited  myself  to  a  very  large  extent  by 
doing  so.  That  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  I  feel  that  the  coal  people 
should  know  what  is  before  Congress.  I  felt  also  that  the  coal  people 
should  join  what  was  then  a  congress  of  metal  miners  to  plead  their 
cause  before  Congress  in  an  effective  way,  by  co-operative  effort,  by 
concerted  action.  I  wanted  to  tell  this  story  because  it  emphasizes  the 
need  of  having  representation  in  Washington.  Now,  Mr.  Taylor,  do  you 
want  to  say  something? 

MR.  TAYLOR:  I  just  want  to  make  one  remark  regarding  what 
our  members  can  do  with  regard  to  advertisements.  I  made  it  a  rule 
that  whenever  I  received  a  letter  from  any  person  regarding  an  appliance 
or  anything  to  answer  that  letter,  even  if  it  is  only  the  acknowledgement 
of  a  receipt  of  it,  and  in  several  cases  I  have  had  letters  back  from  the 
parties  thanking  me  for  the  acknowledgement  of  their  letter.  I  think 
that  in  the  multiciplicity  of  stuff  that  comes  into  our  offices  that  we  are 
likely  to  throw  a  lot  of  it  into  the  waste  basket,  but  I  think  wherever 
a  letter  accompanies  a  communication  regarding  any  of  our  advertise- 
ments, it  would  be  btft  a  very  little  job  and  one  that  would  help  the 
magazine  very  much,  if  we  would  simply  acknowledge  it.  (Applause.) 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  President,  may  I  say  a  word? 
We  started  the  Journal  just  at  the  time  when  the  manufacturers  were 
trying  to  get  rid  of  their  advertising  contracts  already  made.  During 
that  first  year  it  was  almost  impossible  to  get  new  advertising  contracts. 
We  understood  also  that  it  was  difficult  to  get  the  first  man  in  because 
advertisers  like  to  go  in  the  company  of  fellow  advertisers.  If  you  have 
a  nice  creditable  showing  from  one  company  all  other  companies  in  that 
line  will  want  to  get  in  the  same  place.  If  you  have  four  out  of  five  and 
there  are  five  companies  the  fifth  company  feels  that  it  has  got  to  get 
in  as  well.  We  had  to  build  up  the  business  to  start  with.  During  that 
first  year  it  was  almost  impossible  to  do  it.  During  that  first  year  the 
Journal  ran  behind  almost  four  thousand  dollars.  Last  year  the  deficit, 
I  think,  will  be  less  than  two  thousand  dollars.  It  is  only  shown  as 
$1,187.34.  but  in  that  there  is  no  charge  made  for  office  rent,  for  my 
services  and  for  stenographic  work  and  incidentals.  The  deficit  as  shown 
by  the  difference  between  the  receipts  and  the  paid  bills  is  not  a  fair 
and  reasonable  one,  but  I  think  it  is  fair  to  say  that  the  deficit  will  te 
less  than  two  thousand  dollars.  During  the  last  four  or  five  weeks  we 
have  J)een  fortunate  in  securing  contracts  which  will  make  the  Journal 
practically  self-supporting  during  the  next  year.  We  have  a  contract 
with  the  Wuerzinger  Publishing  Company,  which  company  the  gentle- 
man sitting  in  the  front  seat  here  represents  and  he  is  in  charge  of  it. 
That  is  the  first  step,  we  think,  towards  putting  the  Journal  on  a  self- 
supporting  basis. 

The  next  step  is  to  make  it  pay  the  advertiser.  We  have  no  right 
to  take  the  advertisers'  money  unless  we  see  to  it  that  thev  buy  some- 
thing of  worth  to  them.  I  know  that  we  cannot  do  that  unless  those 
people  who  back  our  Journal,  the  members  of  the  Mining  Congress  and 
others  who  subscribe  to  it,  those  particular  members  especially  who  buy 
mining  machinery  will  see  that  an  even  chance  and  an  opportunity 
to  bid  is  given  to  those  people  who  advertise  i.n  the  Journal.  It  is  not 


172  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

required,  nor  is  it  necessary,  nor  could  it  be  asked  that  an  operator  shall 
buy  of  our  advertisers,  but  it  is  required  of  him  that  he  give  that 
advertiser  a  chance  to  compete  for  his  orders.  Every-operator  is  going 
to  buy  his  goods  and  his  machinery  where  he  can  buy  them  at  the  very 
best  advantage.  He  does  not  consult  the  Mining  Congress  Journal  or 
any  other  journal  or  periodical  as  to  where  he  shall  buy  his  goods.  If 
the  advertisers  are  given  that  chance,  if  the  subscribers  to  the  Journal 
will  give  them  that  chance,  there  is  no  question  but  what  the  Mining 
.Congress  Journal  will  soon  become  self-supporting.  In  that  way  we 
will  be  able  to  devote  the  Journal  to  a  great  deal  more  news  of  interest 
to  the  miners.  VV^e  can  follow  up  what  Mr.  Morrison  has  suggested.  We 
hope  to  be  able  to  throw  light  on  the  various  bills  affecting  the  mining 
industry  before  Congress  and  in  that  way  prevent  bills  from  being  passed 
which  are  an  absurdity,  as  your  President  just  remarked.  We  hope 
to  report  the  work  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  the  Geological  Survey,  the 
Federal  Trade  Commission,  the  Treasury  Department,  the  Department 
of  Commerce,  and  the  Department  of  Labor,  and  cover  them  completely. 
As  it  is  now  we  cover  them  a.nd  get  all  the  information  and  news  which 
is  ,of  general  interest  to  the  mining  industry.  We  hope  to  cover  them 
more  in  detail,  especially  with  regard  to  the  things  which  are  going  to 
come  up,  in  order  that  you  may  keep  posted  as  to  just  what  steps  are 
being  taken  in  the  various  departments. 

I  have  been  very  greatly  gratified  at  the  kind  expressions  of  opinion 
in  regard  to  the  value  of  the  Journal.  Some  of  us  are  pretty  busy  a.nd 
we  don't  very  often  read  the  trade  journals.  They  are  sometimes  laid 
by  to  look  at  some  other  times.  But  eventually  we  hope  to  make  the 
Journal  so  interesting  to  you  that  you  can't  help  reading  it,  that  it  will 
pay  you  to  study  it,  and  we  hope  that  through  your  assistance  that 
the  advertisers  who  patronize  our  columns  will  find  it  to  their  benefit  to 
advertise  in  the  Journal.  If  we  do  not  give  them  value  received  for 
their  money  we  have  no  right  to  take  their  advertisements.  I  feel  very 
strongly  that  the  Journal  can  be  made  to  be  a  source  of  some  little 
profit.  But  my  thought  is  that  we  ought  to  put  it  right  back  into  the 
Journal,  practically  what  we  get  out  of  it,  for  the  purpose  of  making  it 
better  serve  the  great  co-operative  movement  so  much  needed  by  the 
mining  industry. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  I  would  like  to  add  just  one  more  comment 
on  the  Journal  question  to  these  various  criticisms  and  suggestions  that 
have  been  made.  About  Christmas  time  I  receive  cards  from  the 
Ladies'  Home  Journal,  the  Youths'  Companion,  and  a  great  many  other 
publications,  with  the  suggestion  that  a  subscription  to  their  magazine 
would  be  an  appropriate  Christmas  remembrance.  The  value  of  any 
advertising  medium  depends  upon  its  circulation.  If  some  of  our 
members  and  friends  would  subscribe  to  the  magazine  and  send  it 
to  their  friends  it  might  not  only  cause  them  to  become  interested  and 
give  us  other  subscriptions,  but  might  be  the  means  of  securing  a 
greater  membership  in  the  Congress  and  it  would  keep  people  in  touch 
with  the  facts  that  we  are  anxious  to  bring  to  their  attention. 

Is  there  any  further  discussion  on  the  Journal? 

MR.  WUERZINGER:  Mr.  President,  I  would  like  to  supplement 
Mr.  Callbreath's  and  Mr.  Scholz'  remarks  in  regard  to  the  Journal.  I 
believe  they  forgot  to  mention  that  it  would  be  well  to  tell  the 
advertisers  when  you  write  them  that  you  saw  their  advertisement  in 
the  Mining  Congress  Journal. 

Another  thing  I  would  like  to  mention  is  the  contemplated  in- 
stallation of  the  Service  Bureau  in  Washington,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
advertisers  as  well  as  of  the  members.  A  similar  bureau  is  being 
worked  quite  successfully  with  another  association  which  publishes  a 
monthly  journal.  When  you  operators  are  in  the  market  for  machinery, 
etc.,  if  you  will  advise  our  Service  Bureau  in  Washington  that  you  are 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  173 

in  the  market  for  this  or  that  piece  of  machinery,  we  will  in  turn  be  able 
to  advise  our  advertisers,  and  in  that  way  call  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  members  are  co-operating  with  the  advertisers  of  the  Mining 
Congress  Journal. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Mr.  Wuerzinger's  suggestion  is  a  timely  one 
and  one  that  we  might  well  heed.  I  would  suggest  that  in  one  of  the 
early  issues  a  stateme.nt  be  contained  to  that  effect. 

The  next  item  in  the  proceedings  is  the  report  of  the  Committee 
on  Nominations,  of  which  Mr.  Evsmith  is  chairman. 

Mr.  Evsmith  read  the  report  of  the  committee. 

REPORT  OF  NOMINATING  COMMITTEES. 

To  the  American  Mining  Congress: 

Mr.  Chairman  and  members  of  the  American  Mining  Congress,  your 
Committee  on  Nominations  after  a  careful  canvass  of  the  situation,  desire 
to  present  for  your  consideration  to  fill  vacancies  in  the  Board  of 
Directors,  the  names  of  the  following  gentlemen:  W.  R.  Richards, 
Pottsville,  Pa.;  M.  S.  Kemmerer,  New  York  City;  Irving  T.  Snyder, 
Denver,  Colo.;  George  H.  Crosby,  Duluth,  Minn.;  to  serve  for  three 
years  and  until  their  successors  have  been  elected  and  have  qualified. 
Of  these  four,  the  first  two  are  renominations  and  too  well  known  in  the 
work  of  your  organization  to  need  any  mention  here,  except  to  say  that 
they  are  active  and  substantial  supporters  of  the  American  Mining 
Congress.  Mr.  Snyder  of  Denver  is  at  the  head  of  important  gold 
mining  operations  in  the  west  and  vice  president  and  general  manager 
of  the  Vindicator  Consolidated  Mines  of  Cripple  Creek.  Mr.  Crosby 
of  Duluth  is  to  represent  the  great  iron  and  copper  mining  interests 
of  the  Lake  Superior  region.  He  has  been  one  of  the  most  aggressive 
developers  of  iron  ore  lands  and  is  also  substantially  interested  in 
metal  mining. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

HANSEN  EVSMITH, 
S.  A.  TAYLOR, 
A.  H.  PURDUE, 

Committee. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Gentlemen,  you  have  heard  the  report  of  the 
Committee  on  Nominations;  what  is  your  pleasure? 

MR.  HODGE:  -  Mr.  President,  members  of  the  Congress:  As  a 
representative  of  the  Lake  Superior  District  and  very  much  interested 
in  its  welfare,  it  gives  me  real  pleasure  to  second  the  nominations  made, 
especially  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Crosby.  He  is  a  real  man  of  real  force 
and  if  elected  to  a  real  office  in  a  real  organization  he  will  perform 
acceptable  and  fine  service.  I  have  known  Mr.  Crosby  for  twenty-four 
or  five  years  and  he  is  what  we  would  call  in  automobile  language  a 
"super-six."  He  is  of  that  type.  He  is  a  live  wire.  He  will  do  great 
credit  to  this  organization.  (Applause.) 

MR.  E.  W.  PARKER:  Mr.  President,  what  Mr.  Hodge  has  said 
about  Mr.  Crosby  I  believe  I  can  say  about  the  other  nominees  with 
whom  I  am  familiar  and  particularly  with  regard  to  Mr.  Richards. 
Mr.  Richards,  as  you  all  probably  know,  is  the  president  of  the 
biggest  anthracite  mining  company  in  Pennsylvania  and  the  other  quali- 
fications mentioned  by  Mr.  Hodge  are  his.  Moreover,  Mr.  Richards  is, 
as  I  stated  in  my  address  this  morning,  the  originator  of  the  first-aid 
work  in  coal  mines  in  the  United  States,  a  great  distinction  I  think. 
I  am  in  favor  of  Mr.  Richards  and  would  second  his  nomination. 

MR.  GEORGE  E.  COLLINS:  Mr.  President,  I  move  that  the 
nominations  be  closed.  And  that  the  report  be  accepted  and  that  the 


174  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

Secretary  be  instructed  to  cast  the  vote  of  the   Congress  for  the  men 
nominated. 

MR.  S.  A.  TAYLOR:    I  second  that  motion. 

Upon  the  motion  being  put  by  the  President  it  was  declared  carried. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  cast  the 
unanimous  vote  of  the  members  of  the  American  Mining  Congress  for 
Mr.  W.  J.  Richards,  Mr.  M.  S.  Kemmerer,  Mr.  Irving  T.  Snyder  and  Mr. 
George  H.  Crosby  to  act  as  Directors,  of  the  American  Mining  Congress 
for  three  years  and  until  their  successors  are  duly  elected  and  qualified. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  The  election  of  the  four  gentlemen  named  is 
hereby  declared. 

Is  there  any  further  business  before  this  meeting? 

MR.  S.  A.  TAYLOR:  I  understand  that  there  are  several  invitations 
for  the  next  place  of  meeting.  I  don't  know  whether  they  have  been 
received  or  not,  but  I  think  it  might  be  well  for  the  Secretary  to  state 
if  they  are  received  how  they  will  be  disposed  of. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  We  have  had  invitations,  I  think 
from  a  dozen  cities,  Boston,  Baltimore,  I  think  Philadelphia,  Atlantic 
City,  Columbus  and  from  St.  Louis,  and  I  can't  mentio.n  the  others. 
There  are  a  number  of  others.  I  think  one  from  Cleveland. 

MR.  E.  W.  PARKER:  Did  I  understand  you  to  say  Columbus, 
Ohio? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:    Yes. 

MR.  E.  W.  PARKER:  We  had  one  from  them  once  before,  didn't 
we?  (Laughter.) 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Yes,  I  believe  so.  A  few  moments 
ago,  just  before  the  meeting,  I  received  a  wire  from  the  Secretary  of 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Birmingham,  Alabama,  inquiring  as  to 
the  requireme.nts  in  case  they  should  be  selected  as  a  place  of  meeting. 

The  convention  work  here  will  cost  a  little  more  than  five  thousand 
dollars.  That  does  not  include  any  part  of  the  Secretary's  salary.  It 
simply  includes  the  necessary  disbursements.  It  does  include  my 
traveling  expenses,  going  and  coming  from  Washington,  and  the  work 
a.nd  money  that  has  been  spent  for  postage,  stationery  and  that  sort  of 
thing,  telephone  and  telegraph  but  in  the  convention  city  nothing  has 
ever  been  charged  for  the  Secretary's  salary.  Therefore,  the  city  having 
the  convention  has  the  benefit  of  my  services,  whatever  they  may  be 
worth. 

May  I  say  one  word  more.  The  Bureau  of  Mines  is  anticipating  the 
dedication  of  the  more  than  one  million  dollars'  worth  of  buildings  in 
Pittsburgh  sometime  next  September.  Mr.  Manning  has  sent  a  special 
request  not  only  to  the  American  Mining  Congress,  but  to  all  other 
mining  organizations  of  the  country  to  meet  at  that  time  in  Pittsburgh, 
in  order  that  the  dedication  of  those  buildings  might  bring  together 
as  large  a  body  of  mining  men  as  it  is  possible  to  bring  together  at  one 
point.  I  think  it  has  been  decided  that  the  American  Institute  of  Mining- 
Engineers  will  not  be  able  to  accept  the  invitation.  Of  course,  it  is  a 
question  as  to  how  desirable  it  is  for  us  to  meet  there.  The  objection 
lies  in  the  fact  that  frequently  if  there  are  so  many  other  things  going 
on  it  is  impossible  for  the  delegates  to  the  convention  to  settle  down 
to  the  business  in  hand.  I  think  we  ought  to  devote  as  much  time  to 
business  and  as  little  time  to  pleasure  as  we  can  at  the  convention, 
because  that  is  the  purpose  of  the  gathering.  But  that  is  one  of  the 
other  invitations  that  I  forgot  to  mention. 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  175 

DR.  PURDUE:  Mr.  President,  with  regard  to  going  to  Pittsburgh, 
I  would  just  like  to  say  that  I  have  had  quite  a  good  deal  of  experience 
in  other  associations  that  met  at  the  same  place  and  at  the  same  time 
with  different  associations.  The  result  always  is  that  the  energies  of  the 
members  of  all  the  associations  are  dissipated  so  that  the  work  in 
hand  is  not  as  effective  as  it  is  when  we  are  meeting  separately.  For 
that  reason  I  think  that  it  is  advisable  to  go  somewhere  else  than  to 
Pittsburgh  at  that  time. 

Now  then,  as  to  Birmingham.  It  is  easy  for  a  man  up  here  in 
the  north,  for  a  scientist,  to  meet  scientists  and  to  be  up  to  date  in  the 
sciences,  because  he  is  always  coming  in  contact  with  other  scientists, 
and  it  is  no  trouble  at  all  to  keep  up  his  enthusiasm,  his  studies  and  his 
knowledge  of  the  work.  But  when  you  go  south  of  the  Ohio  river  it  is 
not  so  easy.  The  scientists  are  quite  rare  down  there  and  it  takes  a 
great  deal  of  backbone  and  stamina  for  a  man  to  keep  up  his  work.  The 
same  thing  is  true  of  the  mining  industry.  The  industry  south  of  the 
Ohio  river  is  not  developed.  There  are  not  very  many  industries.  There 
are  very  few  of  them.  So  that  the  people  down  there  engaged  in  the 
mining  business  being  isolated  lose  sight  of  the  opportunities  they  have 
before  them,  and  the  inspiration  that  comes  from  seeing  those  oppor- 
tunities and  going  at  them  to  realize  them.  It  is  no  exaggeration;  the 
possibilities  of  the  mining  industries  of  the  south  are  very,  very  great, 
indeed.  I  do  not  believe  really  that  there  is  another  state  in  the  union 
that  has  more  varied  possibilities  than  the  State  of  Tennessee.  The 
same  is  largely  true  of  Alabama.  It  is  true  of  Kentucky.  It  is  more  or 
less  true  of  Georgia,  the  Carolinas  and  Virginia.  So  that  the  south  is 
the  part  of  the  country  that  needs  the  American  Mining  Congress,  and 
I  hope,  being  from  the  south,  as  I  am,  that  it  will  be  decided  to  hold 
the  next  convention  there.  I  hope  that  satisfactory  arrangements  can 
be  made  with  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Birmingham  for  the  enter- 
taining of  the  Congress  there  at  the  next  meeting,  and  that  this 
Congress  will  accept  the  invitation  and  go  to  Birmingham. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Are  there  any  further  suggestions  as  to  the 
next  point  of  meeting? 

MR.  TAYLOR:  I  didn't  make  that  suggestion  to  call  forth  any 
elaborate  speeches  on  this  matter,  but  a  number  of  persons  have  asked 
me  at  different  times  how  the  place  was  decided,  and  I  thought  it 
might  be  well  for  the  Secretary  to  make  that  statement,  that  it  is 
decided  by  the  Board  of  Directors  after  the  various  invitations  are 
placed  before  them. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Let  me  say,  Mr.  President,  there 
was  a  time  when  the  principal  feature  of  each  convention  was  the  fixing 
of  the  place  of  the  next  convention.  Polticians  gathered  in  by  the  score, 
chambers  of  commerce  sent  delgates,  and  that  was  the  most  important 
thing  under  consideration,  and  everything  else  was  lost  sight  of.  It  was 
decided  to  have  that  order  changed  so  that  the  matter  should  be  left 
to  the  Board  of  Directors.  The  plan  is  now  to  take  the  proposition  of 
the  different  cities,  those  who  come  with  the  proper  arrangements,  and 
let  the  Board  of  Directors  decide  it  by  a  letter  vote. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  I  might  add  that  the  decision  is  not  made 
usually  until  about  April  or  may  be  left  to  within  five  or  six  months 
of  the  time  of  the  convention.  It  is  always  decided,  however,  five  or 
six  months  before  the  convention,  so  that  the  necessary  time  may  be 
had  for  arrangements. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  I  think,  Mr.  President,  if  it  would 
be  possible  to  decide  it  immediately  it  would  be  very  much  better.  I 
have  tried  at  this  convention  to  have  the  papers  all  in  hand  and  have 
them  printed  and  in  the  hands  of  our  members  so  that  they  may  be 
read  by  title  and  time  given  for  discussion.  If  we  can  decide  it  early 


176  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

enough  we  ought  to  say  that  no  man  shall  have  a  paper  in  the  conven- 
tion unless  it  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Secretary  thirty  days  before  the 
meeting.  If  he  can't  do  that  he  should  be  kept  off  the  platform.  If  you 
do  that  your  papers  will  be  prepared.  If  they  know  these  requirements 
and  the  papers  can  be  ready  the  speaker  can  give  the  salient  points  in 
a  few  words  and  in  that  way  we  get  plenty  of  time  to  discuss  all  of  the 
important  points  in  the  paper.  I  hope  that  the  place  of  meeting  can  be 
set  at  an  early  date. 

'THE  PRESIDENT:    Is  there  any  further  business  to  come  before 
this  meeting? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  President  and  members:  pne 
of  the  plans  which  we  have  for  the  future,  which  we  believe  gives 
promise  and  justifies  the  hope  that  the  Mining  Congress  will  be  a  very 
powerful  organization  is  the  plan  for  the  creation  of  a  Bureau  of  Mining 
Economics.  You  know  the  railway  people  of  the  country  have  a  bureau 
of  railway  economics.  It  is  non-partisan,  paid  for  by  the  railroads  upon 
some  proportionate  basis,  but  it  costs  about  a  hundred  thousand  dollars 
a  year.  They  have  a  number  of  high  grade  men  who  gather  statistics 
about  every  phase  of  transportation  and  if  a  member  of  Congress  wants 
to  know  anything  concerning  transportation,  that  bureau  will  gather 
the  figures,  and  present  to  him  a  complete  statement  as  quickly  as  it  is 
possible  to  do  it.  Therefore,  there  is  a  real  service  that  is  rendered  by 
that  bureau.  Doctor  Douglas,  when  he  was  more  active  than  he  is 
now,  was  very  much  interested  in  that.  The  matter  has  been  under 
consideration  since  the  Philadelphia  convention  and  the  plan  which 
we  now  have  in  mind  has  grown  out  of  various  committee  meetings  and 
discussions  on  this  subject.  The  present  plan  of  the  Congress  is  to 
ask  the  mining  industry  to  contribute  on  the  basis  of  ten  cents  on  each 
thousand  dollars  of  annual  production.  The  Bureau  of  Mining  Economics 
is  to  be  a  source  of  information  covering  all  the  subjects  involved  in  the 
mining  industry  so  that  any  member  of  the  Mining  Congress  may 
have  adequate  information  before  hand  in  regard  to  proposed  legislation. 
You  will  be  promptly  and  fully  advised  just  what  the  character  of  the 
bills  are,  just  what  those  bills  mean,  how  they  relate  to  other  bills,  and 
every  bit  of  information  that  one  interested  in  that  business  might 
desire  to  have  to  decide  whether  he  should  favor  or  oppose  the  proposed 
legislation. 

In  addition  to  that  we  hope  to  carry  on  a  Bureau  of  Publicity 
through  which  the  public  may  be  advised  of  the  facts. 

I  feel  that  a  bureau  of  information  along  that  line,  a  publicity  bureau, 
will  render  an  enormous  service  to  the  mining  industry.  I  believe  we 
can  be  equipped  to  do  that  if  we  can  get  the  bureau  of  mining  economics 
started  upon  the  plan  proposed  by  this  committee.  It  will  render  ^ 
service  to  the  mining  industry,  the  value  of  which  we  can  hardly 
contemplate. 

I  want  to  make  one  more  statement  while  I  am  on  my  feet.  Having 
given  you  a  little  idea  as  to  our  plan  for  the  Bureau  of  Mining  Econom- 
ics, I  want  to  say  something  as  to  why  I  feel  hopeful  in  regard  to  the 
establishment  of  that  bureau.  A  year  ago  we  had  no  convention  fund, 
because  San  Francisco,  having  so  many  other  conventions,  was  unable 
to  raise  money  for  the  support  of  the  convention.  Therefore,  we  had  to 
add  the  convention  expense  to  a  deficit  which  already  existed.  The  Min- 
ing Congress  at  that  time  had  a  deficit  of  practically  four  thousand  dol- 
lars. The  convention  in  San  Francisco  cost  the  Congress  nearly  five 
thousand  dollars,  so  we  were  practically  nine  thousand  dollars  behind  at 
the  beginning  of  the  prese.nt  year.  During  the  present  year  we  have  not 
only  wiped  out  the  deficit  of  five  thousand  dollars  caused  by  the  cost 
of  the  convention,  but  we  have  cleaned  up  two  thourand  dollars  of  the 
deficit  caused  by  the  Mining  Congress  Journal.  We  now  have  the  Mining 
Congress  Journal  where  it  is  in  a  fair  way  to  at  least  .pay  its  own  way 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  177 

and  we  have  more  promises  for  active  support  from  people  who  are  able 
to  give  it,  many  times  over  than  we  have  ever  had  before.  Therefore, 
I  have  absolute  confidence  that  the  Mining  Congress  will  not  only  do 
what  it  has  done  but  many  times  more  and  many  times  more  justify 
your  active  co-operation.  (Applause.) 

THE  PRESIDENT:  I  would  just  like  to  make  one  more  remark, 
and  that  is  of  all  the  men  I  have  known,  and  I  have  come  in  contact 
with  a  great  many,  there  is  one  who  is  irrepressible,  you  can't  stop  him, 
and  that  is  my  friend  on  the  left.  If  it  had  not  been  for  Mr.  Callbreath 
the  Mining  Congress  would  not  have  been  here  today  and,  frankly,  I 
would  not  have  been  willing  to  accept  the  presidency  for  the  first  year, 
but  to  see  the  earnestness  of  the  man  prompted  me  to  go  on  for  one 
year,  the  second  year  and  the  third  year.  I  must  agree  with  him  that 
the  prospects  for  the  future  are  better  than  they  have  been  in  the  past. 
That  is  no  different  from  what  we  expect.  Ten  years  ago  we  expected  a 
good  deal  less  than  we  received  today  and  ten  years  hence  we  are 
going  to  get  a  good  deal  more.  So  we  are  simplv  in  the  natural  step  of 
progress,  but  perhaps  would  .not  have  gone  nearly  as  fast  if  it  had  not 
been  for  Mr.  Callbreath.  In  fact,  I  know  it  would  not  have  gone  nearly 
as  fast  because  he  has  been  at  it  day  after  day  and  many  times  he  was 
so  worn  out  that  I  often  compared  him  in  my  own  mind,  but  I  never 
told  him,  with  the  effort  of  one  man  that  has  gone  from  here  and 
that  is  Dr.  Holmes.  I  was  many  times  in  Dr.  Holmes'  house  and  found 
him  going  to  sleep  at  his  dinner  table  and  he  went  to  sleep  in  his  den 
talking  to  me.  I  am  afraid  that  if  Mr.  Callbreath  does  not  let  up  he 
will  get  into  the  same  habit.  And  it  was  on  his  account  as  much  as  any- 
thing else  that  many  members  have  worked  as  actively  as  they  have 
and  I  am  glad  to  say  that  it  has  been  my  pleasure  to  contribute  in  a 
small  way  to  the  success  of  the  work  in  the  same  manner.  (Applause.) 

Is  there  any  further  discussion  before  this  meeting?  Are  there  any 
other  subjects  to  bring  up?  This  is  the  time,  gentlemen,  because  we  do 
not  get  together  very  often  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  things  of 
importance.  This  is  a  family  gathering.  I  have  not  even  risen  from  the 
chair  because  I  wanted  you  to  feel  that  it  was  a  family  gathering  and  not 
a  formal  gathering. 

MR.  S.  A.  TAYLOR:  Mr.  Chairman,  if  there  is  no  further  business 
I  move  we  adjourn.  There  are  some  members  here  who  haven't  eaten 
any  dinner  yet. 

MR.  E.  W.  PARKER:  I  second  that  motion,  principally  because  the 
members  of  the  Resolutions  Committee,  who  have  as  well  not  eaten 
a.nything  but  who  will  continue  their  work  at  the  supper  table. 

THE  PRESIDENT:  Out  of  special  consideration  to  the  members 
of  the  Resolutions  Committee  and  others  who  have  not  had  their 
dinner  we  will  now  vote  on  the  motion  to  adjourn. 

Motion  to  adjourn  was  carried  and  the  meeting  adjourned. 

ANNUAL  BANQUET. 
Thursday  Evening,  November  16,  1916. 

Ballroom,  La  Salle  Hotel,  Chicago. 
Colonel  George  T.  Buckingham,  of  Chicago,  acted  as  toastmaster. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  fellow  members 
of  the  American  Mining  Congress:  It  is  my  duty  as  well  as  my  pleas- 
ure to  call  to  order  this,  the  last  meeting  of  the  nineteenth  annual  ses- 
sion^  of  the  American  Mining  Congress,  and  it  also  marks  my  last 
session  as  presiding  officer  of  this  organization.  I  want  to  extend  a 
word  of  thanks  to  the  delegates  and  members  who  came  here  at  a  great 
sacrifice  of  time  and  money,  and  to  the  Chicago  committee  for  their 


178  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

entertainment  and  arrangements,  which  we  greatly  appreciate.  We 
have  kept  the  best  for  the  last,  if  you  will  leave  out  the  first  speaker 
on  the  program.  I  think  that  you  will  agree  that  this  entertainment 
was  one  that  all  of  us  enjoyed,  and  I  can  promise  you  that  the  speeches 
which  are  going  to  be  made  by  a  gentleman  from  the  west  and  a 
gentleman  from  the  east  will  be  of  much  value  to  us.  I  think  that  the 
Committee  on  Arrangements  in  selecting  me  to  take  part  in  this  pro- 
gram selected  me  simply  because  I  live  half-way  between  San  Francisco 
and  Hartford,  Connecticut.  I  also  want  to  thank  the  ladies  for  their 
presence.  At  the  last  meeting  in  San  Francisco  I  commented  on  the 
fact  that  there  were  present  more  ladies  than  gentlemen,  a  condition 
which  we  do  not  have  here  in  Chicago,  but  what  we  lack  in  numbers 
we  make  up  in  quality.  And  I  want  to  express  my  thanks  to  each  lady 
individually  and  as  they  pass  out  I  want  to  shake  them  by  the  hand. 
(Laughter  and  applause.) 

The  Frisco  meeting  was  the  pivotal  point  in  the  mining  industry. 
And  when  I  spoke  of  the  conditions  which  surrounded  the  coal  oper- 
ators in  the  central  and  western  states  the  gold  and  metal  miners  looked 
upon  me  with  suspicion  and  I  could  see  from  the  gowns  of  the  ladies 
present,  which  were  very  high  from  the  bottom  up  and  very  low  from 
the  top  down,  but  all  high-grade  quality,  that  perhaps  they  were  able 
to  foot  the  bill  in  a  manner  that  we  in  the  coal  business  could  not  do, 
but  even  that  time  has  changed.  Fashions  usually  travel  from  the  east 
to  the  west,  but  this  time  the  fashion  has  traveled  from  the  west  to 
the  east.  I  refer  to  prosperity,  because  what  two  years  ago  was  abject 
poverty  in  this  district  has  today  become  a  great  prosperity,  so  much 
so  that  a  large  number  of  gentlemen  who  had  promised  to  be  here  are 
today  sitting  behind  their  desks  tearing  their  hair  trying  to  figure  out 
how  they  can  fill  the  orders  which  they  have  for  coal.  This  reversal  of 
condition  has  effected  many  changes,  including  the  election  of  a  repub- 
lican governor  in  this  state,  as  I  learn  from  my  neighbor  on  the  left, 
and  that  I  didn't  know  until  today,  because  I  had  been  out  in  the 
country.  (Laughter.) 

This  is  distinctly  a  period  of  preparation  and  we  have  selected  as 
toastmaster  a  military  man,  a  colonel,  because  we  all  believe  in  defense. 
I  have  just  received  a  tug  on  the  back  of  my  coat  now  that  I  must  not 
speak  to  you  at  this  time,  because  I  have  got  apiece  to  read.  Therefore, 
I  take  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  Colonel  George  T.  Buckingham, 
who  is  to  take  charge  of  the  meeting  and  guide  you  to  the  end. 
(Applause.) 

THE  TOASTMASTER:  Mr.  President,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  one 
of  the  mysteries  of  the  twentieth  century  is  why  your  committee  did 
me  the  honor  to  select  me  as  your  toastmaster.  I  profoundly  appre- 
ciate that  honor,  but  I  don't  know  now  what  actuated  your  committee. 
I  think  the  most  plausible  explanation  is  that  I  know  less  about  mining 
than  anybody  else  in  the  United  States  (laughter)  and  that,  therefore,  I 
would  be  unable  to  contradict  any  statement  that  might  be  made  by 
any  of  the  distinguished  speakers  (laughter),  and  harmony  would, 
therefore,  prevail.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  the  explanation  might 
be  better  illustrated  by  an  incident  that  happened  to  Uncle  Joe  Cannon 
in  his  youth.  I  know  this  is  the  truth,  because  he  told  me  so  himself. 
(Laughter.)  He  was  at  that  time  at  the  age  of  eighteen  and  he  held 
a  job  as  a  clerk  in  a  grocery  store  on  the  banks  of  the  Wabash  River. 
At  that  time  he  worked  on  the  eight-hour  system,  eight  hours  before 
dinner  and  eight  hours  after  (laughter),  and  since  the  Adamson  law 
was  then  in  a  distant  future,  he  got  the  same  price  for  working  that 
eight-hour  period  that  he  would  if  he  had  worked  all  the  time.  (Laugh- 
ter.) Among  the  other  duties  that  he  had  was  that  of  being  assistant 
postmaster.  The  mail  came  in  there  and  he  distributed  it  to  the  people, 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  179 

and  in  anticipation  of  the  arrival  of  the  mail  the  sages  of  the  village 
always  gathered  around  the  red-hot  wood  stove.  One  of  the  patriarchs 
of  that  community  was  an  old  fellow  named  Sharp  who  had  the  excellent 
distinction  of  having  a  brand  of  chewing  tobacco  that  exactly  harmon- 
ized with  the  color  of  his  long  beard.  (Laughter.)  Mr.  Sharp  was 
always  sitting  about  this  stove  waiting  to  see  what  would  happen,  and 
on  the  occasion  I  have  reference  to  there  came  a  man  named  Stanley, 
who  was  an  itinerant  lecturer.  Stanley  had  gone  about  from  one  place 
in  Indiana  to  another  on  foot,  carrying  a  carpet-bag  and  delivering  an 
erudite  lecture  on  the  cosmos  origin  of  the  human  race,  or  some  such 
subject,  for  which  lecture  he  received  the  munificent  sum  of  four  dollars. 
Stanley  came  into  the  postoffice  for  his  mail  and  asked  Uncla  Joe  if 
he  had  a  letter  for  him.  He  was  handed  a  letter  and  he  took  it  and 
looked  at  it  and  he  said,  "Ah,"  and  he  read  a  little  more  and  he  said, 
"Oh."  Sharp  said,  "What  seems  to  be  the  matter,  Mr.  Stanley?"  and 
Mr.  Stanley  said,  "Here  is  an  honor  that  I  never  expected  to  have.  I 
have  been  asked  to  speak  in  Bosting.  That  is  a  great  honor,  you  under- 
stand. It  is  a  wonderful  honor  to  have  an  audience  in  the  city  of 
Bosting,  to  go  there  and  deliver  my  celebrated  lecture.  They  have 
asked  me  to  come  there.  I  never  expected  to  have  that  honor.  But 
it  is  a  long  ways  to  Bosting  and  I  don't  know  whether  I  ought  to  go 
down  there  or  not."  "Well,"  said  Mr.  Sharp,  "I  think  you  ought  to 
go."  "Well,  do  you  really  think  that  it  is  a  good  thing  for  me  to  go 
there?  Are  you  serious?"  "I  believe  it  is."  "Why  do  you  think  so?" 
"Yes,"  said  Mr.  Sharp,  "I  think  you  ought  to  go  there  by  all  means." 
"Well,  what  is  the  reason  that  you  are  so  anxious  that  I  should  go,  Mr. 
Sharp?"  "Do  you  want  the  real  reason?"  "Yes,  I  do,"  said  Mr.  Stan- 
ley. "Well,  I  never  did  like  them  d — d  Boston  folks  nohow."  (Laugh- 
ter.) 

You  didn't  come  here,  however,  to  hear  a  toastmaster  talk,  but  to 
hear  the  things  that  are  on  this  splendid  program.  One  of  the  first 
subjects  to  be  discussed  is  by  a  son  of  Illinois,  and  all  of  you  who 
have  not  the  pleasure  to  reside  in  this  splendid  commonwealth  of  ours 
will  perhaps  be  interested  to  know  the  name  Illinois  stands  for  some- 
thing. When  the  great  explorer  Chevalier  d'  La  Salle  pointed  the  prow 
of  his  Indian  canoe  from  old  Mackinaw  into  the  setting  sun  and 
started  for  the  Savannahs  of  the  West,  he  found  a  river  flowing  in  this 
fertile  land  and  on  the  banks  of  that  river  he  found  a  tribe  of  aborig- 
ines who  called  this  river  and  themselves  "Illini,"  and  when  they  were 
asked  what  that  signified  they  said  to  him  that  in  Indian  language  it 
meant  "the  men,"  the  men  of  courage,  strength  and  character,  promi- 
nent among  the  rest  of  men.  And  we  like  to  think  and  we  like  to  tell 
our  visiting  neighbors  that  for  two  hundred  and  eighty-three  years  that 
have  elapsed  since  that  time  the  quality  of  the  manhood  of  our  com- 
monwealth has  not  deteriorated.  Sometimes  we  lawyers  are  not  able  to 
prove  the  assertions  we  make,  but  I  am  in  the  happy  position  tonight 
to  be  able  to  prove  my  assertion.  So  the  first  thing  that  will  be  dis- 
cussed here  is  a  problem  of  great  import  and  it  will  be  presented  by  a 
distinguished  son  of  Illinois,  my  Exhibit  A  to  the  proposition  that  our 
manhood  still  stands.  (Laughter.) 

I  take  great  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  one  who  needs  no  introduc- 
tion from  me  or  from  anyone,  your  distinguished  President,  Carl  Scholz, 
of  the  state  of  Illinois.  (Applause.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  I  can't  help  but  notice  the  embarrass- 
ment in  which  I  find  myself  after  this  splendid  introduction.  I  really 


180  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

had  requested  that  I  be  permitted  to  forego  this  speech  that  I  am  to 
read,  because  it  is  on  all  your  tables  and  you  could  take  it  home  and 
read  it  better  than  I  could  do  it  for  you,  but,  in  order  to  go  through  the 
program  and  carry  things  out  to  the  end,  I  will  read  it.  If  you  get  tired, 
the  man  will  ring  the  bell,  but  until  he  does  I  will  go  on. 

Recently  the  nation's  industrial,  social  and  political  affairs  have 
undergone  most  radical  changes  from  that  which  was.  These  changes 
are  now  an  established  fact,  yet  it  cannot  be  said  that  we  sought  to 
procure  them  or  even  desired  them.  They  were  forced  upon  us,  being 
the  resultant,  here,  of  forces  operating  wholly  outside  our  geographical 
boundaries.  While  in  no  vital  sense  responsible  for  the  new  order  of 
things  in  our  own  house,  we  must  make  the  best  of  it  and  out  of  it. 

To  understand  how  greatly  our  most  important  relations  in  life 
have  been  subject  to  revolution,  a  study  in  contrasts  is  necessary. 

Less  than  two  years  ago  the  whole  mining  industry  was  in  dis- 
tress. In  the  metalliferous  districts  many  mines  were  closed  down 
and,  indeed,  only  those  properties  which  were  strong  financially  were 
producing.  Many  of  them  did  so  at  a  loss.  Hope  of  a  profitable  mar- 
ket price  was  abandoned  and  effort  to  obtain  better  results  on  invest- 
ment were  directed  toward  milling  and  smelting  processes.  This  was 
a  commendable  course,  no  matter  what  its  origin,  but  the  financial  status 
of  many  companies  made  this  far  less  than  a  general  remedy.  Indeed, 
it  required  a  courageous  man  to  send  good  money  into  a  metal  mine 
seeing  the  limited  chances  it  had  of  returning  and  bringing  the  other 
money  out  with  it. 

Then  the  European  war  came.  For  the  moment  business  was  para- 
lyzed by  the  shock.  But  so  soon  as  it  became  known  the  war  was  to 
be  confined  mainly  to  land,  shipping  became  confident  and  ventured. 
Then  the  products — 

MR.  E.  W.  PARKER:  Mr.  Toastmaster,  Mr.  Toastmaster,  may  I 
interrupt? 

THE  TOASTMASTER:  Gentlemen,  gentlemen,  I  do  not  like  to 
have  the  President  of  this  Association  interrupted  in  the  middle  of  his 
paper. 

MR.  E.  W.  PARKER:  Mr.  Toastmaster,  if  I  may  be  permitted,  I 
would  like  to  have  a  few  moments  of  the  President's  time. 

THE  TOASTMASTER:  Very  well,  then.  The  President  will  sit 
down  while  you  exercise  your  prerogative. 

MR.  E.  W.  PARKER:  Because  I  always  like  to  speak,  1  have 
asked  for  a  portion  of  Mr.  Scholz's  time.  Now,  time  is  a  subject  which 
poets  and  writers  and  songsters  and  speakers  has  discussed  for 
ages.  No  one  other  subject  has  received  more  attention  than  time. 
Time  and  again  when  they  speak  of  spring,  they  refer  to  the  gentle 
springtime.  A  favorite  song  with  many  is  "In  the  ,Good  Old  Summer 
.Time."  One  poet  even  wrote  a  poem  about  the  banks  on  which  the 
wild  thyme  grows.  (Laughter.)  Another  has  said  that  time  was  made 
for  slaves,  and  certainly  the  object  of  this  attack  (or  spasm)  has  been 
a  slave  of  duty,  a  slave  to  his  friends,  a  slave  to  his  business,  a  slave 
to  this  organization,  and  surely  if  time  were  made  for  slaves,  then 
time  belongs  to  him.  There  is  a  little  poem  in  regard  to  time  which 
was  really  written  to  a  girl,  but  on  account  of  the  youth  and  beauty 
of  the  present  subject  of  my  remarks  it  is  appropriate,  I  think,  upon 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  181 

this  occasion.     If  I  may  be  permitted,  I  will  recite  it.     It  runs  like  this: 
"Stay,    ruthless    time,    touch    softly    on    the    brow, 
With  feathered  wing  the  one  so  loved,  who  now 
Holds   forth  the  hand  to  greet  you  as  you  pass, 
Checking   the   sand   fast  hurrying   through   yon   glass; 
Leaving  a  year's  more  love  to  swell  his  store, 
Enriching   that   which    he    possessed   before. 
Stay,    time,    and    ponder  for   a   moment   rare 
Upon   the   life   of  one  with  whom   to   share 
A  tithe  of  all   His  gracious  gifts,  ever  fair. 
And  honor  worthy  of  the  proudest  claim. 
A  life  of  love,  truth,  spirit,  all  I  name 
Could  not  set  forth  the  hold  he  has  on  thee. 
Pass  then  with  soothing  touch  and  leave  to  us 
The  cares  which  we  must  bear,  but  leave  him  free." 

Mr.  Scholz,  we  hope  time  will  indeed  deal  gently  with  you,  and  in 
behalf  of  your  friends  of  the  American  Mining  Congress,  I  wish  to  pre- 
sent to  you  a  little  piece  of  time.  (Laughter  and  applause.)  This  little 
piece  of  time,  which  someone  has  called  a  timepiece,  is  presented  to 
you.  It  is  also  known  as  a  repeater,  useful  at  election  time.  It  is 
engraved  on  the  inside  and  I  think  I  remember  what  it  says.  It  is: 

"Presented  to  Carl  Scholz,  three  times  President  of  the  American 
Mining  Congress,  in  recognition  of  his  services  to  the  Mining  Industry." 
(Applause.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Mr.  Parker,  ladies  and  gentlemen:  This 
is,  indeed,  a  surprise  and  words  fail  me  to  express  myself,  appreciatively 
and  adequately,  because  this  was  a  thing  which  I  didn't  look  for  and 
one  which  I  greatly  value.  I  will  say,  however,  that  I  must  have  been 
a  prophet  or  a  son  of  a  prophet,  because  I  predicted  there  would  be 
a  bell  ringing.  (Laughter.)  The  bell  has  rung.  I  ask  the  toastmaster 
to  finish  the  program  without  interrupting  another  time  for  a  discussion 
on  time.  I  do  not  think  I  could  do  the  paper  justice  now.  You  have 
a  copy  before  you  and  if  you  will  read  it,  just  a  few  sentences  of  it,  I 
will  be  well  repaid  for  the  trouble  of  preparing  it.  I  can't  very  well 
express  myself  now  and  I  will  ask  you  not  to  expect  anything  more 
of  me. 

THE  TOASTMASTER:  You  will  observe  by  looking  at  this  pro- 
gram that  there  are  three  subjects  for  discussion  tonight,  and  that 
reminds  me  of  a  thing  that  I  heard  down  in  Memphis  one  time  about 
a  colored  camp  meeting.  There  was  an  eminent  colored  divine  down 
there  who  used  to  address  his  flock  and  he  began  about  like  this:  He 
said,  "Dear  brethren,  my  subject  tonight  divides  itself  into  three  parts. 
The  first  part  consists  of  the  things  that  you  don't  understand.  The 
second  part  consists  of  things  that  I  don't  understand.  The  third  part 
consists  of  the  things  that  none  of  us  understand.  (Laughter.)  And 
by  the  grace  of  God,  brethren,  we  will  tackle  the  last  subject  boldly 
first."  (Laughter.)  We  have  now  arrived  at  the  second  subject  on  the 
program,  which  is  the  one  I  don't  understand.  In  the  twenty-five 
years  that  I  have  attempted  to  practice  law  in  Illinois  I  never  yet  have 
found  anybody  else  that  understood  that  particular  subject,  namely,  the 
land  laws  of  the  United  States.  (Laughter.).  But  we  have  with  us 
an  eminent  gentleman  who  comes  nearer  approximating  that  ideal  of 
understanding  than  any  other  man  known  to  this  Committee,  and  I  am 
sure  that  you  will  find  the  latter  part  of  this  program,  his  address  and 
the  rest  very  interesting. 

In  that  respect  you  might  find  yourself  like  the  eminent  citizen  of 
Chicago  who  received  a  black-hand  letter.  The  letter  said,  "Dear  Mr. 
Jones:  Unless  you  deposit  five  hundred  dollars  beneath  the  hollow 
stump  at  the  corner  of  the  barn  lot  before  Tuesday  night  the  black- 
hand  will  carry  away  your  wife  and  you  will  not  see  her  any  more." 


182      .  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

To  which  Mr.  Jones  replied:  "Dear  Mr.  Blackhand:  I  have  your  favor 
of  the  fourth.  I  am  unable  to  deposit  the  five  hundred  dollars.  The 
latter  part  of  your  communication  interests  me  greatly  and  I  will  be 
glad  to  hear  more  about  it."  (Laughter.)  That  was  not  your  toastmas- 
ter  nor  any  of  your  officers  nor  anybody  here  who  wrote  that  letter. 

I  take  pleasure  in  introducing  a  gentleman  to  discuss  a  most  impor- 
tant subject.  He  has  mastered  that  subject  as  nearly  as  any  human 
can  be  master  of  that  subject.  We  have  a  distinguished  lawyer  and 
jurist  from  the  state  of  California,  and  by  forty-eight  hours  of  training 
and  repression  I  have  gotten  myself  to  the  place  where  I  can  pro- 
nounce California  without  frothing  at  the  mouth.  (Laughter  and  ap- 
plause.) I  am  sure  that  he  will  interest  and  entertain  and  edify  you, 
and  I  take  great  pleasure  in  introducing  the  distinguished  guest  who 
is  a  resident  of  the  town  of  Fresno,  California,  but  against  whom  no 
other  thing  can  be  said  in  this  or  any  other  assembly.  The  Honorable 
Frank  H.  Short,  of  California.  (Applause.) 

HON.  FRANK  H.   SHORT:     Mr.  Toastmaster. 

Judge  Short's  address  will  be  found  on  page  620  of  this  report. 

THE  TOASTMASTER:  I  told  you  he  would  do  it.  I  have  no 
doubt  you  found  that  a  most  interesting  address,  and  when  he  re- 
ferred to  that  ideal  condition  of  unlimited  coal  to  sell,  and  the  Arctic 
Circle  eighty  degrees  below  zero  to  sell  it  in,  the  smile  upon  your 
President's  face  was  positively  luminous.  (Laughter.) 

The  next  subject  to  be  discussed  is  the  greatest  subject  in  America 
and  will  be  discussed  by  one  of  the  greatest  citizens  of  America.  His 
name  suggests  to  me  an  episode  in  the  history  of  our  proud  state,  which 
is  interesting  to  say  the  least.  You  will  recall  that  our  first  territorial 
delegate  and  the  first  presiding  justice  of  our  Supreme  Court  was 
Judge  Nathaniel  Pope  of  Illinois.  It  was  he  who  succeeded  in  adding 
to  the  commonwealth  of  Illinois  the  fourteen  northern  counties,  includ- 
ing this  spot  where  you  sit,  so  that  but  for  the  Pope  we  would  now  be 
sitting  in  that  great  state  of  Wisconsin  instead  of  the  imperial  common- 
wealth of  Illinois.  About  the  time  that  he  was  justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  there  was  another  great  character  living  in  Illinois  named  Joseph 
Smith,  who  styled  himself  The  Prophet  of  God,  and  who  was  the  head 
of  the  Mormon  Church.  He  got  into  difficulties  with  the  authorities 
down  here  at  Nauvoo  about  the  year  1841.  I  did  not  see  this,  so  that 
I  can't  testify  from  my  own  personal  knowledge,  but  on  hearsay  evi- 
dence. (Laughter.)  This  case  was  brought  before  the  court  and  it 
is  recorded  that  when  the  attorney-general  rose  to  address  the  court, 
there  being  present  a  great  number  of  ladies,  he  began  in  something 
like  this  order:  "I  now  rise  in  the  presence  of  the  Pope,"  and  he  bowed 
to  the  court,  "and  in  the  presence  of  the  angels  of  light,"  and  he  bowed 
to  the  ladies,  "to  state  the  case  of  the  Prophet  of  God."  (Laughter.) 

In.  the  middle  ages  it  was  the  custom  when  great  controversial 
questions  arose  to  submit  them  to  the  Pope  for  solution  and  we  found 
that  that  was  not  a  bad  plan  to  be  carried  into  our  modern  practice. 
They  submitted  their  questions  to  Pope  Pius  and  Pope  Innocent  and 
others  of  that  name.  The  Pope  we  have  here  tonight  is  neither  Pius 
nor  Innocent.  But  he  comes  from  the  grand  old  commonwealth  of  Con- 
necticut and  from  the  splendid  and  historic  city  of  Hartford,  whose 
citizens  in  the  olden  days  hid  the  charter  in  the  hollow  oak  and  lied 
about  it  like  horse  thieves  in  order  to  protect  their  cherished  liberty. 
(Laughter.)  This  subject  will  be  discussed,  therefore,  not  by  any  Pope 
of  any  church,  but  by  another  who  holds  his  official  dignity  from  the 
masses  of  the  American  people.  I  take  great  pleasure  in  introducing 
to  you  at  this  time  that  splendid  patriot,  that  captain  of  industry,  that 
typical  American,  Colonel  George  H.  Pope,  of  the  commonwealth  of 
Connecticut,  who  will  now  address  you.  (Applause.) 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  183 

MR.  GEORGE  H.  POPE:  Mr.  Toastmaster,  ladies  and  gentle- 
men of  the  American  Mining  Congress:  I  am  at  a  loss  to  understand 
how  your  toastmaster  learned  so  much  about  me  as  to  give  me  such 
a  character  as  he  has  done.  (Laughter.)  It  is  with  some  embarrass- 
ment that  I  stand  up  here  after  such  an  address  as  you  have  just  lis- 
tened to,  eloquent  and  witty,  to  deliver  or  read  a  prosaic  paper  on  a 
topic  in  which  I  am  intensely  interested.  But  you  will  realize,  I  hope, 
that  I  am  only  a  layman  in  this  work  and  interested  in  giving  the  best 
that  I  have  for  its  good. 

Colonel  Pope's  paper  will  be  found  on  page  516  of  this  report. 

THE  TOASTMASTER:  I  am  sure  that  I  voice  your  united  senti- 
ment when  I  extend  to  these  distinguished  guests  from  the  Atlantic 
and  from  the  Pacific  our  sincere  appreciation  of  their  admirable  ad- 
dresses. And  now,  Mr.  President,  into  your  competent  hands  I  return 
this  splendid  meeting.  (Applause.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  As  I  return  to  the  ranks  of  a  private 
in  the  work  of  the  American  Mining  Congress,  I  want  to  announce  the 
election  of  the  new  President  in  the  person  of  Mr.  Walter  Douglas,  of 
New  York'.  He  is  so  well  known  to  you  that  nothing  further  need  be 
said  about  him  and  I  only  bespeak  for  him  the  same  co-operation  which 
has  been  afforded  me. 

I  herewith  adjourn  the  nineteenth  annual  meeting  of  the  American 
Mining  Congress. 

Adjournment  sine  die. 


CO-OPERATION  IN  THE  MARKETING  OF  COAL. 

An  Address  Delivered  Tuesday,  November  14,  1916,  by  Ralph 

Crews  of  the  Chicago  Bar,  Before  the  American 

Mining  Congress. 


It  was  with  genuine  pleasure  that  I  indicated  my  acceptance 
of  the  invitation  of  your  Secretary  to  be  present  on  this  occasion, 
and  address  the  members  of  the  American  Mining  Congress  upon 
the  subject  of  "Cooperation  in  the  Marketing  of  Coal." 

One  always  speaks  with  pleasure  on  a  subject  which  has 
aroused  his  interest  and  compelled  his  enthusiasm.  Professional 
necessity  aroused  my  interest  in  the  subject  a  number  of  years 
ago;  the  subject  itself,  upon  careful  investigation,  compelled  the 
enthusiastic  support  which  I  have  since  accorded  it.  It  occurred  to 
me,  while  I  was  pursuing  my  investigations  of  various  phases  of 
the  subject,  that  I  was  really  quite  a  pioneer,  blazing  a  trail  through 
the  undergrowth  of  prejudice  and  misunderstanding  which  infested 
our  industrial  life  to  such  an  amazing  extent ;  I  have  awakened, 
however,  to  a  realization — and  never  more  clearly  than  today — that 
countless  others  were  pursuing  similar  paths,  cutting  away  the 
undergrowth  of  prejudice  and  misunderstanding,  until  today  we 
are  rapidly  emerging  upon  the  broad  highways,  where  industrial 
success  can  best  be  achieved  in  the  bright  sunshine  of  knowledge 
and  understanding,  with  the  old  distrust  and  suspicion  among  busi- 
ness rivals  rapidly  being  supplanted  by  a  broader  and  better  under- 
standing on  the  part  of  each  of  the  aims,  purposes  and  motives  of 
the  other. 

I  have  found  awakened  interest  in  the  subject  of  cooperation, 
as  an  industrial  problem,  to  be  due  to  a  number  of  causes ;  with 
the  growth  of  the  nation  there  is  a  growing  demand  for  efficiency 
in  its  industrial  relations;  with  the  growth  of  the  desire  for  effi- 
ciency there  has  come  the  realization  that  efficient  methods  can  be 
promoted  only  by  kno^vledge,  and  never  by  ignorance;  and  by  the 
further  fact  that  there  has  been  a  gradual  change  in  the  authorita- 
tive conception  of  the  meaning  of  the  law  under  which  you  have 
operated  your  business  during  the  last  few  years,  until  at  the  present 


CO-OPERATION  IN  THE  MARKETING  OF  COAL         185 

time  the -assertion  may  be  safely  ventured  that  there  are  some  cer- 
tain features  of  that  law  that  you  may  regard  as  sufficiently  estab- 
lished to  enable  you  to  proceed  with  respect  thereto  with  definite- 
ness  and  with  certainty. 

Development  of  the  Law. 

As  you  know,  the  Sherman  Anti-Trust  Act  was  passed  by 
Congress  July  2,  1890;  by  its  terms  it  inhibited  contracts,  combina- 
tions or  conspiracies  in  restraint  of  trade,  and  declared  the  mon- 
opoly created,  or  attempted  to  be  created  thereby,  to  be  unlawful. 
This  statute  received  but  scant  attention  from  the  law  officers  of 
the  United  States  and  from  the  courts  until  about  the  beginning 
of  the  Roosevelt  administration,  when  it  began  to  exercise  the 
compelling  influence  over  the  industrial  affairs  of  the  country  that 
it  has  since  exerted;  upon  account  of  the  sweeping  language  em- 
ployed by  Congress  and  the  all-embracing  scope  of  the  terms  em- 
ployed it  was  for  some  time  regarded  as  doubtful  as  to  what  acts 
were  within  its  prohibitions.  The  so-called  "twilight  zone"  resulting 
from  this  doubt  and  uncertainty  has  been  steadily  narrowed  by 
recent  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court,  particularly  in  the  Standard 
Oil  and  tobacco  cases,  until  today  most  of  the  questions  arising 
under  the  anti-trust  act  are  readily  solvable  by  a  lawyer  closely  in 
touch  with  the  spirit  of  the  act  as  interpreted  by  the  Supreme 
Court.  It  is  hoped  and  believed  that  when  the  Supreme  Court  shall 
have  disposed  of  several  great  cases  now  pending  before  it,  little, 
if  any,  uncertainty  will  remain  with  respect  to  the  application  and 
meaning  of  the  Sherman  Act. 

From  a  survey  of  those  great  cases  which  have  marked  the 
development  of  the  law  on  this  subject,  it  is  apparent  that  certain 
questions  may  be  taken  as  definitely  determined;  for  instance,  it 
may  be  said  that  price  agreements  between  competitors  are  univer- 
sally regarded  by  the  courts  as  inimical  to  the  public  interests  upon 
account  of  a  tendency  toward  oppression,  and  are  regarded  as 
within  the  scope  and  spirit  of  the  prohibition  of  the  anti-trust  law. 
How  then,  you  inquire,  may  competitors  lawfully  cooperate  in  the 
marketing  of  coal  ?  There  is  nothing  in  the  letter  or  spirit  of  the 
law  which  compels  competitors  to  compete  in  ignorance.  There  is 
nothing  that  prohibits  or  in  any  manner  tends  to  discourage  the 
acquisition  by  the  individual  of  such  information  as  may  enable 
him  to  more  intelligently  and  efficiently  conduct  his  own  business, 
so  long  as  the  acquisition  of  that  information  is  not  accompanied 


186         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

by  any  restriction  as  to  how  the  business  shall  be  conducted.  The 
individual  may  look  to  a  competitor  for  such  information  as  law- 
fully as  he  may  look  to  any  outside  source.  From  that  premise 
follows  the  conclusion  that  there  is  no  limitation  imposed  by  law 
upon  the  volume  or  character  of  information  that  may  be  lawfully 
exchanged  between  competitors. 

Form  and  Purpose  of  Associations. 

The  spirit  of  cooperation  has  seized  hold  of  this  fundamental 
fact,  overlooked  during  the  years  when  there  was  regarded  as 
existing  no  middle  ground  between  corporate  consolidation  or  price 
agreements,  on  one  hand  and  ruthless  and  cut-throat  com- 
petition on  the  other;  and  there  has  been  evolved  from  that 
basic  idea  a  form  of  association,  varying  according  to  the  needs 
of  the  particular  industry  which  it  serves,  generally  regarded  as 
lawful,  and  shown  by  practical  experience  to  be  of  great  service  to 
industry. 

These  associations  today  are  numerous  throughout  the  country, 
in  the  coal  trade  as  well  as  in  many  other  lines  of  industry.  They 
operate,  as  a  rule,  through  the  medium  of  a  secretary,  who  usually 
devotes  all  of  his  time  to  the  work  of  the  association.  Many  of 
these  secretaries  have  developed  the  gathering  of  data,  the  com- 
pilation thereof  and  its  dissemination  to  a  point  of  efficiency  that 
is  little  short  of  marvelous.  These  associations  have  become  so 
numerous  that  there  was  held  last  summer  in  the  east  a  meeting 
of  secretaries  of  such  associations.  This  meeting  was  held  because 
of  the  opinion  entertained  by  many  that  an  exchange  of  experiences 
among  such  secretaries  would  be  generally  helpful. 

Such  an  association  should  have  a  written  constitution  and 
by-laws,  and  careful  record  should  be  made  of  all  of  its  acts.  The 
operations  of  such  an  association  are  illustrated  by  the  following 
declaration  of  purposes  of  a  large  trade  association  now  in 
existence : 

"The  primary  purposes  of  this  association  shall  be : 

"(a)  The  establishment  of  cordial  personal  relations,  and 
hence  of  confidence  among  the  several  houses. 

"(b)  The  mutual  education  of  one  another  concerning  costs 
of  production  and  distribution. 

"(c)  The  elimination  of  wastes,  both  in  production  and  dis- 
tribution. 


CO-OPERATION  IN  THE  MARKETING  OF  COAL         187 

"(d)   The  removal  of   false  impressions  regarding  the  prices 

or  business  practices  of  other  houses. 

"(e)   The    dissemination    of    correct    information    concerning 
actual  market  prices,  and  the  prices  at  which  sales  have 
been  made. 
"(f)   The   maintenance   of   qualities   to   the    full   standard   of 

specifications,  and  the  proper  branding  of  goods." 
The  quoted  purposes  fairly  exhibit  the  reasons  for  the  exist- 
ence of  the  association.  The  burden  of  the  work  to  be  done  falls 
largely  upon  the  secretary,  whose  selection  should  be  made  with 
great  care.  His  personal  relation  to  the  success  of  the  plan  is  very 
great;  his  hands  should  be  strengthened  in  every  possible  manner 
and  he  should  receive  the  whole-hearted  support  of  his  member- 
ship; without  such  support  the  association  cannot  succeed. 

The  work  of  the  secretary  falls  largely  into  one  of  two  classes : 
"(t>)  Mutual  education  of  one  another  concerning  costs  of  pro- 
duction and  distribution";  or  "(e)  the  dissemination  of  correct  in- 
formation concerning  actual  market  prices  and  the  prices  at  which 
sales  have  been  made." 

Accurate  and  Uniform  Cost  Accounting. 

The  benefits  which  the  members  derive  from  the  former  of 
said  stated  purposes  flow  from  the  application  of  an  accurate  and 
uniform  method  of  cost  accounting;  such  benefits  start  with  re- 
sulting economies  in  actual  production  of  coal  in  the  mine,  and 
gradually  extend  throughout  the  entire  organization,  until  their 
beneficent  influence  enters  into  the  determination  of  the  question 
of  the  price  at  which  the  product  will  be  sold.  Men  are  not  in- 
clined, knowingly  and  consciously,  to  give  away  their  property, 
although  I  venture  the  assertion  that  there  has  been  more  bitu- 
minous coal  given  away  in  this  country  in  the  last  ten  years  than 
any  other  commodity  of  any  class  whatsoever.  Given  definite  and 
accurate  information  as  to  market  conditions,  and  definite  knowl- 
edge as  to  the  cost  of  the  product,  and  the  operator  generally  will 
be  slow  to  produce  more  coal  than  he  believes  he  can  sell  at  cost 
or  better. 

No  discussion  of  the  benefits  of  cost  accounting  will  be  com- 
plete which  does  not  refer  to  the  excellent  work  on  that  subject 
heretofore  accomplished  by  the  Federal  Trade  Commission. 


188         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

Federal  Trade  Commission. 

The  calling  into  existence  of  that  Commission  may  well  be 
regarded  as  the  greatest  achievement  of  the  Wilson  administra- 
tion. The  Commission  encourages  cooperation  among  business  men, 
and  likewise  encourages  cooperation  between  such  business  men 
acting  in  the  form  of  some  proper  association  and  themselves,  and 
any  plan  of  association  contemplated  by  any  gentlemen  in  the  coal 
trade,  or  in  any  other  trade,  can,  without  the  slightest  hesitancy,  be 
'submitted  to  the  Federal  Trade  Commission,  with  the  certain  con- 
sciousness that  such  action  will  be  met  by  the  Commission  in  the 
same  spirit.  Fon  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  our  Government 
there  is  an  important  branch  of  the  Government  having  to  do  with 
the  relations  of  business  to  the  anti-trust  laws  that  is  not  organized 
and  equipped  as  a  prosecuting  machine.  It  is  true  that  there  are 
phases  of  the  reserve  power  of  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  that 
give  it  ample  authority  to  prosecute  any  case  where  it  deems 
prosecution  necessary ;  but  such  powers  are  subordinate  to  the  main 
purposes  of  the  Commission,  which  are  to  render  sane  assistance 
to  sane  and  honest  business,  and  to  discuss  their  problems  with 
business  men  freely,  frankly,  and  without  reservation;  and  any 
plan  which  is  fully  and  frankly  submitted  to  the  Federal  Trade 
Commission  will  receive  a  fair  consideration  by  that  Commission. 

There  has  been  a  good  deal  of  discussion  as  to  the  power  of 
the  Commission,  by  way  of  approval  of  plans.  It  cannot  grant 
immunity ;  it  cannot  legalize  an  illegal  plan.  The  protection  that  is 
extended  by  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  inheres  in  the  fact 
that  its  relation  to  industry  from  now  on  will  be  similar  to  the 
relation  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  to  the  railroads ; 
and  while  there  is  nothing  in  the  Interstate  Commerce  Act  or  in 
the  anti-trust  laws  which  divorces  the  railroads  from  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  Department  of  Justice,  never  of  recent  years  has  there 
been  a  prosecution  of  railroads  that  was  not  instigated  by  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission ;  and  so  it  will  prove  to  be,  in 
my  judgment,  with  respect  to  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  and 
industry.  Questions  arising  under  the  anti-trust  laws  will  be  before 
that  Commission  for  its  determination  upon  behalf  of  the 
Government. 

The  Commission  has  been  recently  organized  into  depart- 
ments. Among  others,  there  is  a  department  for  corporation  reports. 
"This  department  shall  not  merely  gather  and  compile  statistics, 
but  shall  classify  the  information  and  give  it  back  to  the  world  at 


CO-OPERATION  IN  THE  MARKETING  OF  COAL         189 

frequent  intervals  in  such  manner  and  form  that  it  will  help  the 
industry.  Among  the  activities  of  this  division  will  be  the  securing 
of  general  facts  regarding  each  industry,  and  putting  these  facts 
into  the  hands  of  those  interested.  This,  it  is  predicted,  will  tend 
to  prevent  over-production  or  the  investment  of  new  capital  in  an 
industry  in  which  supply  may  have  outrun  demand.  (I  am  quoting 
from  the  published  notes  with  respect  to  the  purposes  of  this  par- 
ticular department.)  It  will  help  business  men  to  reduce  cost  of 
operation  by  standardizing  products,  and  by  standardizing  account 
systems." 

The  Commission  has  published  a  pamphlet,  dated  July  I,  1916, 
entitled  "Fundamentals  of  a  Cost  System  for  Manufacturers," 
which  is  replete  with  interesting  information  upon  the  subject  of 
cost  accounting  methods.  In  the  statement  to  the  public,  accom- 
panying such  pamphlet,  Honorable  Edward  N.  Hurley,  Chairman, 
says: 
"To  the  American  Manufacturer: 

"The  Federal  Trade  Commission  has  found  that  an  amazing 
number  of  manufacturers,  particularly  the  smaller  ones,  have  no 
adequate  system  for  determining  their  costs  and  price  their  goods 
arbitrarily.  It  is  evident  that  there  must  be  improvement  in  this 
direction  before  competition  can  be  placed  upon  a  sound  economic 
basis."  (Italics  ours.) 

In  such  pamphlet,  under  the  heading,  "Uses  and  Advantages  of 
a  Cost  System/'  the  Commission  says  (page  30)  : 

"The  prime  object  of  a  cost  system  is  to  determine  costs,  to 
analyze  and  compare  them,  and  to  use  them  as  a  basis  for  making 
prices.  But  the  uses  and  advantages  go  further.  A  manufacturer 
from  reliable  records  is  able  to  make  clearer  and  more  intelligent 
statements  to  his  bank  and  thereby  obtain  a  larger  line  of  credit 
than  he  could  without  them." 

It  thus  appears  that  in  this  Commission  we  possess  a  Gov- 
ernmental agency,  organized  for  the  purpose  of  standing  between 
the  business  interests  of  the  country  and  the  reckless,  ignorant  ap- 
plication of  the  anti-trust  laws;  and  that  said  Commission  is 
definitely  committed  to  the  legality  and  advisability,  first,  of  the 
adoption  by  competitors  in  a  given  line  of  industry  of  a  uniform 
method  of  cost  accounting,  and,  second,  that  such  uniform  method 
of  cost  accounting  should  be  a  factor  in  arriving  at  the  selling 
price. 


190         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

"(,e)  The  dissemination  of  correct  information  concerning 
actual  market  prices,"  etc. 

A  trite  expression,  commonly  accepted  as  being  accurate,  is  to 
the  effect  that  "knowledge  is  power."  Assuming  that  statement  to 
be  correct,  it  must  necessarily  follow  that  "ignorance  is  weakness." 
Must  we  not  concede  that  the  condition  of  ignorance  is  the  condi- 
tion which  now  universally  obtains  in  the  marketing  of  coal,  except 
in  those  districts  where  cooperation  exists? 

There  are  two  compelling  factors  in  determining  your  selling 
price:  First,  the  cost  of  production;  second,  market  conditions. 
What  possibility  has  a  coal  operator,  in  the  absence  of  cooperation, 
to  possess  accurate  knowledge  with  respect  to  market  conditions? 
None  whatever.  "Market  conditions,"  generally  speaking,  consist 
of  the  prices  at  which  all  competitive  coals  are  being  sold.  False 
reports  as  to  the  prices  which  are  quoted  by  competing  houses  are 
widely  current ;  and  too  often  they  receive  credence,  and  efforts  are 
made  to  meet  prices  which  never  existed;  thus  reducing  the  whole 
level  of  prices. 

The  Case  of  the  Steel  Corporation. 

In  the  abundance  of  judicial  decisions  a  reference  may  be 
found  to  the  legality  of  the  practice  here  under  discussion.  You 
will  recall  that  a  bill  was  filed  by  the  United  States  against  the 
United  States  Steel  Corporation  in  the  District  Court  for  the  Dis- 
trict of  New  Jersey.  In  the  bill  .of  complaint  thus  filed,  in  the 
course  of  a  reference  to  conditions  obtaining  in  the  steel  trade,  the 
Government  says : 

"It  is  not  here  alleged  that  merely  assembling  and  mutually 
exchanging  information  and  declaration  of  purpose  amount  to  an 
agreement  or  a  combination  in  restraint  of  trade." 

In  the  decision  of  the  case  the  Court  took  occasion  to  refer  to 
this  allegation  in  the  following  language : 

"With  this  concession  we  are  in  full  accord.  In  these  days 
every  large  business  has  its  societies  and  associations,  and  these 
meet  periodically  to  exchange  information  of  all  kinds,  to  compare 
experiences,  to  take  note  of  improvements  in  machinery  or  process, 
to  discuss  problems,  and  generally  to  profit  by  the  interchange  of 
ideas  and  the  study  of  observed  facts.  When  the  business  is  manu- 
facturing, of  course,  all  this  has  a  direct  bearing  on  the  subject  of 
prices,  and  these  conferences  may  therefore  consider  that  subject 
specifically." 


CO-OPERATION  IN  THE  MARKETING  OF  COAL         191 

Conclusion. 

It  may  be  observed,  in  conclusion,  that  authoritative  sanction 
is  therefore  seen  for  the  observation  with  which  we  began  these 
remarks,  to-wit,  that  the  law  imposes  no  limitation  upon  the  volume 
or  character  of  information  that  may  be  lawfully  exchanged  be- 
tween competitors  with  respect  to  the  marketing  of  coal.  The  sub- 
ject was  specifically  discussed  by  the  Honorable  Edward  N.  Hurley, 
at  present  Chairman  of  the  Federal  Trade  Commission,  before  the 
Associated  Advertising  Clubs  of  the  World,  at  Philadelphia,  on  the 
29th  day  of  June,  1916,  at  which  time  he  said: 

"The  activities  of  trade  associations  and  similar  business  organ- 
izations are  manifold.  Groups  of  associated  business  men  that  are 
putting  forth  special  efforts  to  improve  systems  of  cost  accounting, 
bettering  their  processes  of  manufacture,  standardizing  their  out- 
put, obtaining  credit  information,  and  endeavoring  to  advance  the 
welfare  of  their  employes,  are  bound  to  be  most  important  factors 
in  our  country's  development  in  the  course  of  the  next  few  years. 

"Special  commendation  should  be  given  to  associations  that 
are  endeavoring  to  build  up  industries  in  these  constructive  ways. 
Successful  production  and  successful  merchandising  require  many 
steps  in  the  process  of  changing  the  form  of  the  raw  materials, 
and  putting  the  product  on  the  market  at  a  figure  adequate  to  cover 
the  cost  of  production  and  the  cost  of  selling  and  net  some  profit 
to  the  producer,  without  charging  the  consumer  an  excessive  price ; 
and  neither  the  individual  manufacturer  nor  the  Government  alone 
can  work  out  the  many  serious  economic  and  business  problems  in- 
volved, so  successfully,  as  can  a  group  of  associated  producers  or 
merchants,  laboring  together  in  cooperation.  These  associations, 
when  conducted  intelligently  and  rationally,  with  the  thought  of 
bringing  about  improved  business  conditions,  will  make  it  possible 
for  our  industries  to  compete  in  price  and  quality  in  the  markets 
of  the  world. 

"There  should  be  a  greater  degree  of  organization  and  of 
mutual  helpfulness  in  all  lines  of  trade  and  industry,  so  that  Amer- 
ican business  may  be  welded  into  a  commercial  and  industrial 
whole ;  the  part  of  the  Government  being  to  cooperate  with  business 
men,  on  request,  to  bring  about  the  results  that  will  benefit  business 
and  hence  promote  our  national  welfare." 

Chairman  Hurley  had  been  so  pronounced  in  the  favor  which 
he  accorded  to  the  cooperative  movement  that  many  were  wonder- 
ing whether  his  views  might  be  regarded  a«*  fairly  representative  of 


192         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

the  Administration,  or  whether  they  were  to  be  construed  as  in 
any  manner  personal  to  him,  and,  in  connection  with  the  address 
to  which  we  have  last  referred,  Chairman  Hurley  made  a  statement 
which  for  all  time  put  that  question  at  rest.  He  said:  ' 

"President  Wilson's  views  on  trade  associations  may  be  of  par- 
ticular interest  to  you.  In  a  letter  addressed  to  me,  under  date  of 
May  12,  1916,  he  said,  in  part: 

"  'Your  suggestion  that  trade  associations,  associations  of  retail 
and  wholesale  merchants,  commercial  clubs,  boards  of  trade,  manu- 
facturers' associations,  credit  associations,  and  other  similar  organ- 
izations should  be  encouraged  in  every  feasible  way  by  the  Govern- 
ment seems  to  me  a  very  wise  one.  To  furnish  them  with  data  and 
comprehensive  information  in  order  that  they  may  more  easily 
accomplish  the  result  that  they  are  organized  for  is  a  proper  and 
useful  government  function.  These  associations,  when  organized 
for  the  purpose  of  improving  conditions  in  their  particular  industry, 
such  as  unifying  cost  accounting  and  bookkeeping  methods,  stand- 
ardizing products  and  processes  of  manufacture,  should  meet  with 
the  approval  of  every  man  interested  in  the  business  progress  of  the 
country/  " 


THE  STATE  GEOLOGIST  AND  CONSERVATION. 


Address  Delivered  by  A.  H.  Purdue,  State  Geologist  of  Ten- 
nessee, Thursday,  November  10,  at  Nineteenth  Annual 
Convention  of  American  Mining  Congress. 

By  conservation  nowadays  is  meant  the  best  use  of  our  natural 
resources,  without  waste.  Probably  the  responsibility  of  conserva- 
tion rests  more  upon  the  state  geologist  than  anyone  else,  because 
he  is  the  one,  more  than  any  other,  whose  duty  it  is  to  study  and 
inform  the  public  upon  the  occurrence,  quality,  quantity  and  uses 
of  the  natural  resources  of  the  state  he  serves. 

Inexhaustible  Resources. 

Natural  resources  may  be  divided  into  two  kinds:  Those  that 
are  inexhaustible  and  those  that  are  exhaustible.  Of  the  former 
are  such  as  sand,  clay,  road  materials,  building  stone  and  water 
power.  But  while  these  and  others  are  "inexhaustible  in  quantity, 
they  do  not  occur  universally,  so  may  become,  and  in  most  places 
do  become,  products  upon  which  it  is  vitally  important  that  the 
public  be  informed. 

Here  it  might  be  well  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  geolo- 
gists somewhat,  and  the  public  to  a  large  extent,  lose  sight  of  the 
common  things,  in  their  anxiety  to  discover  and  develop  the  rare 
ones.  Often  a  bed  of  shale  for  brick  making,  sand  for  building, 
gravel  for  concrete,  or  limestone  for  cement,  fertilizer,  or  other 
purposes,  is  of  more  local  importance  than  a  bed  of  coal,  iron  ore, 
or  some  other  of  the  less  common  products.  A  bluff  of  stone  may 
stand  unused  for  years,  before  someone  will  see  its  value,  perhaps 
for  railroad  ballast  or  concrete  work,  and  not  only  realize  from  it 
a  fortune  himself,  but  supply  a  needed  commodity  to  industry.  In 
studying  these  inexhaustible  materials,  as  well  as  the  exhaustible 
ones,  the  state  geologist  must  consider  their  quantity  and  quality, 
and  the  possible  uses  to  which  they  can  be  put. 

This  involves  such  things  as  the  conditions  of  supply  and 
demand ;  mining  or  quarrying ;  transportation  facilities  for  getting 
out  the  raw  material,  and  those  of  converting  it  into  the  manufac- 


194         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

tured  product ;  and  such  other  things  as  bear  upon  its  profitable 
utilization.  The  state  geologist  must  carefully  determine  whether 
on  the  whole  these  conditions  are  favorable  or  unfavorable,  for 
his  conclusion  may  decide  whether  or  not  a  deposit  that  can  be 
worked  with  profit  will  be  used  at  once  or  left  unused  for  many 
years  to  come.  It  is  sometimes  tempting  for  the  geologist,  whether 
acting  as  an  official  for  the  public  or  an  expert  for  a  company,  in 
those  cases  where  he  is  doubtful  as  to  the  value  of  a  deposit,  to 
take  the  easiest  way  out  and  report  unfavorably.  May  it  not  be  that 
good  property  is  thus  often  condemned?  Should  we  not,  when 
placed  where  we  must  pass  judgment  upon  deposits  of  doubtful 
value,  intensify  our  investigations  to  the  limit  of  time  and  means 
and  make  sure  of  our  ground,  if  possible?  If  the  value  cannot  be 
determined  with  certainty,  then  the  favorable  and  unfavorable  fea- 
tures should  be  fully  presented. 

Exhaustible  Resources. 

In  studying  the  exhaustible  materials,  the  state  geologist  has 
a  double  duty.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  a  part  of  his  work  to  make 
known  the  areas  in  which  such  actually,  probably,  or  possibly  occur, 
to  indicate  their  quantity  and  character,  and  to  make  suggestions  as 
to  their  development.  This  part  of  the  state  geologist's  work  has 
been  heretofore  and  is  yet  considered  his  main  duty.  But  with  the 
probability  of  some  of  our  most  important  products  becoming  ex- 
hausted in  the  not  distant  future,  the  geologist's  duty  in  conserving 
known  material  is  next  in  importance  to  discovering  what  is  un- 
known. To  this  end  he  should  exercise  the  powers  of  his  office 
to  prevent  waste  of  exhaustible  raw  material  of  all  kinds.  For 
example,  if  there  is  no  other  bureau  whose  duty  it  is  to  see  that 
the  least  amount  of  coal  consistent  with  good  mining  is  left  in  the 
ground  as  pillars,  etc.,  it  plainly  is  the  duty  of  the  state  geologist 
to  exert  himself  toward  bringing  about  mining  methods  by  which 
the  largest  possible  amount  can  be  recovered.  The  same  line  of 
action  will  apply  to  oil,  natural  gas,  the  metalliferous  ores,  and  all 
other  exhaustible  material. 

Again,  the  state  geologist  should,  at  least  to  a  reasonable  degree, 
be  alive  to  the  use  of  by-products.  This,  to  be  sure,  will  take  him 
into  the  field  of  metallurgy  and  chemistry,  but  most  geologists  are 
informed  on  the  elements  of  these  subjects,  if  they  are  not  experts 
in  them.  We  can  hardly  remain  unconcerned  and  permit  by-prod- 
ucts to  be  wasted,  on  the  assumption  that  those  operating  the  mines 


THE  STATE  GEOLOGIST  AND  CONSERVATION          195 

should  employ  experts  to  get  the  most  out  of  the  raw  material.  If 
the  experts  are  not  employed,  the  duty  of  the  geologist  becomes 
all  the  more  incumbent,  for  the  loss,  while  one  to  the  operating 
company,  may  be  primarily  one  to  the  public.  It  may  mean  the 
waste  of  valuable  material  the  public  can  ill  afford  to  spare. 

Recently  there  has  been  impressed  upon  me  the  lesson  that  it 
is  a  duty  of  the  state  geologist  to  look  carefully  into  developed 
mines,  not  only  to  ascertain  if  there  is  not^a  waste  of  the  ore  for 
which  the  mine  is  worked,  or  of  some  possible  by-product,  but  of 
material  that  is  too  important  to  be  classed  as  a  by-product.  To 
cite  a  case  in  hand:  In  the  case  of  the  Embreeville  iron  mines  of 
Tennessee,  mines  that  have  been  operated  intermittently  for  som- 
thing  like  seventy  years,  it  appears  that  there  have  been  wasted 
during  all  that  time  large  quantities  of  zinc  ore,  the  presence  of 
which  was  only  recently  discovered  by  an  employe  of  the  mining 
company  now  owning  the  property.  This  has,  during  all  these 
years,  been  mined  with  the  iron,  dumped  with  it  into  the  furnace, 
and  driven  off  as  volatile  matter  into  the  air.  It  is  not  at  all  im- 
probable that  the  value  of  the  zinc  thus  wasted  is  greater  than  that 
of  the  iron  recovered.  For  this  mine  has  proved  to  contain  large 
deposits  of  zinc,  and  is  now  worked  for  zinc,  with  iron  as  a  by- 
product. The  mines  at  Leadville,  Colorado,  have  had  a  similar 
history.  It  is  as  necessary  to  keep  our  eyes  upon  a  developed  mine 
as  on  unprospected  ground. 

Soil  and  Timber  Conservation. 

While  this  congress  does  not  immediately  concern  itself  with 
soil  conservation,  the  title  of  this  paper  requires  me  to  say  that  in 
those  states  that  are  subject  to  rapid  erosion  there  is  no  more  im- 
portant duty  of  the  state  geologist  than  to  do  what  he  can  to  reduce 
the  waste  from  soil  wash  to  the  minimum.  No  one  knows  so  well 
as  he  the  slow  process  of  soil  formation,  and  the  rapid  rate  at 
which  the  hillside  accumulations  of  many  thousands  of  years  are 
removed  by  uncontrolled  running  water.  The  education  of  those 
who  till  the  soil  to  the  great  importance  of  preserving  it  from  wash 
is  an  overwhelmingly  discouraging  undertaking,  but  notwithstand- 
ing one  which  we  cannot  shirk. 

In  the  conservation  of  our  resources,  the  state  geologist  pos- 
sibly above  all  others,  should  look  into  the  future  and  be  controlled 
by  its  prospective  demands.  Our  rapidly  increasing  population; 
the  near  occupancy  of  all  our  farming  and  pastoral  lands;  the  pos- 


196         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

sible,  even  probable,  depletion  of  the  soils,  natural  fuels  and  useful 
minerals — all  these  should  have  his  most  serious  attention.  In 
those  states  where  forestry  legally  comes  within  the  duties  of  the 
state  geologist,  an  additional  responsibility  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance and  one  that  often  requires  much  diplomacy  is  placed  upon 
him. 

Legislation  and  Conservation. 

The  comprehensive  efforts  of  the  state  geologist  for  conserva- 
tion ultimately  require  him  to  do  what  he  can  for  constructive 
statesmanship.  It  is  best  to  attempt  conservation  through  the  edu- 
cation of  those  who  earn  their  livelihood  from  our  natural  re- 
sources, but  at  times  it  becomes  necessary  to  supplement  this  by  leg- 
islative enactment.  This  does  not  of  necessity  mean  that  those 
engaged  in  placing  natural  products  on  the  market  are  vandals,  or 
even  that  they  are  indifferent  to  waste  of  material.  Among  our 
most  ardent  and  practical  conservationists  at  present  are  men  en- 
gaged in  farming,  mining  and  lumbering.  The  necessity  for  legis- 
lation may,  and  often  does,  mean  that  the  complete  and  economic 
utilization  of  a  natural  resource  requires  conformation  to  a  broad 
and  well  worked  out  plan  that  must  be  put  in  operation  in  state- 
wide, or  it  may  be  inter-state,  proportions.  In  such  cases  it  becomes 
incumbent  upon  the  state  or  the  nation  to  impose  such  restrictions 
as  are  consistent  with  the  most  complete  utilization  of  such  product, 
the  rights  of  the  public,  and  fairness  to  capital. 

Of  such  nature  is  the  problem  of  water  power  development 
in  the  states  that  possess  it  in  large  amount.  This  is  a  natural 
resource,  the  future  importance  of  which  probably  the  most  san- 
guine do  not  realize.  There  are  two  ways  of  having  it  developed. 
One  is  the  haphazard  way  by  which  any  power  site  can  be  occupied 
without  regard  to  whether  the  available  power  is  all  utilized  or  not, 
without  regard  to  whether  or  not  it  can  advantageously  be  linked 
up  with  other  sites  on  the  same  or  neighboring  streams,  or  without 
regard  to  where  transmission  lines  go.  This  means  the  future  non- 
utilization  of  a  great  deal  of  energy  that  will  be  sorely  needed.  The 
other  is  the  systematic  plan  in  which  all  these  things  are  worked 
out  in  detail.  This  means  the  ultimate  utilization  of  most  of  the 
available  water  power,  and  this  can  be  secured  only  by  the  assist- 
ance of  the  state  through  legislative  enactment.  As  all  with  experi- 
ence know,  this  is  so  difficult  to  do  that  it  is  well-nigh  hopeless. 
Likewise,  conservation  of  forests,  fuel  supply,  and  possibly  the  soil, 
need  to  be  encouraged  by  legislative  enactment.  In  part  or  all  of 


THE  STATE  GEOLOGIST  AND  CONSERVATION          197 

these,  depending  upon  the  scope  of  his  duties  as  denned  by  statute, 
the  state  geologist  is  expected  to  take  the  initiative,  by  deliberately 
calling  the  attention  of  those  charged  with  administrative  and  legis- 
lative affairs  to  those  resources  which  the  state  can  aid  in  conserving. 

The  Scientific  Spirit. 

The  object  of  most  legislators  in  supporting  geological  surveys 
is  to  develop  the  natural  resources;  that  is,  to  increase  the  wealth 
of  the  state.  We  have  no  fault  to  find  with  this  attitude,  and  we 
willingly  -exert  our  energies  to  that  end;  but  geological  work, 
whether  for  economic  or  scientific  purposes,  requires  the  strictly 
scientific  spirit  as  its  impelling  force,  without  which  no  results  can 
be  relied  upon.  For  this  reason  we  must  ask  the  public  to  indulge 
us  if,  occasionally,  a  bulletin  appears  that  does  not  seem  to  have 
economic  importance.  Such  may  in  the  end  prove  to  be  of  the 
greatest  economic  value.  The  state  geologist  should  be  a  man  who 
can  make  his  work  practical,  but  he  should  at  the  same  time  be  a 
scientist  with  irresistible  inclinations  toward  the  purely  scientific 
problems  that  confront  him.  Only  such  a  geologist  can  effectively 
serve  a  state. 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  MIND— AMERICA'S  OPPORTU- 
NITIES AND  RESPONSIBILITIES  IN 
WORLD  RELATIONS. 

Address    Delivered    by    C.   L.   Dering    of    Chicago    Thursday, 
November  16,  at  Nineteenth  Annual  Convention  of 
American  Mining  Congress. 

When  I  was  asked  if  I  would  speak  to  you  tonight,  I  was  very 
glad  to  say  yes,  for  I  felt,  if  you  will  pardon  the  egoism,  that  I  had 
a  message  to  deliver. 

A  message,  if  you  please,  that  has  been  brought  to  you  by 
others,  that  I  myself  have  dwelt  upon  at  times,  but  a  message  it 
seems  to  me  that  will  bear  repeating  for  the  emphasis  which  that 
repetition  brings. 

It  is  a  pleasure  indeed  to  come  here  and  tell  you  what  to  do. 
To  spring  theories  on  you  that  I  have  nurtured  and  petted  and 
watched  grow  through  many  years  of  trials  and  tribulations. 

I  think  it  is  Tom  Sawyer,  your  friend  of  old  Mississippi  river 
days,  who  says,  "To  be  good  is  noble,  but  to  teach  others  to  be 
good  is  nobler  and  less  trouble." 

And  you  remember  what  Mulvaney  says  in  "Soldiers  Three"  i 
"Theories  are  all  right  but  they  won't  do  to  color  clay  pipes  with." 
And  so  as  the  making  of  a  soldier  was  to  his  mind  not  the  applica- 
tion of  the  theories  of  a  "lef tenant"  fresh  from  Board  School  and 
Tottenham  Barracks,  but  the  application  of  a  ramrod  "tinderly" 
applied  to  the  most  exposed  portion  of  the  recruitie's  anatomy,  so 
perhaps  the  theories  I  have  to  offer  may  best  be  those  that  have 
been  tested  in  the  fires  of  experience  and  welded  and  tempered  by 
thoughtful  consideration. 

First,  let  me  say  that  I  am  no  reformer,  at  least,  not  as  that, 
word  is  generally  understood. 

I  speak  of  those  reformers  who  enjoy  the  conviction  that  they 
know  what  men  ought  to  do  and  what  they  ought  not  to  do.  That 
the  men  themselves  do  not  see  these  things  does  not  in  the  least 
daunt  them  and  they  set  themselves  to  work  to  make  the  rest  of 
mankind  holy  even  as  they  are.  These  social  doctors  admit  at  once 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  MIND  199 

that  they  are  of  finer  fiber  and  mentally  superior  to  their  fellows 
and  propose  to  make  the  whole  human  fiber  into  their  pattern  of 
cloth. 

Like  inexperienced  doctors  of  medicine,  they  seek  remedies, 
not  causes,  and  like  those  other  charlatans  and  quacks,  since  "dis- 
solute disease  will  not  obey  their  medicines,"  are  foredoomed. 

There  may  be  medicines  that  will  breathe  life  into  stones — 
and  cure  the  ills  of  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil — but  your 
practical  business  man  has  not  found  them  and  from  his  experience 
he  instinctively  refuses  the  nostrums  of  the  professional  reformer, 
the  mountebank  of  politics. 

America  the  market  place  of  the  world!  That  is  the  destiny 
our  business  leaders  today  read  into  the  unwritten  pages  of  our 
commercial  history.  We  are  coming  to  the  supreme  test — the  meas- 
ure of  our  ability  as  a  nation  to  rise  to  a  great  opportunity.  Ours 
the  task  to  prove  in  actual  service  the  special  fitness  of  which  we 
boast;  to  demonstrate  by  the  ability  to  do,  our  worthiness  to  the 
high  place  in  the  world's  business  to  which  we  aspire. 

Conditions  growing  out  of  the  European  war  will  demand  more 
than  ever  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  develop  and  live 
in  the  spirit  of  the  international  mind.  We  have  been  repeatedly 
reminded  that  the  Spanish- American  war  of  1898  made  this 
country  an  international  power/with  all  its  privileges  and  responsi- 
bilities. In  spite  of  ourselves  it  made  us  alien  land  owners  and 
concentrated  the  attention — and  not  without  apprehension — of  Latin 
America  upon  the  so-called  "Colossus  of  the  North." 

This  entrance  into  the  world  as  a  world  power  quickened  that 
international  understanding  known  as  the  Monroe  Doctrine  and 
admonished  both  ourselves  and  the  world  that  hereafter  in  states- 
manship and  in  naval  and  military  resources  we  must  measure  up 
to  our  responsibilities  even  as  in  industrial  and  commercial  devel- 
opment we  must  measure  up  to  our  opportunities. 

In  this  present  moment  the  two  words  that  seem  to  have  made 
the  deepest  impress  upon  our  minds  are  "Opportunity"  and  "Re- 
sponsibility." And  let  us  not  forget  for  a  single  moment  that  we 
cannot  own  the  one  and  disown  the  other. 

Usually,  in  the  affairs  of  nations,  as  of  individuals,  oppor- 
tunity knocks  but  timidly.  But  with  us  the  knock  of  opportunity 
is  so  imperious  that  it  fairly  batters  down  the  door. 

Circumstances  uncontrolled  by  us  have  given  this  opportunity. 
Indeed,  had  it  been  for  us  to  say,  no  thought  of  commercial  gain 


200         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

would  have  weighed  against  the  stronger  sentiment  of  humanity 
which  governs  the  American  people  to  permit  for  a  day  the  Euro- 
pean cataclysm  responsible  for  the  changed  conditions,  to  meet 
which  this  country  finds  itself  in  so  favored  a  position. 

But  the  opportunity  is  here.  Will  America  be  worthy  of  it? 
For  it  is  not  ours  to  grasp,  but  ours  to  justify;  not  ours  to  seize 
greedily,  but  ours  to  claim  by  right  of  superior  ability  to  serve. 

The  markets  of  the  world  are  not  to  be  taken  by  conquest. 
They  must  be  won  and  held  by  the  administration  of  the  same 
business  principles  on  which  our  domestic  trade  is  founded — supe- 
rior goods,  superior  service,  uniform  fair  dealing,  unfailing  relia- 
bility and  that  faculty  of  being  eternally  on  the  job  that  is  the  truest 
characteristic  of  American  business  today. 

I  have  complete  confidence  in  the1  ability  of  the  American 
business  man  to  compete  with  anybody,  anywhere,  on  any  terms — 
when  he  really  sets  out  to  win. 

The  trouble  is  with  us  that  we  have  not  cared.  Profits  at  home 
have  been  too  easily  made  to  supply  the  necessary  stimulus  to  the 
search  for  profits  abroad.  Our  own  country  with  its  natural  wealth 
has  offered  so  rich  a  field  that  the  foreign  field  has  seemed  less 
attractive  by  comparison,  and  if  we  in  the  past  have  viewed  with 
complacency  the  greater  progress  of  others  in  the  winning  of  world 
markets  it  has  been  because  right  here  at  home  were  more  generous 
rewards  than  could  be  found  overseas. 

But  we  are  facing  changed  conditions. 

Our  commercial  future  is  not  as  an  exporter  of  raw  materials 
and  the  products  of  the  soil.  More  and  more  we  are  consuming 
our  raw  materials  at  home.  More  and  more  we  are  learning  the 
wisdom  of  marketing  not  merely  these  crude  materials  of  relatively 
small  value,  but  finished  products  to  which  have  been  added  the 
relatively  large  value  of  American-paid  labor. 

As  immigration  continues — and  immigration  will  continue — 
we  will  feel  the  greater  necessity  of  providing  for  our  own  people 
the  food  stuffs  we  have  been  wont  to  export,  and  we  will  feel,  too, 
the  greater  necessity  for  world  markets  to  keep  pace  with  the 
increasing  capacity  of  our  industrial  resources. 

I  predict  that  after  the  war  there  will  be  a  change  in  the  char- 
acter of  our  immigration.  More  largely,  I  believe,  those  who  come 
to  America's  "melting  pot"  in  the  future  will  be  drawn  from  the 
moderately  well-to-do  and  the  more  skilled  classes  of  labor.  Eu- 
rope will  need  her  captains  of  industry  for  the  period  of  recon- 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  MIND  201 

struction  that  will  follow  the  war.  She  will  need  her  laboring 
classes  to  accomplish  her  big  task.  But  the  man  who  is  moderately 
well-to-do,  upon  whom  will  fall  most  heavily  the  burdens  of  war 
taxation,  will  look  to  America  as  a  land  where  burdens  are  less 
onerous  and  where  the  pursuits  of  industry  are  more  secure. 

Here,  then,  is  added  reason  for  America  to  look  to  her  future 
as  an  industrial  nation,  and  I  believe  we  are  all  agreed  that  is 
where  America's  future  lies.  Here  is  added  reason  to  look  to  the 
conservation  of  resources  of  which  we  have  been  so  prodigal,  to 
the  application  of  the  principles  of  economics  not  only  in  the  devel- 
opment of  American  industries  but  in  our  everyday  affairs  as  in- 
dividuals, and — looking  beyond  our  borders — to  turn  to  the  devel- 
opment of  our  trade  with  foreign  nations,  making  it  our  chief 
concern  that  this  development  shall  be  founded  upon  principles 
which  make  for  permanence  and  mutual  advantage. 

Let  us  consider  for  a  moment  what  it  means  to  be  regarded — 
or  to  regard  ourselves — as  a  storekeeper  inviting  the  patronage  of 
the  world.  Truly,  circumstance  bids  us  to  counsel,  bids  us  view 
our  problem  not  in  a  maze  of  generalities  but  reduced  to  simplest 
principles. 

The  customer  who  comes  into  Uncle  Sam's  store  comes  to  buy 
what  he  wants,  not  what  the  men  behind  the  counter  has  to  sell. 
So,  if  our  respected  uncle  is  to  prove  himself  a  good  shopkeeper, 
he  must  have  on  his  shelves  the  goods  that  the  customer  nations 
need,  and  he  must  have  right  facilities  for  delivery. 

The  shopkeeper  of  today  cannot  sell  much  calico,  nails  or 
cheese  without  a  delivery  wagon.  A  merchant  marine  to  make 
deliveries  across  the  seas  is  just  as  necessary  as  the  railroad,  the 
auto  truck  or  the  parcel  post.  Not  many  customers  come  into  the 
store  today  with  a  market  basket  on  their  arm. 

Truly,  the  merchant,  if  wheat  is  asked  for  and  he  has  none 
to  sell,  may  call  his  customer's  attention  to  the  fact  that  he  has  a 
large  stock  of  socks  and  mittens;  or  if  it  be  steel  rails  and  cotton 
that  are  wanted  and  his  supply  is  short,  he  may  temptingly  display 
his  beet  sugar  and  his  stock  of  boots  and  shoes.  But  the  merchant 
man  or  the  merchant  nation,  if  you  please,  that  does  the  business 
of  tomorrow  will  supply  the  goods  that  his  customer  wants,  will 
supply  them  more  promptly  than  his  competitors  can,  and  will 
deliver  the  goods  when,  where,  and  how  his  customer  may  want 
them,  and  in  doing  this  he  will  render  that  degree  of  service  that 
is  the  true  measure  of  commercial  success. 


202         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

Probably  because  we  in  America  have  been  so  thoughtless  of 
our  needs  as  a  merchant  nation  we  have  given  little  heed  to  the 
question  of  a  merchant  marine.  But  recent  developments  across 
the  ocean  have  demonstrated,  as  has  been  demonstrated  to  us  be- 
fore, the  imperative  necessity  for  American  merchant  ships  to  carry 
American  merchandise.  The  Chicago  Association  of  Commerce, 
acting  with  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  United  States,  stands 
for  subsidies  and  subventions  to  offset  the  difference  in  cost  between 
the  operation  of  ships  under  the  American  flag  and  operation  in 
the  same  deep-sea  trade  under  foreign  flags,  and  for  such  amend- 
ments to  the  navigation  laws  as  shall  be  necessary  to  restore  an 
American  merchant  marine  to  the  water  highways  of  the  world. 

Other  most  pertinent  matters  involving  federal  legislation 
needed  or  already  enacted,  which  time  limitation — certainly  not  their 
relative  importance — impels  me  to  touch  but  briefly,  are  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  permanent  non-partisan  tariff  commission  to  place 
the  tariff  on  a  scientific  basis  as  a  question  of  business  and  not  of 
politics,  the  federal  trade  commission,  whose  powers,  wisely  ad- 
ministered, will  mean  much  to  American  business,  and  the  federal 
reserve  law,  providing  as  it  does  added  facilities  for  international 
banking  as  well  as  greater  stability  in  the  financial  situation  at 
home. 

It  seems  to  me  that  in  all  our  foreign  business  relations  we 
may  largely  counsel  with  and  be  guided  by  the  crystallized  thought 
expressed  by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  an  organization  broadly  representative  of  the  business 
men  of  the  country — representative,  too,  of  the  newer  ideals  of 
business  and  commanding  the  confidence  and  respect  of  the  country 
at  large. 

No  man  or  group  of  men  can  predict  when  the  present  war 
will  end.  The  longer  it  endures  the  less  promising  may  be  the 
opportunity  we  see  today.  The  world's  wealth  and  its  power  to 
purchase  must  continue  to  decrease  until  the  destructive  struggle 
closes;  and,  alluring  as  is  the  thought  of  world  supremacy,  to  my 
mind  the  immediate  and  tangible  opportunity  is  to  fit  ourselves  for 
the  developments  the  future  may  afford  by  educating  ourselves 
and  our  people  in  the  principles  of  conservation,  economy,  patriot- 
ism and  national  preparedness. 

We,  as  a  nation,  have  still  to  learn  the  lesson  of  conservation. 
We  must  conserve  our  lands,  our  forests,  our  crops,  our  mines. 
Following,  rather  tardily,  the  example  of  Europe,  we  have  made  a 
start  toward  intensive  cultivation,  but  only  a  start.  Thousands  of 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  MIND  203 

acres  that  might  be  made  productive  are  rich  only  in  weeds.  Acre 
for  acre  we  raise  little  more  than  fifty  per  cent  of  the  grain  the 
European  farmer  harvests  from  his  soil.  And  it  is  a  notorious  fact 
that  Europe  can  live  on  one-half  of  what  America  wastes. 

Closely  allied  to  conservation  is  economy  in  our  daily  lives 
and  habits.  We  have  been  called  a  spendthrift  nation,  and  this 
criticism  is  altogether  too  well  founded.  With  the  prodigality  of 
the  unnaturally  exhilarated  sailor,  we  spend  and  spend,  easily  and 
carelessly,  until  there  is  nothing  left  to  spend.  As  a  nation  and  as 
individuals,  we  must  learn  the  need  of  that  economy  that  means 
living  within  one's  means  and  laying  up  something  against  the 
proverbial  rainy  day. 

One  hesitates  to  say  that  we  must  learn  a  truer  patriotism, 
and  yet  there  are  evidences  of  a  decline  in  that  sterling  virtue,  tra- 
ditionally inseparable  from  American  character.  While  the  men 
and  even  the  boys  of  Europe  are.  giving  their  lives — not  by  hun- 
dreds, not  by  thousands,  but  in  numbers  we  can  scarcely  compre- 
hend— we  in  America  seem  strangely  indifferent  to  our  country's 
needs,  even  to  the  greatest  need  of  all,  national  defense.  We  must 
come  to  the  realization  of  the  solemn  duty  of  preparedness,  and  this 
realization  can  come  none  too  soon. 

The  present  war,  when  it  does  end,  will  leave  us  as  its  chief 
physical  beneficiary — not  the  highest  state,  for  the  moral  results 
of  the  war  are  to  be  Europe's  own  sacred  and  cherished  possession, 
forever. 

The  war  leaves  us  a  bustling,  booming  market  place,  a  country 
not  enthusiastically  loved  by  any  belligerent  power  and  one  not  yet 
on  intimate  terms  with  any  Latin-American  state.  We  have  made 
enemies  and  also  friends  of  expedience,  but  our  magnified  financial 
and  industrial  prowess  and  our  growing  ambitions  are  likely  to  give 
both  friends  and  rivals  disquietude. 

It  is  a  hallowed  and  potent  tradition  that  this  country  should 
avoid  entangling  alliances,  but  whatever  the  revered  origin  of  this 
policy  circumstances  may  compel  its  modification.  At  the  close  of 
the  war  we  shall  have  gained  one  or  two  billions  of  new  money; 
we  shall  have  given  normal  or  artificial  stimulus  to  many  indus- 
tries; we  shall  have  embarked  upon  undertakings  which  we  must 
sustain  or  suffer  loss  and  discontent;  we  shall  have  acquired  pres- 
tige of  temporary  if  not  permanent  leadership  in  finance,  and,  gen- 
erally speaking,  we  shall  have  greater  need  of  foreign  markets; 
greater  need  that  the  world  shall  concede  to  us,  in  a  sense  broader 


204         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

and  more  altruistic  than  the  world  has  yet  known,  the  international 
mind. 

And  so  we  are  looking  forward  hopefully,  hopeful  for  the 
immediate  future — hopeful,  confident  for  the  ultimate  future — not 
with  the  blind  optimism  that  ignores  obstacles  but  with  the  coura- 
geous optimism  that  overcomes  them. 

To  you,  the  workers,  I  give  this  toast — 

"Men,  my  brothers,  men  the  workers,  ever  reaping  something  new, 
That  which  they  have  done  but  earnest  of  the  things  that  they 

shall  do. 

For  I  dipt  into  the  future,  far  as  human  eye  could  see, 
Saw  the  vision  of  the  world,  and  all  the  wonder  that  could  be ; 
Till  the  war  drum  throbbed  no  longer  and  the  battle  flags  were 

furled, 
In  the  Parliament  of  man,  the  Federation  of  the  World." 


PRACTICAL  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  PURE  RESEARCH. 

Address   Delivered  Thursday,   November  6,   by  Dr.   Willis   R. 

Whitney  of  the  General  Electric  Company  at  Nineteenth 

Annual  Convention  of  the  American  Mining  Congress. 

Most  thinking  people  of  the  United  States  are  disturbed  by 
thoughts  of  the  ultimate  effects  of  the  world  war  upon  our  coun- 
try's future.  What  is  the  relative  position  we  shall  occupy  and 
maintain  after  the  other  countries  have  been  through  a  schooling 
whose  strenuousness  is  sure  to  produce  permanent  results?  We  in 
this  country  are  not  likely  to  learn  so  much  by  witnessing  this  con- 
test as  will  the  contestants  themselves.  Experience  as  usual  will 
be  a  better  teacher  than  mere  observation. 

The  acceptance  of  fundamental  changes  in  conditions  of  living 
is  already  greater  in  Europe  than  in  America.  Among  those  par- 
ticular peoples  who  are  now  vitally  concerned,  such  changes  as 
greater  attention  to  national  duties,  greater  activity  in  industry, 
greater  unity,  greater  extension  of  co-operation  in  mental  and  phys- 
ical effort,  will  result.  For  example,  women  have  undertaken 
men's  work  in  many  fields  and  are  showing  a  strength  of  purpose 
and  gaining  a  recognition  such  as  the  previous  militant  methods 
could  never  produce.  Is  it  probable  that  all  of  these  women  will 
be  withdrawn  from  the  new  lines  of  effort?  While  it  is  possible, 
is  it  not  equally  probable  that  where  they  have  shown  economical 
advantages,  where  they  have  worked  as  well  as  men  or  better,  they 
will  maintain  the  step  in  advance  for  which  the  whole  world  is 
apparently  preparing? 

My  point  in  this  illustration,  which  might  equally  well  have 
been  shown  by  specific  references  to  developments  such  as  that  of 
the  municipal  kitchens  in  Germany,  is  that  those  who  are  to  learn 
most  quickly  and  thoroughly  are  apt  to  be  those  on  whom  the  les- 
sons are  most  forcibly  impressed,  and  that  there  was  never  a  time 
when  we  Americans  could  so  illy  afford  to  fold  our  hands  as  at  the 
present. 

May  it  not  be  that  we  are  in  a  state  of  coma,  induced  by  super- 
ficial prosperity  and  prolonged  by  the  relatively  scattered  and  dis- 


206         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

organized  conditions  of  our  more  recent  past?  For  apparently 
good  reasons,  we  have  of  late  years  entered  upon  a  policy  of  dis- 
couraging the  growth  of  corporations,  of  stranding  the  railroads, 
and  of  forcibly  stopping  large  water  power  developments,  and  now 
we  learn  from  the  press  that  Germany  and  England  are  busy  bring- 
ing about  the  union  of  competing  manufacturing  companies  in  order 
to  strengthen  home  industry.  England  is  planning  a  system  of 
general  industrial  research  to  generally  assist  her  manufacturers 
after  the  war.  The  scientific  and  engineering  societies  of  Germany 
are  banding  together  under  a  single  president  so  as  to  render  their 
co-operation  more  effective.  These  peoples  are  becoming  aware 
of  their  power  when  acting  collectively  and  of  their  dependence 
upon  and  interest  in  national  undertakings  to  an  extent  unthought 
of  a  few  years  ago. 

Can  we  not  in  some  way,  without  the  pressure  of  war  or  the 
force  of  immediate  necessity,  determine  by  fair  means  and  by  en- 
lightened public  opinion  the  best  policies  to  pursue  in  our  many 
debated  difficulties? 

This  paper  is  not  directly  a  discussion  of  these  questions.  It 
is  intended  as  an  attempt  to  help  to  water  the  roots  of  our  coun- 
try's engineering  knowledge  and  prestige,  upon  whose  wide  exten- 
sion and  penetration  through  the  mass  of  the  people  we  must 
finally  depend  for  the  accomplishment  of  such  an  end.  And  the 
effectiveness  of  such  knowledge  and  the  continuance  of  such  pres- 
tige will  depend  always  upon  the  activity  of  the  profession  in  seek- 
ing out  the  new  advance  and  in  systematically  investigating  pre- 
viously unknown  fields.  Successful  engineering  depends  upon  an 
accurate  knowledge  of  matter  and  its  processes  and  this  can  only 
be  acquired  by  tireless  pursuit  of  the  facts. 

Nations  like  individuals  grow  older,  and  new  steps  of  progress 
no  longer  meet  the  same  welcome  which  was  given  earlier  novelties. 
The  youngster  in  his  toy  auto  talks  with  interest  of  his  carburetor 
or  "twin  six,"  which  his  grandfather  does  not  care  to  investigate. 
He  erects  his  wireless  aerial,  learns  the  Morse  code  and  "listens 
in,"  while  his  father,  too  inflexible  already  to  do  as  much,  realizes 
that  his  son  is  relatively  a  wonder.  And  so  we  learn  to  expect  the 
young  men  to  have  visions  and  the  old  men  to  dream  dreams  of 
the  past.  It  has  been  said  that  unwillingness  to  see  the  certainty 
of  continual  progress  is  comparable  with  expecting  time  to  stop 
when  we  hold  the  hands  of  a  clock.  It  is  of  course  wiser  to  learn 
the  code  and  "listen  in." 


PRACTICAL  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  PURE  RESEARCH        207 

In  the  matters  of  special  interest  to  the  mining  engineers  this 
persistency  of  progress  is  as  potent  as  anywhere.  It  is  not  my  in- 
tention to  remind  you  of  this  too  tiresomely,  but  as  we  are  passing 
through  a  period  when  national  and  social  progress  is  particularly 
in  the  public  eye  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  harp  a  little  on  the  subject 
of  research. 

I  think  I  am  right  in  saying  that  the  preparation  of  men  for 
scientific  research  in  America  has  been  quite  inadequate.  If  any 
one  country  has  advanced  along  this  road  beyond  the  others  it  is 
Germany.  There  the  results  were  fairly  evident  before  the  war. 
There  were  then  many  men  of  pure  scientific  training  who  were 
carrying  on  research  in  the  natural  sciences.  No  student  of  any 
natural  phenomena  or  remote  branch  of  science  could  disregard 
what  had  very  probably  been  done  already  by  some  German  stu- 
dent along  the  same  line.  A  few  of  the  leaders  were  well  supported 
but  a  vast  majority  were  discovering  the  truths  of  nature  and 
nearly  starving  into  the  bargain.  Probably  many  of  you  know  of 
cases  among  the  German  mining  engineers  where  years  of  self 
sacrificing  study  were  necessary  for  some  slight  metallurgical  dis- 
covery which  may  have  greatly  enriched  the  country.  I  could  hardly 
continue  without  pointing  out  that  Germany  is  today  entirely  de- 
pendent for  its  explosives  on  the  research  work  of  such  laboratories 
as  Professor  Ostwald's  and  Professor  Haber's,  excluded  from  the 
Chilean  and  Norway  supplies  of  nitrates  as  she  has  been  so  long. 
And  it  is  also  evident  that  her  powers  as  a  peaceful  nation,  whether 
it  be  in  her  study  of  welfare  of  labor,  of  her  banking  or  of  her  indus- 
tries, depended  almost  entirely  on  her  national  support  of  scientific 
research  work. 

My  aim  here  is  to  give  a  certain  view  of  engineering  research, 
with  particular  reference  to  national  welfare.  I  want  to  defend 
and  help  support  that  kind  of  experimental  study  which  must  lie 
as  a  foundation  to  our  technical  or  engineering  advance  but  which 
because  of  its  apparent  remoteness  from  immediate  need  is  often 
classed  as  pure  research  and  is  not  appreciated  by  the  utilitarians. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  present  new  facts  as,  for  example, 
the  results  of  research  work  in  a  particular  field,  the  outcome  of 
certain  investigations,  the  ratio  between  cost  and  profit  from  any 
special  material  studies,  or  the  work  of  the  laboratory  with  which 
I  am  most  familiar.  These  will  all  vary  for  individual  cases  and 
persons.  I  want  to  go  directly  to  the  important  point  and  spend  a 
few  minutes  closely  circumscribing  it. 


208         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

I  want  to  emphasize  the  necessity  which  confronts  us  of  devot- 
ing greater  attention  to  natural  sciences  and  to  the  unearthing  of 
those  values  of  natural  knowledge  which  nothing  but  mining  in 
facts  will  provide.  I  want  to  see  our  country  get  out  of  the  habit 
of  too  exclusively  awaiting  fundamental  discoveries  from  abroad 
and  merely  developing  them  by  the  application  of  brute  force  and 
high  speed. 

Those  who  are  accustomed  to  contemplate  the  rate  of  increase 
in  our  knowledge  of  matter,  in  our  control  of  materials,  never  tire 
of  recognizing  new  illustrations.  Who  is  there  of  normal  mind 
that  seated  comfortably  at  the  steering  wheel  of  a  rapidly  and 
smoothly  running  automobile  on  a  well  built  road  has  not  reflected 
on  the  improvements  in  our  means  of  locomotion  and  recalled  the 
rapidity  of  development?  How  much  more  must  this  thought  come 
to  the  mind  of  the  aeronaut?  Are  these  rare  illustrations?  We 
are  confident  that  similar  rates  of  advance  are  taking  place  in  all 
fields  and  by  the  same  methods.  The  development  of  methods  of 
protection  against  contagious  diseases  or  the  discoveries  in  long 
distance  communication  are  of  the  same  kind.  But  what  is  iden- 
tical about  them  all  is  that  they  are  built  upon  little  second  order 
studies  on  the  properties  of  matter  and  the  processes  it  undergoes. 
Usually  the  foundations  have  been  laid  by  a  delver  in  peculiar 
things,  frequently  a  man  set  aside  by  himself  and  not  apparently 
fitted  at  the  time  into  the  general  mechanism  of  efficiently  provid- 
ing and  consuming  food  and  raiment.  Natural  searchers  after 
truth  are  not  common  but  they  occur  and  persist  and  they  should 
be  more  extensively  encouraged,  educated,  protected  and  supported. 

We  need  not  distinguish  between  narrow,  mercenary  motives 
and  broad  human  or  national  interests.  The  study  of  nature  may 
remove  the  causes  of  disease  or  demonstrate  the  value  of  universal 
peace  as  well  as  enrich  a  temporary  investor  or  corporation.  Bacon 
recognized  the  same  peculiar  spirit  which  after  300  years  still  actu- 
ates a  few  students  of  nature  who  deprecate  the  study  of  her  laws 
for  purposes  of  human  happiness.  "Goods,  pleasure,  ease,  content, 
whate'er  they  name."  He  said,  "I  find  that  even  those  that  have 
sought  knowledge  for  itself  and  not  for  benefit  or  ostentation,  or 
any  practical  ennoblement  in  the  course  of  their  lives,  have  never- 
theless propounded  to  themselves  a  wrong  mark,  namely,  satisfac- 
tion (which  men  call  truth)  and  not  operation.'' 

He  criticises  the  thought  of  research  for  contentment  as  dis- 
tinct from  benefit  and  adds :  "Shall  he  not  as  well  discern  the  riches 


PRACTICAL  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  PURE  RESEARCH        209 

of  nature's  warehouse  as  the  beauty  of  her  shop?  Is  truth  ever 
barren?  Shall  he  not  be  able  thereby  to  produce  worthy  effects 
and  to  endow  the  life  of  man  with  infinite  commodities?"  "It  has 
not  yet  been  seen  that  the  true  aim  of  all  science  is  to  endow  the 
condition  and  life  of  man  with  new  powers  or  works." 

He  had  written,  "We  may  therefore  well  hope  that  many 
excellent  and  useful  methods  are  yet  treasured  up  in  the  bosom  of 
nature  bearing  no  relation  or  analogy  to  our  actual  discoveries,  but 
not  of  the  common  track  of  the  imagination,  and  still  undiscovered, 
and  which  will  doubtless  be  brought  to  light  in  the  course  and  lapse 
of  years  as  the  others  have  been  before  them;  but  in  the  way  we 
now  point  out  they  may  rapidly  and  at  once  be  both  represented 
and  anticipated/' 

At  the  time  these  lines  were  written  the  law  of  gravitation  had 
not  been  stated,  for  the  great  nature  student,  Newton,  was  not  yet 
born.  Gilbert's  experiments  on  magnets  were  under  way  but  noth- 
ing was  known  about  electricity.  The  steam  engine  was  unknown. 
One  is  impressed  with  the  thought  that  most  of  the  conveniences 
of  our  lives  and  most  of  the  facts  of  natural  materials  and  laws 
have  been  discovered  since  his  time.  We  can  truthfully  repeat  his 
assertion,  "Many  excellent  and  useful  matters  were  treasured  up 
in  the  bosom  of  nature,"  and  certainly  there  is  no  limit  to  their 
further  discovery  but  the  limit  of  human  inquiry. 

Probably  Bacon  speaks  a  different  language  to  different  hear- 
ers, but  I  hear  him  in  his  determined  thought  that  the  direct  inquiry 
of  the  elements,  the  testing  of  the  compounds,  the  trial  in  new  po- 
sitions, etc.,  are  the  sure  way  of  advance. 

There  are  still  two  ways  along  which  new  facts  of  materials 
or  phenomena  are  sought,  and  we  see  them  every  day.  There  is 
the  work  of  the  inquisitive  student,  the  man  who  is  trying  new 
combinations  of  matter  of  processes  and  noting  the  result,  pleased 
with  the  outcome  if  it  be  but  an  addition  to  existing  knowledge. 
He  represents  a  class  which  is  all  too  small  and  which  any  country 
ought  to  encourage  to  the  utmost.  At  present  this  type  is  carried 
through  our  colleges  with  perfect  order.  He  gets  from  its  teaching 
and  facilities  much  that  appeals  to  his  special  desires,  but  I  do  not 
think  the  provision  for  his  later  life  is  at  all  adequate  or  consistent 
with  any  far-seeing  national  policy  of  education. 

The  other  seeker  is  narrower;  he  has  usually  a  definite  desired 
end  in  view  and  tries  his  combinations  of  matter  and  his  processes 
for  a  single  purpose  or  end.  His  efficiency  is  relatively  low;  be- 


210         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN   MINING    CONGRESS 

cause  he  usually  gives  attention  only  to  the  special  products  which 
he  imagines  he  has  foreseen  and  neglects  other  disclosures  made 
to  him.  He  is  like  the  gold  miner  who  overlooks  platinum. 

As  mining  engineers  we  may  reflect  on  the  relatively  enormous 
quantities  of  silicon  usually  mixed  with  most  ores  and  turn  our 
attention  to  the  already  accumulated  data  on  this  element.  We 
will  find  that  many  minds  have  been  turned  to  silicon  and  some 
experiments  have  been  carried  out  upon  it.  The  element  has  been 
isolated  in  a  fair  degree  of  purity  and  a  few  of  its  properties  are 
known.  The  first  thought  is  to  test  it  as  a  substitute  for  some 
other  element.  This  is  frequently  ineffective,  but  as  the  properties 
are  further  sought  a  new  one  is  usually  found  which  brings  such 
a  material  into  permanent  service  to  mankind.  Such  pioneer  work 
as  the  study  of  silicon,  not  as  a  substitute,  but  for  a  knowledge  of 
its  properties,  should  be  urged  by  engineers. 

It  is  interesting  to  us  who  think  of  the  metals  and  their  indi- 
vidual properties  to  note  how  often  we  make  good  use  of  metallic 
properties  not  satisfactorily  found  in  one  of  the  metals  alone.  In 
fact,  with  only  a  few  exceptions  we  seldom  make  use  of  pure 
metals.  We  modify  properties  by  mixing  and  trying  the  effect. 
Properties  disclosed  by  experiment  and  made  known  are  soon 
applied. 

For  example,  the  metal  chromium,  only  recently  obtained  in 
sufficient  quantities  to  become  useful,  is  now  commonly  going  into 
alloys  where  its  power  of  withstanding  oxidation  and  of  increasing 
hardness  are  of  value.  Such  properties,  still  unknown  but  for  the 
careful  study  of  various  investigators,  suggest  further  trials  of 
the  material  in  such  specific  uses  as  the  valves  of  gas  engines  or 
the  linings  of  big  guns. 

We  need  more  information  on  the  properties  of  materials  of 
all  sorts  in  order  to  suggest  their  use  in  places  where  the  needs  are 
often  already  well  in  sight.  The  trial  of  promising  applications  is 
usually  easy  and  not  long  delayed.  It  is  the  fundamental  search 
for  properties  that  is  slow  and  neglected.  Our  trouble  is  not  that 
we  will  not  try  promising  combinations  but  that  we  do  not  know 
how  to  project  those  which  are  not  obvious. 

We  marvel  at  a  Hertz,  devoting  his  entire  energy  to  studies 
of  the  action  of  one  spark  gap  on  another  until  we  see  a  Marconi 
develop  wireless  telegraphy.  Then  we  admit  that  there  was  some- 
thing in  it. 


PRACTICAL  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  PURE  RESEARCH       211 

It  seems  to  be  the  rule  that  the  valuable  results  come  from 
what  appear  to  be  the  most  insignificant  observations  of  natural 
phenomena.  It  was  not  the  density  of  nitrogen  that  disclosed  all 
the  rare  gases,  but  the  small  difference  which  was  found  between 
the  densities  of  nitrogen  from  different  origins.  It  was  not  the 
active  properties  of  argon  which  put  it  into  our  incandescent  lamps 
of  today  but  its  poor  thermal  conductivity  and  the  peculiar  fact 
that  it  did  not  have  the  chemical  activity  of  other  gases.  These 
are  really  by-products  of  properties. 

As  mining  engineers  we  all  know  that  a  large  quantity  of  cal- 
cium is  present  in  the  earth's  crust  ready  for  those  who  need  it, 
and  we  know  the  history  of  aluminum,  but  do  we  realize  equally 
well  that  until  the  properties  of  calcium  have  been  extensively 
studied  we  will  not  know  that  we  need  it  ?  Ask  the  average  chemist 
or  engineer  about  calcium.  He  will  probably  reply  that  it  occurs 
in  limestone  and  in  the  pure  state  decomposes  water.  Most  prob- 
ably he  will  not  know  how  the  ore  can  be  reduced  to  metal. 

A  few  years  ago  the  German  Rathenau  after  describing  the 
method  of  making  this  element  in  large  quantity  went  on  to  say: 
"The  question  may  well  be  asked,  what  can  calcium  be  used  for? 
And  to  this  I  must  answer:  I  do  not  know.  But  we  are  always 
in  this  position  regarding  new  metals.  We  have  never  known  at 
the  time  what  we  should  do  with  them,  and  the  applications  pre- 
dicted by  technical  men,  by  the  journals,  or  by  common  belief  have 
always  been  the  wrong  ones.  For  this  reason  we  trust  in  this  case 
to  the  future  and  remind  ourselves  that  there  has  never  yet  been  a 
substance  prepared  in  the  pure  state  which  has  not  found  an  im- 
portant use.  As  to  what  shall  be  the  uses  of  calcium,  it  can  prob- 
ably already  be  gathered  that  it  is  a  good  reducing  agent,  a  reduc- 
ing agent  which  after  its  work  is  done  leaves  behind  no  caustic  lye. 
Still  more  probable  is  the  application  which  most  new  metals  find, 
i.  e.  in  alloys.  The  only  condition  for  its  extensive  use  seems  to 
me  to  be  that  the  metal  shall  be  made  cheaply  enough.  As  the  raw 
material  is  of  little  value  and  the  current  yield  is  good,  I  believe 
that  calcium  will  come  into  the  market  in  large  quantities  and  at 
very  moderate  prices."  (Rathenau,  Zeits.  Electrochem.  10,  508-9, 

('04) )- 

Already  calcium  has  come  into  some  technical  use,  but  when 
it  is  better  known  it  will  doubtless  be  greatly  needed.  Now  the 
tests  of  its  properties  alone  and  in  combination  are  very  important. 
How  insignificant  would  seem  the  effort  of  the  testing  of  such  a 


212         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

product  were  it  found  to  be  as  magnetically  permeable  as  iron,  or 
capable  of  substitution  for  lead  in  the  storage  battery ! 

We  can  all  agree  on  the  importance  of  determining  the  prop- 
erties of  the  chemical  elements,  because  they  are  few  in  number 
and  in  material  things  we  believe  we  shall  always  be  confined  to  them, 
but  the  useful  properties  are  infinite  in  number  and  the  aid  we  may 
get  from  the  knowledge  acquired  by  actual  experiment  or  contact 
with  them  is  also  infinite.  One  of  the  most  terrible  explosives  of  this 
superlatively  terrible  war  is  a  mixture  containing  apparently  harm- 
less metallic  aluminum  and  ammonium  nitrate.  Is  it  the  last  thing 
in  explosives?  Certainly  not.  It  is  only  the  latest.  Was  it  obvious 
before  the  general  properties  of  nitrate  and  aluminum  powder  were 
studied?  A  knowledge  of  the  Goldschmidt  process  may  well  have 
developed  this  product,  but  it  can  be  traced  with  certainty  as  far 
back  as  the  German  chemist  Wohler  who  first  studied  extensively 
the  metal  aluminum.  If  these  things  can  always  be  traced  back  to 
some  little  experimenting  laboratory,  why  do  we  not  encourage 
greater  study  of  matter  for  what  it  may  have  in  store  for  us  rather 
than  for  what  we  think  we  need  at  the  time? 

In  case  of  danger  to  our  country  from  war  we  quickly  learn 
the  importance  of  increasing  our  navy  and  our  armament,  of  meet- 
ing in  kind  and  degree  the  menace  we  imagine  can  prevail.  We  all 
believe  in  enormously  increased  expenditure  for  those  plans  and 
devices  which  students  of  our  situation  suggest.  We  take  an  indus- 
trial inventory  and  determine  where  best  can  be  produced  the  ma- 
terials most  needed  in  war  time.  This  is  only  ordinary  foresight 
and  in  democratic  government  must  be  done  about  as  it  is  being 
done  now. 

But  even  in  this  undertaking  we  cannot  help  noting  how  de- 
pendent we  are  on  foreign  nations.  This  is  painfully  true  for  many 
materials  of  trade.  It  has  been  sufficiently  aired  in  the  press.  Pot- 
ash and  dyes,  nitre  and  alloys  are  peculiarly  foreign  products.  In 
some  such  cases  the  cure  may  easily  be  effected,  in  others  it  may  be 
difficult. 

In  the  more  subtle  matter  of  science  or  knowledge  of  matter 
we  have  in  the  past  been  all  too  dependent  on  foreign  sources.  In 
illustration  of  this  I  would  cite  in  some  detail  our  position  in  regard 
to  fixed  nitrogen. 

It  is  well  known  by  mining  engineers  that  the  only  considerable 
nitre  deposits  are  in  Chile  and  in  case  of  war  "we  might  be  prevented 
from  drawing  on  this  supply.  For  all  explosives  now  used  in  war, 


PRACTICAL  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  PURE  RESEARCH        213 

whether  it  be  the  old  black  powder,  gun  cotton,  or  the  modern  tri- 
nitrotoluol and  deadly  ammonal,  the  one  indispensable  material  is 
nitrate. 

But  how  shall  we  make  nitrates?  Had  we  even  a  small  fund 
of  knowledge  obtained  by  research  upon  the  reactions  involved  the 
problem  would  be  simple.  But  we  have  no  certain  knowledge  of 
our  own,  only  the  published  reports  of  the  work  of  Germans. 

There  are  several  processes  but  none  which  has  been  able  to 
stand  on  its  feet  here  while  paying  normal  American  rates  for 
power  and  sell  fixed  nitrogen  in  competition  with  Chili  nitrate.  Yet 
the  price  of  the  latter  is  so  high  that  few  American  farmers  can 
afford  to  buy  it. 

The  value  to  the  country  as  a  whole  of  a  much  cheaper  fixed 
nitrogen  for  fertilizers  can  scarcely  be  overestimated.  But  at  this 
point  we  pass  over  into  the  field  where  study  by  engineers  should 
begin,  and  where  the  most  recent  research  is  exceedingly  important. 

To  avoid  too  great  detail  I  will  discuss  here  the  possibilities 
of  but  one  of  the  known  processes. 

Ammonia  can  hardly  be  obtained  more  simply  than  by  the 
direct  union  of  its  elements,  hydrogen  and  nitrogen.  This  may 
then  become  the  ultimate  process  for  fixing  nitrogen.  Only  a  few 
years  ago  it  was  known  as  a  slow  and  incomplete  method,  but  a 
careful  study  of  the  peculiar  reagents  called  catalysers  developed 
so  that  now  the  reaction  is  much  speeded  up.  The  early  work  and 
the  subsequent  study  of  this  reaction,  as  well  as  of  the  further 
reaction  for  the  combination  of  ammonia  with  air  to  form  nitric 
acid,  was  done  in  Germany.  These  applications  are  the  revolution- 
ary results  of  scientific  experiments  in  university  laboratories.  Since 
they  have  meant  so  much  to  the  German  people  today,  we  must  not 
be  blind  to  their  meaning  to  ourselves. 

The  net  energy  consumption  of  the  practical  union  of  hydrogen 
and  nitrogen  seems  to  be  relatively  low  so  that  the  cost' may  be 
largely  determined  by  the  cost  of  the  two  component  gases.  It  is 
directly  in  the  production  of  the  gases  that  enormous  strides  have 
been  made  in  the  past  few  years.  While  it  might  have  looked  a 
hopeless  proposition,  a  few  years  ago,  to  make  both  pure  nitrogen 
and  pure  hydrogen,  in  order  to  get  ammonia,  the  conditions  are 
wholly  changed  today  and  are  still  in  flux. 

The  methods  of  producing  hydrogen  commercially  depend  on 
water  as  their  raw  material  and  so  the  low  cost  here  is  certain.  By 


214         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

passing  steam  over  heated  coke  and  separating  the  resulting  car- 
bonic oxides  and  hydrogen  a  cheap  process  seems  absurd. 

The  method  of  separation  which  depends  on  freezing  out  the 
gases  other  than  hydrogen  in  water  gas  mixtures,  and  leaving  this 
pure,  depends  on  the  use  of  apparatus  only  known  a  few  years  ago 
but  now  applied  to  the  manufacture  of  liquid  air.  Here  the  cost 
of  operation  after  installation  of  the  rather  expensive  apparatus 
does  not  seem  very  great.  With  this  process  of  separation  of  the 
hydrogen  it  is  also  possible  to  combine  the  preparation  of  the  ni- 
trogen which  is  to  unite  with  hydrogen  to  form  the  ammonia.  This 
nitrogen  is  derived  from  the  atmosphere  and  is  separated  from  the 
oxygen  in  the  process  of  air  liquefaction  and  distillation.  The  cost 
of  power  for  producing  these  two  elements  will  be  continually  re- 
duced as  this  work  goes  on,  but  is  apparently  low  enough  to  deserve 
most  careful  investigation. 

Other  processes  for  producing  cheap  hydrogen  are  the  reaction 
between  steam  and  metals  such  as  iron,  and  the  direct  decomposi- 
tion of  water  by  electricity.  The  former  process  calls  for  the  re- 
duction of  the  iron  oxide  to  complete  the  cycle  but  this  reduction 
of  iron  oxide  to  iron  is  one  of  the  oldest  known  and  cheapest  chem- 
ical reactions.  Thus  the  iron  process  may  well  be  a  very  cheap 
source  of  hydrogen. 

The  electrolytic  process  has  been  widely  established  for  the 
purposes  of  oxyhydrogen  welding  and  cutting  of  metals  and  for 
the  hydrogenation  of  oils.  Electrolytic  hydrogen  is  also  still  a  use- 
less by-product  of  some  of  our  industries,  so  that  a  low  cost  of 
this  gas  must  be  considered  as  probable. 

Under  conditions  of  very  cheap  hydrogen  it  would  be  possible 
to  obtain  also  the  nitrogen  even  at  less  cost  than  by  the  air-lique- 
faction. This  would  be  done  by  burning  a  part  of  the  hydrogen 
in  confined  air,  condensing  the  resulting  water  vapor  and  using  the 
residual  nitrogen  of  the  air  to  form  ammonia  with  the  rest  of  the 
hydrogen. 

Thus  it  seems  as  though  the  production  of  ammonia  and  con- 
sequently of  nitric  acid  (because  the  oxidation  of  ammonia  to  nitric 
acid  is  a  simple  combustion  in  air)  may  depend  almost  entirely  on 
the  cost  of  hydrogen.  No  one  can  estimate  the  minimum  cost  of 
hydrogen,  for  beyond  economies  in  the  present  methods  of  produc- 
tion lie  the  possibilities  of  its  being  a  by-product  from  commercial 
electrolysis  in  co-operating  processes. 


PRACTICAL  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  PURE  RESEARCH       215 

These  are  a  few  of  the  points  complicating  our  position  with 
regard  to  national  nitrate  production  for  ammunition  and  ammonia 
for  fertilizers  which  call  for  the  careful  reconsideration  of  plans 
which  may  have  been  entirely  satisfactory  only  a  few  months  ago. 
They  may  well  call  for  comparative  tests  by  some  bureau  of  the 
Federal  Government.  The  Bureau  of  Mines  is  naturally  awake  to 
this  situation. 

Such  facts  are  of  especial  significance  here.  They  show  the 
great  importance  of  the  purely  scientific  studies  which  were  the 
original  experiments  on  which  each  of  the  above  processes  were 
based.  At  the  time  when  nitrogen  was  first  made  by  liquefying 
and  distilling  air,  there  was  little  more  than  academic  interest  in 
the  process.  For  years  after  the  reaction  between  hydrogen  and 
nitrogen  was  studied  there  was  no  sign  that  a  commercial  process 
had  been  exposed.  The  formation  of  nitric  acid  from  ammonia 
and  air  was  long  only  an  interesting  discovery  of  a  research  lab- 
oratory, and  so  it  is  with  most  engineering  phenomena. 

But  if  we  would  do  more  research  for  ourselves  we  must  first 
look  to  the  training  of  more  of  our  young  men  so  that  they  may 
be  fitted  and  encouraged  to  take  up  such  work.  We  must  plan 
for  more  general  scientific  education  and  for  training  in  research. 
The  thousands  of  young  men  who  take  four  years  of  study  in  our 
colleges  must  have  among  them  very  many  whose  cultivated  in- 
stincts would  make  them  tend  in  this  direction  if  properly  directed 
and  encouraged. 

A  first  step  in  this  direction  and  a  step  which  may  well  bring 
most  valuable  and  far-reaching  results  is  that  sought  by  a  bill 
which  has  been  before  Congress  for  several  years,  which  aims  at 
the  national  encouragement  of  research.  It  was  introduced  and 
supported  by  the  Association  of  Land  Grant  Colleges  of  the  sepa- 
rate states  and  it  calls  for  the  establishment  of  an  experiment  sta- 
tion in  each  with  an  annual  Federal  appropriation  of  $15,000. 
There  seemed  good  precedent  for  such  a  move.  A  very  similar 
plan  has  been  carried  out  in  the  state  agricultural  stations  and  by 
many  states  additional  support  has  been  given  to  this  work,  so 
that  the  country  as  a  whole  has  long  seen  the  good  results.  It  was 
thought  that  very  similar  methods  devoted  to  original,  new,  and 
experimental  work  in  other  engineering  fields  was  warranted  by 
the  country's  need  for  constructive  research,  the  study  of  its  sup- 
plies of  untouched  raw  materials,  and  the  development  and  educa- 
tion of  engineers.  This  so-called  Newlands  Bill,  which  is  still 
being  advanced,  may  well  greatly  aid  the  country  in  that  type  of 


216         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

preparedness  of  which  J.  J.  Hill  said :  "Economic  preparedness  that 
shall  permit  our  abundant  capital  to  employ  itself  wisely  here, 
where  it  belongs  and  would  prefer  to  stay,  create  new  industry, 
make  more  prosperous  the  old,  and  pay  wages  to  all  our  workers, 
is  the  test  by  which  the  future  of  our  hopes  and  visions  must  stand 
or  fall." 

Every  engineer  who  is  interested  in  the  advancement  of  his 
profession  and  in  the  welfare  of  the  country  will  do  well  to  follow 
the  details  and  progress  of  this  bill  and  lend  it  such  support  or 
constructive  criticism  as  is  possible. 


A  PAPER  FAVORING  REMEDIAL  LEGISLATION  FOR 
THE  BENEFIT  OF  OIL  COMPANIES. 


Address  Delivered  Thursday,  November  14,  by  Roy  A.  Bishop, 
President  Oil  Industry  Association  of  California,  at  Nine- 
teenth Annual  Convention  of  American  Mining  Congress. 


There  has  never  been  a  well  defined  law  enacted  which  prop- 
erly met  the  needs  and  requirements  for  the  exploration  of  petro- 
leum and  gave  proper  protection  to  those  who  prospected  for  and 
undertook  to  develop  oil  lands. 

The  attention  of  Congress  was  called  to  this  fact  and  on  Feb- 
ruary n,  1897,  it  passed  an  act  wherein  it  was  provided  "That  any 
person  authorized  to  enter  lands  under  the  mining  laws  of  the 
United  States  may  enter  and  obtain  patent  to  lands  containing  such 
petroleum  or  other  mineral  oils,  and  chiefly  valuable  therefor,  under 
the  provisions  of  the  laws  relating  to  placer  mineral  claims." 

This  law  has  been  declared  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior 
and  other  officials  to  be  a  misfit  law  because  it  could  not  be  prop- 
erly applied  to  the  prospecting  and  development  of  petroleum  lands. 
Under  the  placer  mining  laws  a  prospector  with  little  expense  and 
with  the  use  of  a  pick,  shovel  and  pan  could  enter  upon  public  land 
and  with  little  work,  small  expense  and  in  a  short  time  make  a 
discovery  whereupon  he  would  file  his  location  and  upon  making 
improvements  of  the  value  of  five  hundred  dollars  would  be  entitled 
to  a  patent.  He  could  protect  his  location  indefinitely  by  doing  one 
hundred  dollars'  worth  of  work  thereon  each  year,  and  as  long  as 
he  did  this  wofk  he  could  not  be  disturbed  or  molested. 

A  discovery  of  oil  cannot  be  made  so  easily.  It  requires  the 
expenditure  of  large  sums  of  money  and  frequently  a  year  or  more 
of  work.  During  this  prospecting  period,  and  before  the  discovery 
of  oil  is  made,  the  claimant  has  no  right  to  the  land  which  he  can 
defend  and  another  party  can  enter  upon  the  land  and  start  opera- 
tions alongside  of  him  and  if  he  discovered  oil  first,  he  will  be 
entitled  to  locate  the  land  in  preference  to  the  one  who  was  first 
upon  it,  no  matter  how  much  labor  he  had  performed  or  money 
expended. 


218         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

But  unsatisfactory  as  the  law  was  many  of  our  citizens  went 
upon  the  public  domain  where  they  thought  there  was  a  fair  pros- 
pect of  finding  oil,  commenced  their  development  work  and  in  many 
instances  discovered  oil  and  in  many  more  spent  thousands  of  dol- 
lars in  fruitless  attempts  to  find  it. 

The  discovery  of  valuable  oil  deposits  in  California  encouraged 
many  of  its  citizens  to  go  into  the  mountains  and  valleys  and  pros- 
pect for  oil.  Farmers,  merchants,  professional  men,  laborers  and 
all  classes  bought  shares  of  stock  in  companies  formed  for  the 
purpose  of  drilling  for  and  producing  oil  and  gas.  The  country 
that  they  invaded  was  remote,  dry  and  arid.  There  were  no  roads 
and  no  water.  Some  were  crowned  with  success,  many  met  with 
failure  after  spending  large  sums  of  money.  Into  this  arid  sec- 
tion roads  had  to  be  built  for  miles  over  which  to  transport  heavy 
machinery,  iron  casings  and  timber  for  derricks.  Water  had  to  be 
developed  and  brought  through  the  mountains  from  long  distances. 
Every  hardship  was  there  to  discourage  a  weak  man  and  only  that 
hope  of  reward  and  success  which  rests  within  the  breast  of  a 
western  man  and  inspires  him  to  attempt  the  almost  impossible  kept 
up  their  courage  to  go  on. 

New  oil  fields  were  discovered,  splendid  properties  were  devel- 
oped, and  a  great  industry  given  to  California  and  the  nation 
through  the  courage,  optimism  and  pluck  of  these  men.  The  de- 
velopment of  one  oil  field  encouraged  men  to  further  penetrate  the 
mountains  and  look  for  others.  And  in  the  summer  of  1909  they 
were  in  the  midst  of  this  work.  Some  were  then,  engaged  in  build- 
ing roads  to  their  locations,  some  were  developing  a  water  supply, 
some  were  building  their  cabins  and  derricks  and  installing  their 
machinery  for  drilling  and  some  were  in  the  actual  progress  of 
drilling.  All  were  acting  in  good  faith  under  a  "misfit  law"  and 
as  they  believed  within  their  rights  as  American  citizens  and  with 
the  sanction  of  the  government.  Every  one  believed  and  having 
the  right  to  believe  that  if  oil  was  discovered  that  the  government 
would  issue  a  patent  for  the  land  upon  which  the  discovery  was 
made. 

While  all  this  work  was  going  on  in  the  oil  fields,  the  Govern- 
ment without  any  notice  or  warning  on  the  27th  day  of  September, 
1909,  withdrew  from  entry  all  the  lands  upon  which  this  work  was 
being  done  and  many  thousands  of  acres  besides.  The  order  of 
withdrawal  embraced  3,041,000  acres  in  California  and  Wyoming, 
a  part  of  which  had,  however,  already  been  patented  as  agricultural 
and  grazing  land. 


REMEDIAL  LEGISLATION  FOR  OIL  COMPANIES        219 

The  order  is  as  follows : 

"Temporary  Petroleum  Withdrawal  No.  5." 

"In  aid  of  proposed  legislation  affecting  the  use  and  disposi- 
tion of  petroleum  deposits  in  the  public  domain,  all  public  lands  in 
the  accompanying  lists  are  hereby  temporarily  withdrawn  from  all 
forms  of  location,  settlement,  selection,  filing  entry  or  disposal 
under  the  mineral  or  non-mineral  public  land  laws.  All  locations 
or  claims  existing  and  valid  on  this  date  may  proceed  to  entry  in 
the  usual  manner  after  filing  investigation  and  examination." 

This  order  startled  those  who  were  working  to  discover  oil. 
Serious  questions  arose  as  to  what  their  legal  rights  were,  not 
having  yet  discovered  oil,  notwithstanding  they  were  occupying 
the  land  and  had  expended  large  sums  in  an  effort  to  discover  oil 
and  were  then  engaged  in  such  work  as  was  necessary  leading  to 
its  discovery.  Some  continued  their  work  believing  that  the  Presi- 
dent had  no  authority  to  withdraw  the  land  upon  which  their  work 
was  being  done;  others  more  timid  ceased  operations  and  sought 
legal  advice.  The  question  then  arose  as  to  whether  or  not  the 
President  had  any  authority  to  make  the  order.  President  Taft 
expressed  a  doubt  that  he  had.  Members  of  the  legal  profession 
advised  their  clients  that  no  such  authority  existed  and  two  federal 
judges  so  decided.  Finally  the  Supreme  Court  on  February,  1915, 
held  in  the  Midwest  Oil  Company  case,  by  a  divided  court,  that  he 
did  have. 

Ever  since  the  withdrawal  order  the  conditions  in  the  oil  fields 
of  California  have  been  chaotic.  Companies  do  not  know  what 
their  rights  are;  suits  by  the  Government  have  been  commenced 
against  some  and  receivers  have  been  appointed. 

No  new  work  is  being  done,  great  losses  are  being  suffered, 
and  bankruptcy  faces  many  who  but  a  few  years  before  in  the  best 
of  faith  went  upon  government  land  under  the  mining  laws  of  the 
country  and  risked  their  fortunes  in  an  effort  to  discover  oil  in  a 
locality  that  was  most  forbidding  and  discouraging.  What  is  going 
to  be  done  for  these  men?  What  relief  should  Congress  give  them 
in  the  Oil  Leasing  Bill  now  pending  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States?  These  are  pressing  questions.  If  this  bill  passes,  and 
there  is  every  prospect  that  it  will,  the  petroleum  and  gas  lands 
owned  by  the  government  will  thereafter  be  leased  to  those  offering 
the  best  bid  therefor. 

Forecasting  the  passage  of  this  bill,  the  Secretary  of  the  Inte- 
rior has  withdrawn  from  entry  5,603,295  acres  of  oil  lands  and 
further  withdrawals  will  be  made  as  fast  as  oil  lands  are  discovered. 


220         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

In  making  this  change  in  the  law  it  is  not  only  just  that  those 
who  entered  upon  the  land  under  existing  laws  and  have  discovered 
oil  by  the  drilling  of  a  well  should  be  protected  in  their  rights  either 
by  receiving  a  patent  or  a  lease  as  the  facts  of  each  case  may 
warrant. 

The  justice  of  this  was  recognized  early  by  Secretary  Lane. 
In  his  annual  report  for  the  year  1915,  he  says:  "If  the  full 
measure  of  the  Government's  rights  is  acted  upon  as  a  basis  of 
our  policy  in  dealing  with  these  lands,  it  will  bankrupt  many  oil 
companies,  and  do  what  appears  to  me  to  be  an  injustice,  and  an 
unnecessary  injustice  to  those  who  have  invested  many  millions 
of  dollars  under  a  mistake  as  to  the  law."  A  law  which  all  con- 
cede to  be  a  misfit  law  and  not  applicable  to  mining  for  petroleum. 

The  Director  of  the  Geological  Survey  who  prepared  the  order 
of  withdrawal  stated  before  the  Public  Lands  Committee  of  the 
Senate  that  "in  all  discussions  of  the  matter  of  withdrawals  lead- 
ing up  to  the  original  withdrawal  the  desire  and  intention  was 
unanimous  that  the  equities  should  be  protected." 

The  House  of  Representatives  in  passing  the  Oil  Leasing  Bill 
on  January  15,  1916,  recognized  these  equities  and  provided  for 
them  in  that  bill. 

In  reporting  favorably  the  Oil  Leasing  Bill  at  the  last  session 
of  Congress  Senator  Meyers,  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Public 
Lands,  in  passing  upon  an  amendment  offered  by  the  oil  men,  and 
which  amendment  the  committee  allowed,  said:  "This  is  intended 
as  a  just  and  deserved  protection  to  many  entrymen,  who  under 
existing  laws,  located,  occupied,  claimed  and  improved,  as  bona  fide 
claimants  and  occupants  under  the  placer  mining  laws  of  the  United 
States  certain  tracts  of  oil  and  gas  producing  lands  of  the  public 
domain  prior  to  withdrawal  thereof  by  the  Government  from  min- 
eral entry  or  location  on  July  3,  1910,  and  who  have  from  and 
since  that  day  diligently  prosecuted  all  necessary  work  and  have 
discovered  oil  or  gas  thereon  prior  to  this  time  and  who  have  vested 
rights  therein,  and  have  expended  large  sums  of  money  thereon. 
Some  of  these  parties  were  represented  before  the  committee  and 
made  extended  arguments.  After  hearing  all  of  the  arguments  and 
after  hearing  representatives  of  the  Government  from  the  Interior 
Department  who  appeared  before  the  committee,  and  after  mature 
deliberation  and  consideration  of  all  of  the  premises,  it  is  decided 
just  and  proper  to  protect  these  rights  and  make  this  amendment. 


REMEDIAL  LEGISLATION  FOR  OIL  COMPANIES        221 

Without  it  grave  injustice  would  be  done  and  the  Government  has 
no  desire  therefor."' 

So  just  were  the  claims  of  the  oil  men  that  they  never  imag- 
ined that  any  serious  opposition  could  arise,  and  they  felt  confident 
that  Congress  in  dealing  with  the  question  would  in  passing  the  Oil 
Leasing  Bill  fully  protect  them  in  their  rights. 

But  opposition  has  arisen.  Opposition  in  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment and  from  a  few  well-meaning  but  misinformed  citizens  who 
have  especially  delegated  and  appointed  themselves  as  the  guardians 
of  the  nation  and  protectors  of  its  interest  and  welfare.  The  navy 
is  afraid  that  unless  it  can  get  possession  of  the  few  thousand  acres 
which  have  been  developed  and  upon  which  the  citizens  of  this 
country  have  spent  millions  long  before  a  naval  reserve  was  ever 
established,  that  the  building  of  battleships  will  cease  for  the  lack 
of  proper  fuel,  and  this  country  will  be  a  hopeless  prey  to  any 
nation  that  can  fit  out  a  gunboat  and  come  over  and  get  us.  And 
this  claim  is  being  seriously  urged  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
the  Government  has  already  created  two  very  valuable  naval  re- 
serves containing  hundreds  of  millions  of  barrels  of  oil,  where 
private  interests  are  not  affected,  one  in  California  comprising 
39,000  acres,  and  one  in  Wyoming  containing  about  10,000  acres, 
with  the  right  to  establish  as  many  more  reserves  as  it  may  desire 
out  of  the  3,000,000  acres  of  petroleum  lands  already  withdrawn 
by  the  Government  from  entry. 

The  only  reasonable  excuse  that  the  navy  can  give  for  desiring 
to  appropriate  the  land  in  the  possession  of  the  oil  men  is  that  the 
property  has  already  been  developed,  and  producing  oil  wells  drilled 
at  an  expense  of  millions  of  dollars  are  upon  the  land  ready  for  use. 

The  opposition  to  the  relief  provisions  of  the  bill  coming  from 
Gifford  Pinchot  and  a  few  other  ultra  conservationists  is  based 
upon  the  false  cry  of  wilful  trespassers  and  looters  of  the  public 
domain.  A  few  papers  and  magazines  have  been  induced  to  pub- 
lish their  views. 

The  question  as  to  whether  or  not  the  oil  companies  are  wilful 
trespassers  has  been  fully  answered  by  the  recent  decisions  ren- 
dered by  two  Federal  judges. 

Judge  Bean,  in  his  decision  rendered  on  May  I,  1916,  in  the 
case  of  the  United  States  vs.  Midway  Northern  Oil  Company  et  al., 
which  included  many  other  oil  companies,  said : 

"The  defendants  were  not  wilful  looters  of  the  public  domain 
nor  reckless  trespassers  thereon.  They  acted  on  the  advice  of 


222         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

reputable  counsel,  expended  their  money  and  labor  in  good  faith, 
relying  upon  a  law  of  the  United  States  and  in  the  honest  belief 
that  they  were  within  their  rights." 

And  again  in  the  United  States  vs.  G.  W.  McCutcheon  et  al., 
recently  decided,  Judge  Bledsoe  in  his  decision  said: 

"There  can  be  no  valid  claim  in  my  judgment  that  the  defend- 
ants herein  were  wilful  trespassers.  Fortunately  there  is  nothing 
in  the  facts  developed  to  warrant  that  conclusion,  and  I  know  of 
no  rule  of  law  which  could  or  should  appeal  to  this  court  in  equity 
which  would  have  the  effect  of  so  judging  them." 

These  two  decisions  should  settle  the  alarm  that  seems  to  exist 
in  the  minds  of  some  that  other  oil  men  of  California  are  wrong- 
doers, wilful  trespassers  and  looters  of  the  public  domain. 

This  cry  was  not  raised  because  it  was  true,  but  for  the  purpose 
of  forming  public  opinion  against  the  oil  companies  and  to  persuade 
Congress  to  deny  the  relief  they  were  asking  for. 

Wherever  an  impartial  and  unprejudiced  committee  or  a  public 
official  of  high  standing  has  made  an  investigation  of  the  facts,  all 
agree  that  the  oil  companies  acted  in  good  faith  and  are  entitled 
to  relief.  Some,  and  there  were  very  few,  entered  upon  the  land 
after  the  withdrawal  upon  the  advice  of  counsel  and  in  the  Leasing 
Bill  no  patent  is  asked  'for  them. 

All  have  acted  in  good  faith  and  under  most  difficult  and  trying 
conditions  have  developed  their  several  claims. 

They  spent  their  money  in  good  faith,  have  developed  valuable 
properties  and  believed  that  they  were  operating  under  the  law  and 
within  their  rights.  If  the  Leasing  Bill  becomes  a  law  and  any  part 
of  this  property  is  to  be  leased,  then  there  is  no  reason  why  the 
company  who  is  in  possession  of  it  and  who  has  discovered  oil  and 
spent  thousands  of  dollars  in  the  way  of  improvements  should  not 
have  a  preference  right  to  a  lease  upon  the  payment  of  a  royalty 
to  the  Government  which  is  fair  and  equitable. 

Not  to  grant  this  preference  and  to  give  a  lease  to  a  stranger 
would  be  wrong  and  a  grave  injustice. 

The  oil  companies  want  relief  and  must  have  it  or  they  are 
ruined.  If  no  order  of  withdrawal  had  been  made  and  they  had 
been  permitted  to  have  continued  their  operations  under  the  laws 
existing  at  the  time  of  entering  upon  the  land  all  locators  who 
had  discovered  oil  would  now  be  entitled  to  patents.  If  a  change  in 
the  policy  of  the  Government  in  disposing  of  its  oil  lands  is  to  be 
made,  then  those  who  were  in  possession  in  good  faith  before  the 


REMEDIAL  LEGISLATION  FOR  OIL  COMPANIES        223 

change,  and  who  have  diligently  prosecuted  their  work  and  dis- 
covered oil  should  be  protected.  This  is  all  the  oil  companies  are 
asking  for  and  this  much  in  fair  and  honest  dealing  the  Government 
should  give  them.  The  oil  companies  believe  that  Congress  will 
deal  fairly  with  them.  The  House  of  Representatives  has  already 
passed  the  bill  and  the  fight  is  now  in  the  Senate. 

The  Senate  Public  Lands  Committee  has  made  a  favorable 
report  on  the  bill  and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the 
Senate  will  do  justice  to  the  oil  men  of  California  and  Wyoming, 
and  at  the  same  time  fully  protect  the  rights  of  the  Government  and 
of  the  navy. 

The  work  was  all  done  in  the  open  with  the  full  knowledge 
of  the  Government.  It  was  all  done  under  laws  which  permitted 
it  to  be  done.  Fortunes  have  been  spent,  a  great  industry  has  been 
created,  and  those  who  did  the  work  and  spent  their  money  in  good 
faith  should  not  be  deprived  of  that  which  they  have  honestly 
earned  and  we  hope  and  believe  that  they  will  not  be. 

This  oil  question  cannot  be  settled  until  it  is  settled  right, 
and  such  a  settlement  cannot  be  made  which  does  not  protect  the 
interests  of  those  who  entered  upon  the  lands  in  good  faith  and 
developed  the  property  by  discovering  oil. 


THE  PROSPECTOR  AND  THE  MINING  LAW. 


Address  Delivered  by  F.  W.  Van  Wagenen,  of  Denver,  Thurs- 
day, November  16,  1916,  at  Nineteenth  Annual  Conven- 
tion of  American  Mining  Congress. 


A  mining  law  has  for  its  purpose  the  attainment  of  two  ends, 
namely,  to  secure  the  discovery  of  mineral  deposits,  and  to  encour- 
age their  development.  The  first  has  to  do  with  the  occupation 
of  prospecting,  while  the  latter  is  a  matter  of  mining  engineering. 
As  mines  cannot  be  developed  until  they  are  discovered,  it  seems 
clear  that  the  paramount  purpose  -of  such  law  must  be  to  stimulate 
the  activity  of  the  prospector. 

This  individual  as  known  to  us  may  be  said  to  be  entirely  a 
product  of  American  civilization.  In  dictionaries  of  the  English 
language  published  prior  to  1850  the  word  is  not  to  be  found.  Just 
when  it  became  current  seems  to  have  been  about  the  years  1845-50, 
when,  lead  ores  having  been  discovered  in  the  vicinity  of  Galena, 
Illinois,  a  number  of  pioneers  of  the  vicinity  began  to  search  the 
surrounding  country  for  more  of  the  mineral.  These  individuals 
appear  to  have  been  called  prospectors  by  a  writer  of  the  day. 
Shortly  thereafter  came  the  gold  discoveries  in  California,  which, 
naturally,  drew  all  such  characters  to  the  coast,  where  their  line  of 
activity  was  at  once  recognized  as  desirable,  and  the  title  appropri- 
ate. The  idea  back  of  it  was  a  totally  new  one  to  the  world,  for 
it  meant  an  individual  who  had  been  invited  by  the  nation  to  ex- 
plore the  surface  of  the  public  domain  for  indications  of  metals  of 
any  kind.  These,  when  found,,  if  on  land  not  already  appropriated 
by  another,  became  by  law  the  exclusive  property  of  the  finder,  to 
work  or  to  sell,  as  he  saw  fit.  In  a  short  time  the  occupation  be- 
came entirely  one  of  searching  and  finding,  development  being  quite 
abandoned,  so  much  so  that  the  prospector  ranked  himself  above 
the  status  of  the  miner,  and  took  more  or  less  pride  in  the  fact. 
This  professional  feeling  continued,  and  still  exists,  though  at  the 
present  day  some  of  the  craft  are  not  only  too  dignified  to  work, 
but  too  lazy  to  be  efficient  explorers.  In  the  beginning,  however, 
the  occupation  was  followed  by  men  of  real  pioneering  ability, 


THE  PROSPECTOR  AND  THE  MINING  LAW  225 

though  sometimes  very  illiterate,  and  in  all  parts  of  the  western 
mining  districts  of  the  United  States  there  still  remain  numerous 
vigorous,  honest  and  capable  individuals  of  the  class. 

Outside  of  the  United  States  and  Alaska  the  prospector,  as  we 
understand  the  character,  does  not  exist.  I  make  this  statement 
without  any  reservation,  and  before  closing  expect  to  give  proof 
of  it.  During  five  years  of  travel  and  residence  in  Mexico,  cover- 
ing in  that  time  nearly  every  one  of  its  states,  I  failed  to  find  a 
single  one.  I  am  reliably  informed  that  the  same  conditions  prevail 
in  all  other  parts  of  Latin  America.  The  occupation  is  unknown 
in  South  Africa.  There  were  hundreds  of  them  at  one  time  in 
British  Columbia,  but  they  have  disappeared.  In  the  Yukon  coun- 
try they  were  present  in  large  numbers  when  the  Klondyke  District 
was  thought  to  be  a  part  of  Alaska,  but  they  left  in  a  body  when 
that  famous  region  turned  out  to  be  British  territory.  In  all  the 
remaining  parts  of  Canada  the  prospector  is  notable  by  his  absence. 
The  business  has  never  been  heard  of  in  Siberia.  In  Australia  and 
New  Zealand  many  were  in  the  field  in  the  early  days,  but  none 
can  be  found  now. 

And  I  will  make  the  further  statement,  without  any  fear  of 
successful  contradiction,  that  the  prospector  exists  only  in  those 
parts  of  the  United  States  that  are  under  the  provisions  of  the 
Federal  mining  law.  For  instance,  though  numerous  in  New  Mex- 
ico, he  cannot  be  found  in  the  adjoining  state  of  Texas,  though 
the  latter  is  known  to  possess  great  mineral  resources.  There  are 
none  in  the  Lake  Superior  copper  and  iron  mining  regions,  nor  in 
the  lead  and  zinc  fields  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  so  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  ascertain. 

The  natural  and  inevitable  inference  from  these  facts,  if  they 
cannot  be  controverted,  is  that  the  prospector  is  the  product  and 
child  of  the  American  Mining  Law.  If  he  is  a  desirable  one,  it 
will  be  well  worth  while  to  ascertain  what  there  is  in  the  law  that 
has  produced  him,  and  keeps  him  with  us.  But  first  it  may  be  well 
to  inquire  whether  his  occupation  is  a  necessary  one  for  communi- 
ties possessed  of  latent  mineral  wealth.  Can  discovery  go  on  with- 
out his  services? 

To  a  very  limited  extent  discovery  is  still  in  progress  in 
Australia,  but  only  in  the  politically  unorganized  or  very  sparsely 
settled  parts  of  the  great  island  continent.  It  has  ceased  entirely 
in  all  districts  that  have  become  well  occupied,  even  where  great 
unexplored  wealth  is  known  to  remain.  In  New  Zealand,  Latin 


226         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

America  and  Canada  the  same  conditions  exist.  We  hear  of  noth- 
ing from  these  countries  except  the  continued  working  of  mines 
discovered  thirty  to  fifty  years  ago,  or  the  reopening  of  "antiguas." 
In  the  case  of  Canada,  a  few  new  districts  have  been  found  during 
recent  years,  but  investigation  reveals  the  fact  that  all  of  them  were 
purely  accidental  strikes,  made  either  by  railroad  graders  in  the 
course  of  their  day's  labor  (Sudbury  and  Cobalt),  or  by  sportsmen 
when  in  the  pursuit  of  game  (Porcupine).  Practically  nothing  new 
has  been  found  in  British  Columbia  since  the  law  there  was  changed 
from  one  allowing  extralateral  rights  to  one  confining  the  prospector 
within  vertical  planes.  In  Texas,  though  the  state  has  offered  lib- 
eral bounties  for  mineral  discoveries,  and  where  there  are  plenty 
of  mineral  areas  still  held  open,  but  under  state  laws,  none  are 
reported.  Prospectors  by  the  thousands  are  swarming  all  over 
Alaska,  in  spite  of  its  severe  climate,  while  across  the  international 
line,  in  the  Yukon  territory  of  Canada,  no  exploration  whatever  is 
in  progress.  In  fine,  a  careful  examination  of  international  condi- 
tions in  the  industry  of  metal  mining,  shows  that  in  the  matter  of 
new  discoveries  the  United  States  and  Alaska  are  the  only  parts  of 
the  world  where  advance  has  been  steady  and  important  from 
the  first,  an d  still  continues  to  be  so.  Evidently,  then,  the  American 
prospector  is  an  asset  of  some  value  to  the  nation. 

Now,  what  does  the  prospector  require  as  an  inducement  to 
carry  on  his  particular  line  of  activity  with  energy?  First,  he 
appears  to  demand  freedom  in  the  exercise  of  his  occupation.  He 
carefully  keeps  away  from  all  lands  where  a  miner's  license  is 
required,  and  from  those  where  the  processes  of  initiating  and 
maintaining  title  are  complicated  and  expensive,  and  where  no  fee 
simple  title  is  obtainable.  But,  above  all  other  considerations,  that 
which  seems  to  be  most  necessary  to  retin  his  services  is  the  ability 
to  locate  a  claim  which  has  a  selling  value  as  a  prospect,  and  which 
does  not  have  to  be  developed  to  attain  that  quality.  For  he  is 
not  a  developer.  He  is  purely  an  explorer  and  finder,  and  can  not 
make  a  living  in  his  profession  unless  he  can  dispose  of  his  find 
on  the  basis  of  the  nature  of  the  claim  he  can  file  and  maintain 
upon  it.  Such  a  nature  and  characteristic  was  unconsciously  con- 
ferred by  the  Federal  Mining  Law  when  the  principle  of  the  apex 
and  of  extralateral  rights  was  enunciated.  For  these  principles, 
for  the  first  time  in  the  evolution  of  mining  law,  declare  the  vein 
or  deposit  to  be  a  legal  entity,  distinguishing  not  only  between  it 
and  the  surface  where  its  top  may  outcrop,  but,  also,  between  it  and 


THE  PROSPECTOR  AND  THE  MINING  LAW  227 

the  rocks  enclosing  it.  and  so  gives  it  to  the  discoverer  in  its  en- 
tirety, no  matter  where  it  may  lead  him.  With  this  right  conferred 
you  cannot  locate  along  his  side  line  and  cut  him  off  on  the  dip, 
nor  is  he  compelled  to  locate  a  number  of  claims  alongside  of  each 
other  to  protect  himself.  And  when  he  has  found  something  of 
value  he  can  command  a  fair  price,  for  his  title  covers  the  whole 
of  it. 

My  argument,  then,  is  briefly  summarized  as  follows: 

Exclude  extralateral  rights  from  the  Federal  Mining  Law,  and 
change  its  simple  provisions  for  the  initiation  and  maintenance  of 
titles,  and  the  prospector  will  disappear. 

With  his  disappearance,  discovery  (except  by  accident)  will 
cease.  Then,  as  our  known  ore  bodies  become  exhausted,  produc- 
tion will  decline,  as  it  has  elsewhere,  and  the  magnificent  industry 
that  our  free  laws  have  created  will  slowly  but  surely  dwindle  to 
the  status  already  reached  in  British  Australasia,  and  to  that  which 
is  approaching  in  Canada. 

As  many  of  my  statements  concerning  the  decadence  of  pros- 
pecting and  discovery  in  various  parts  of  the  mining  world  will, 
perhaps,  be  strenuously  denied,  it  will  be  proper  to  give  here  the 
evidence  on  which  they  are  based.  In  the  first  place,  it  must  be 
remembered  that  I  speak  of  the  prospector  as  we  know  him  in 
America,  the  real  searcher  for  new  outcrops,  and  not  the  claim 
pegger  or  locator,  who  dogs  his  footsteps  for  speculative  purposes 
only.  Nor  should  the  business  be  confused  with  that  of  the  alluvial 
gold  hunter,  whose  activity  does  not  extend  beyond  discovery  of 
placer  deposits  that  may  be  worked  by  himself  with  no  more  of  an 
outfit  than  a  pick,  shovel  and  gold  pan.  Such  men  were  prospectors 
in  the  early  days,  but  are  so  no  longer. 

Perhaps  the  best  proofs  of  the  decadence  of  prospecting  in 
British  Australasia  are  the  large  rewards  that  have  been  offered 
during  recent  years  by  the  legislatures  of  all  the  provinces  of  these 
lands  for  new  finds.  These  may  be  found  detailed  in  Bulletin  505 
of  the  LT.  S.  Geological  Survey,  entitled  "Mining  Laws  of  Australia 
and  New  Zealand."  The  author,  Mr.  Arthur  C.  Veatch,  is  a  great 
admirer  of  the  mining  laws  of  these  colonies.  Consequently,  evi- 
dence drawn  from  his  report  as  to  conditions  in  that  part  of  the 
world  should  be  fairly  convincing.  Without  attempting  quotations 
from  this  bulletin,  which  would  make  my  paper  too  lengthy,  I  will 
invite  those  who  doubt  the  statements  herein  expressed  to  read 
those  paragraphs  at  the  end  of  each  chapter  which  detail  the  prac- 


228         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

tical  working  of  the  law  in  the  state  under  consideration  at  the 
time  by  the  writer.  As  to  the  rewards  and  other  inducements,  that 
the  several  parliaments  have  authorized,  I  will  say  that  they  include 
almost  everything  that  could  be  suggested  with  any  degree  of  rele- 
vance, from  cash  advances  to  prospectors  up  through  the  building 
of  roads,  trails,  telephone  lines,  dams  and  ditches,  the  loan  of 
drilling  outfits,  of  crushing  batteries,  of  cyanide  plants  on  wheels, 
of  money  to  pay  for  shaft  sinking  and  level  driving,  and  to  buy 
tools  and  supplies,  to  rebates  on  freight  charges  on  first  shipments 
of  ore.  One  of  the  most  fantastic  of  these  "encouragers"  is  the 
offer  of  a  bonus  of  $50,000  for  the  establishment  of  the  first  new 
mining  town  of  a  population  of  500  or  over,  which,  by  the  way,  has 
not  yet  been  claimed,  so  far  as  I  can  ascertain.  Naturally,  when 
affairs  get  to  such  a  pass  in  a  most  desirable  industry  that  induce- 
ments of  these  kinds  are  considered  necessary,  one  begins  to  wonder 
if  there  is  not  something  wrong  with  the  law  under  which  the 
business  is  being  conducted,  and  particularly  when  the  sought-for 
revival  of  it  does  not  materialize. 

In  British  Columbia  the  same  stage  of  decadence  is  approach- 
ing. Here  is  an  extract  from  a  periodical  called  "The  Northwest 
Mining  Truth,"  whose  name  alone  should  be  a  guaranty  of  its 
accuracy.  But  I  have  taken  the  precaution  to  verify  the  authen- 
ticity of  its  statements  by  correspondence  direct  with  the  Minister 
of  Mines  of  that  country.  The  date  is  some  time  in  the  early  part 
of  the  current  year. 

"Aiding  the  Prospector. 

"Honorable  Lome  A.  Campbell,  Minister  of  Mines  to  British 
Columbia,  is  losing  no  time  in  efforts  to  aid  the  prospectors  of  the 
Province,  and  thus  resuscitate  some  of  its  former  mining  glories. 
Briefly  the  bill  give?  the  prospector  the  sole  right  to  work  any  min- 
eral claim  that  may  have  reverted  to  the  Crown  for  non-payment  of 
taxes.  Upon  payment  of  a  fee  of  $25  to  the  Gold  Commissioner 
of  the  district,  he  may  secure  a  lease  for  one  year,  the  Commis- 
sioner having  power  to  renew  for  a  second  year  upon  payment  of 
a  similar  fee.  No  prospector  may  lease  more  than  two  claims  in 
one  mining  district,  and  his  lease,  which  gives  him  all  the  privileges 
of  a  free  miner  under  the  mineral  act,  will  not  be  transferable. 
If,  after  working  the  claim  for  a  time,  the  prospector  should  find 
pay  ore,  he  may  obtain  Crown  grant  upon  payment  of  the  taxes 
due  to  the  Crown  before  the  lease  was  secured.  If  he  has  done 


THE  PROSPECTOR  AND  THE  MINING  LAW  229 

$200  worth  of  work  a  year,  he  does  not  have  to  pay  taxes  during 
the  period  of  his  lease. 

"The  measure  is  designed  to  remedy  conditions  which  have 
in  large  measure  discouraged  prospecting,  thus  hindering  develop- 
ment of  many  promising  districts.  As  matters  stand  now,  the 
prospector,  should  he  find  pay  ore,  may  apply  to  the  Gold  Com- 
missioner for  right  to  purchase.  The  claim  is  then  offered  at  public 
auction,  and  is  knocked  down  to  the  highest  bidder.  This  method 
is  obviously  disadvantageous  to  the  prospector,  who  has  no  asset 
but  knowledge  of  the  ground,  and  has  led  to  much  injustice  in  the 
past/' 

What  a  commentary  this  is  on  the  minister's  and  editor's 
knowledge  of  the  habits  and  needs  of  the  prospector.  Whoever 
found  one  with  $25  in  spare  change  on  his  person,  to  say  nothing 
of  $200;  and  who  knows  of  one  who  would  waste  his  time  and 
cash  on  an  already  tested  and  abandoned  claim,  and  on  one  which, 
also,  he  could  not  sell? 

If  any  more  proof  is  needed  of  the  decay  of  discovery  in 
Australasia,  it  is  to  be  found  in  the  steadily  decreasing  production 
from  all  its  provinces.  Here  are  the  figures,  giving  a  summary  of 
the  output  of  gold,  silver,  copper,  lead,  zinc  and  tin  in  New  South 
Wales,  Victoria,  West  Australia,  South  Australia,  Queensland, 
Tasmania,  and  New  Zealand,  for  the  period  1904  to  1914,  inclusive : 

YEAR.  VALUE. 

1904 $  99,269,529 

1905 111,328,672 

1906..  • ., 114,944,986 

1907 112,931,668 

1908 98,333,114 

1909 94,047,425 

1910 88,678,029 

1911 84,535,425 

1912 87,324,250 

1913 86,148,001 

1914 7^321,859 

Compare  these  with  our  own  steady  advance  in  output.  Here 
are  the  figures  for  the  same  period,  covering  the  production  of 
Arizona,  California,  Colorado,  Idaho,  Montana,  Nevada,  New  Mex- 


230         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

ico,  Oregon,  Utah,  Washington  and  Wyoming,  in  gold,  silver,  cop- 
per, lead,  zinc  and  mercury : 

YEAR.  VALUE. 

1904 $233»752,i78 

1905 243,527,922 

1906 302,851,951 

1907 283,155,244 

1908 , 233,336,894 

1909 • 257,579,031 

1910 259,896,171 

I91 1 263,550,225 

1912 331,972,117 

1913 316,107,602 

I9M 324,778,704 

All  of  which  has  been  accomplished  under  the  provisions 
of  what  one  of  our  most  ardent  revisionists  has  characterized  as 
"the  most  absurd  and  utterly  damnable  law  which  the  mind  of  man 
has  ever  conceived." 

As  to  South  Africa  and  Mexico,  I  can  speak  from  personal 
experience,  having  lived  and  operated  in  the  former  for  three 
years,  and  in  the  latter  for  five.  I  was  in  Rhodesia  from  1902  to 
1905,  and  during  that  period,  though  constantly  moving  around 
among  the  mines,  never  heard  of  a  new  discovery  except  of  a 
deposit  of  chrome  iron,  and  of  tungsten  ore.  Neither  of  these  was 
made  by  prospectors. 

As*  to  Latin  America,  outside  of  Mexico,  my  conclusions  are 
based  on  hearsay,  and  a  published  letter  from  an  American  engi- 
neer by  the  name  of  H.  R.  Hammond,  Jr.,  writing  from  Chile.  His 
letter  is  entitled  "Remarks  on  Mining  in  Chile,"  and  was  published 
in  a  Denver  periodical.  Speaking  of  the  generally  quiet  condition 
in  the  mining  industry  outside  of  copper,  he  says: 

"The  reason  for  the  limited  amount  of  mining  of  the  precious 
metals  is  that  hardly  any  prospecting  has  been  done.  Most  of  the 
mines  were  either  discovered  long  ago  by  the  Spaniards,  or  recently 
stumbled  on  accidentally." 

Again,  after  referring  to  the  lack  of  inclination  among  native 
capitalists  to  embark  in  mining  enterprises,  and  the  further  fact 
that  most  of  the  foreigners -domiciled  in  the  country  were  English 
merchants  and  bankers,  whose  tendencies  were  naturally  not  toward 
field  work,  he  says: 

"If  a  few  old-time  American  prospectors  were  to  go  into  the 
mountains,  it  would  probably  mean  the  discovery  of  some  very 


THE  PROSPECTOR  AND  THE  MINING  LAW  231 

good  and  rich  deposits,  for  the  country  is  highly  mineralized." 

In  conclusion,  may  I  be  permitted  to  suggest  that  before  this 
Congress  expresses  itself  finally  on  the  question  of  the  suggested 
revision  of  the  Federal  Mining  Law,  it  should  cause  a  study  to  be 
made  not  only  of  the  laws  of  all  other  important  metal  producing 
countries,  but  of  the  history  of  the  mining  industry  in  those  lands, 
and  the  present  condition  of  the  same.  There  can  be  no  more 
accurate  measure  of  the  intrinsic  worth  of  a  law  than  the  degree 
of  prosperity  attained  under  it.  Let  this  supreme  test  be  applied 
by  our  organization  before  it  lends  its  powerful  influence  to  either 
side  of  this  important  controversy. 


AUTHORITY  OF  STATES  TO  TAX  MINING  PROPERTY 
ON  INDIAN  LANDS. 

Address  Delivered  Tuesday,  November  14,  1916,  at  Nineteenth 

Annual  Convention  of  American  Mining  Congress  by 

Judge  J.  G.  Gamble,  of  Des  Moines,  Iowa. 

I  am  to  address  you  concerning  "The  Authority  of  the  States 
to  Tax  Mines  on  Indian  Lands."  This  subject  is  at  once  limited 
and  general.  Limited,  because  such  authority  is  affected  by  re- 
strictions upon  the  title  to  and  right  of  alienation  of  Indian  lands; 
and  general,  because  all  the  limitations  upon  such  authority  im- 
posed by  the  Federal  and  state  constitutions  or  statutes  with  respect 
to  taxation  generally  are  equally  applicable  to  mining  operations  on 
Indian  lands. 

The  particular  restrictions  upon  the  title  to  such  lands,  as  well 
as  the  relation  of  the  Government  thereto,  can  be  determined  only 
by  reference  to  the  several  treaties  and  congressional  acts  having  to 
do  therewith,  and  I  shall  not  now  undertake  a  technical  discussion 
thereof.  But  speaking  generally,  such  restrictions  arise  from  the 
relation  and  policy  of  the  Government  toward  the  Indians,  which  is 
described  by  the  Supreme  Court  in  United  States  vs.  Rickert,  188 
U.  S.  432,  as  follows : 

"These  Indians  are  yet  wards  of  the  nation  in  a  condition  of 
pupilage  or  dependency,  and  have  not  been  discharged  from  that 
condition.  They  occupy  these  lands  with  the  consent  and  authority 
of  the  United  States ;  and  the  holding  of  them  by  the  United  States 
'under  acts  of  Congress  and  agreements  with  the  several  tribal  or- 
ganizations' is  part  of  the  national  policy  by  which  the  Indians  are 
to  be  maintained  as  well  as  prepared  for  assuming  the  habits  of 
civilized  life  and  ultimately  the  privilege  of  citizenship." 

In  many  instances  the  Federal  Government  has  made  provision 
for  the  entry  of  mineral  lands  in  Indian  country,  or  on  Indian 
reservations,  under  the  terms  of  the  Federal  mineral  land  laws. 
This  is  true  of  the  Blackfeet  and  Crow  reservations  in  Montana; 
the  San  Carlos  and  White  Mountain  Apache  reservations  in  Ari- 


AUTHORITY  TO  TAX  MINING  INDIAN  LANDS          233 

zona;  the  Coville  and  Spokane  reservations  in  Washington,  and  in 
numerous  other  instances.  In  such  cases  there  is  no  difference  in 
the  rights  and  liabilities  of  the  operator  or  of  the  authority  of  the 
states  to  tax  than  where  an  entry  is  made  upon  the  open,  common 
and  undeveloped  lands  owned  by  the  general  government,  fre- 
quently referred  to  as  the  public  domain. 

But  in  other  instances  the  Government  has  by  treaty  provision, 
as  well  as  general  law,  specified  conditions  under  which  mines 
might  be  located  and  operated  upon  Indian  lands.  The  most  notable 
instance  of  the  exercise  of  this  power  by  the  Government  is  in- 
cluded in  the  act  of  June  23,  1898,  commonly  known  as  the  Curtis 
Act,  which  ratified  an  agreement  between  the  Choctaw  and  Chicka- 
saw  Indian  tribes  with  the  Federal  Commission  made  at  Atoka  on 
April  23,  1897.  By  this  act  provision  was  made  for  the  develop- 
ment of  coal  and  asphalt  deposits  which  were  reserved  from  allot- 
ment and  segregated  as  common  property  of  the  members  of  the 
tribes  mentioned.  This  act  also  provided  for  the  allotment  of 
certain  lands,  and  with  subsequent  enactments  amendatory  thereof, 
together  with  similar  allotment  acts  relating  to  the  other  civilized 
tribes,  imposed  restrictions  upon  the  leasing  of  the  allotted  lands 
as  to  the  conditions  of  operation  as  well  as  the  period  of  lease. 

Thus,  by  the  provisions  of  the  Curtis  Act  and  other  similar 
enactments,  leases  of  mining  rights  could  only  be  had  in  accordance 
with  the  terms  of  the  law,  or  upon  conditions  prescribed  by  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Federal  Government,  as  to  rate  of  royalty,  time 
of  payment,  extent  of  development  and  term  of  lease.  These  pro- 
visions and  restrictions  upon,  the  leasing  of  mineral  rights  by  the 
Indians  to  whom  the  lands  had  been  allotted,  or  by  the  representa- 
tives of  the  tribes  in  the  case  of  the  segregated  common  lands,  were 
enacted  in  pursuance  of  the  philanthropic  policy  of  the  National 
Government  heretofore  referred  to  as  preparing  the  Indians  as 
wards  of  the  nation  for  assuming  the  habits  of  civilized  life  and 
privileges  of  citizenship.  In  other  words,  the  Government  in  the 
discharge  of  its  duty  as  guardian,  undertakes  to  see  that  the  prop- 
erty of  its  wards  is  properly  developed,  and  that  the  fund  derived 
from  the  development  thereof  is  devoted  to  the  improvement  of 
their  condition  rather  than  to  ignorant  dissipation,  and  by  contracts 
of  lease  constitutes  the  operators  of  the  property,  in  a  measure, 
instruments  of  the  Government  to  attain  the  ends  described.  All 
of  the  rights  to  operate  mines  upon  those  lands  are  derived  from 
the  terms  of  the  leases  entered  into  upon  the  conditions  imposed 
bv  and  with  the  sanction  of  the  Government.  Therefore,  it  follows 


234         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

that  as  to  the  operators  engaged  in  the  development  of  the  property 
bearing  such  a  relation  to  the  Government,  there  could  be  no  inter- 
ference on  the  part  of  the  state  in  the  way  of  taxation  or  other- 
wise, for  if  this  were  not  true,  by  taxation  or  regulation  the  state 
might  thwart  the  governmental  purposes. 

It  was  settled  in  the  early  and  celebrated  case  of  McCullough 
vs.  State  of  Maryland,  4  Wheat.  316,  that  instruments  of  the  gen- 
eral Government  are  immune  from  taxation  by  the  authorities  of 
the  several  states,  it  being  argued  therein: 

"If  the  states  may  tax  one  instrument,  employed  by  the  Gov- 
ernment in  the  execution  of  its  powers,  they  may  tax  any  and 
every  other  instrument.  They  may  tax  the  mail;  they  may  tax  the 
mint;  they  may  tax  patent-rights;  they  may  tax  the  papers  of  the 
custom  house;  they  may  tax  judicial  process;  they  may  tax  all  the 
means  employed  by  the  Government,  to  an  excess  which  would 
defeat  all  the  ends  of  government.  This  was  not  intended  by  the 
American  people.  They  did  not  design  to  make  their  Government 
dependent  on  the  states." 

So  that  in  so  far  as  the  right  to  engage  in  mining  upon  Indian 
lands  is  concerned,  where  such  right  is  derived  from  contracts 
entered  into  under  conditions  prescribed  by  the  general  Govern- 
ment, there  is  no  authority  on  the  part  of  the  state  to  tax  the  same, 
first,  because  the  right  is  not  derived  from  the  state,  and  second, 
because  the  power  to  tax  involving  the  power  to  destroy,  if  exer- 
cised, might  so  greatly  impair  the  efficiency  of  an  instrument  of  the 
general  Government  as  to  prevent  the  proper  performance  of  tis 
functions.  Thus  there  was  involved  in  the  case  ®f  Choctaw,  Okla- 
homa &  Gulf  R.  R.  vs.  Harrison,  235  U.  S.  292,  an  attempted  levy 
of  a  so-called  production  tax  upon  all  coal  produced  at  the  mines 
of  the  operator  located  on  Indian  lands.  The  tax  was  laid  upon 
production,  and  not  upon  coal. as  property,  and,  therefore,  became 
in  reality  nothing  more  than  an  occupation  tax,  or  excise,  upon 
the  right  to  engage  in  the  business  of  mining.  Since  this  right  was 
derived  from  the  general  Government  under  the  terms  of  the  Curtis 
Act  heretofore  mentioned,  it  was  held  that  the  attempted  tax,  if 
levied,  would  constitute  a  burden  upon  an  instrument  of  the  general 
Government  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  law  referred  to  hereto- 
fore, and  the  tax  was  held  invalid  for  this  reason. 

The  Harrison  case  has  been  followed  with  respect  to  oil  prop- 
erties located  upon  allotted  lands.  See  Indian  Territory  Illuminat- 
ing Oil  Co.  vs.  State,  240  U.  S.  522. 


AUTHORITY  TO  TAX  MINING  INDIAN  LANDS          235 

Again,  in  Farmers  &  Merchants  Savings  Bank  vs.  Minnesota, 
232  U.  S.  516,  there  was  involved  a  levy  of  taxes  upon  bonds  of  a 
municipality  located  in  Indian  country.  It  was  claimed  that  the 
municipality  in  the  Indian  country  was  an  instrument  of  the  general 
Government,  and  that  its  securities  issued  for  governmental  pur- 
poses should  not  be  subjected  to  a  tax  for  the  same  reasons  and 
upon  the  same  considerations  mentioned  as  involved  in  the  Harrison 
case.  Thus  it  was  held  that  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  State  of 
Minnesota  to  tax  securities  owned  by  its  citizens,  but  issued  by  a 
municipality  situate  in  Indian  country,  which  in  turn  gained  its 
power  to  issue  the  securities  from  the  Federal  Government,  was 
void. 

I  do  not  mean  to  convey  the  impression  that  the  property  of  an 
operator  located  on  Indian  lands  is  not  subject  to  taxation  in  the 
same  way  as  the  property  of  other  individuals  elsewhere  located, 
for  it  has  long  been  settled  (see  Union  Pacific  vs.  Pennison,  18 
Wall.  5)  that  the  exemption  of  Federal  agents  from  state  taxation 
is  not  dependent  upon  the  nature  of  the  agents  or  upon  the  mode 
of  their  constitution,  or  upon  the  fact  that  they  are  agents,  but 
upon  the  effect  of  the  tax,  and  that  a  tax  upon  their  property  as 
such  does  not  have  the  effect  necessarily  to  hinder  the  efficient 
exercise  of  their  power  as  Federal  agents.  This  conclusion  is 
reached  upon  the  theory  that  a  tax  upon  property  is  too  remote 
to  be  said  to  be  a  burden  seriously  impairing  the  possibility  of  per- 
formance of  the  Federal  duty  by  the  agent. 

However,  even  tax  levies  upon  property  of  operators  on  Indian 
lands  are  subject  to  all  of  the  limitations  imposed  by  the  constitu- 
tions, both  Federal  and  state,  as  well  as  local  laws,  that  apply  to 
taxation  of  property  generally.  Thus  taxes  as  a  general  thing  are 
required  to  be  equal  and  uniform  upon  all  subjects,  and  in  this  con- 
nection one  class  of  property  may  not  be  arbitrarily  specified  for 
the  purpose  of  attaching  a  given  charge,  while  another  is  subjected 
to  a  lesser  charge.  It  is  true  that  in  most  cases  where  mining  prop- 
erty is  involved  there  is  little  other  property  in  the  immediate  vicin- 
ity which  is  subject  to  taxation.  This  is  because  of  the  natural 
location  of  most  of  the  mines.  But  there  is  a  population  about  the 
mines  which  demands  of  the  local  government  the  installation  and 
maintenance  of  many  governmental  facilities,  such  as  police  pro- 
tection, schools,  sewerage  and  paving,  and  the  municipalities  are 
oftentimes  hard  driven  in  the  provision  of  sufficient  revenue  to 
discharge  such  demands.  Consequently,  there  has  been  a  rather 


236         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

decided  trend  in  the  enactment  of  statutes  authorizing  tax  levies 
toward  classification  of  mining  property  apart  from  property  gen- 
erally, and  a  subjection  of  such  property,  when  so  classified,  to  a 
greater  rate  of  levy  than  is  the  case  of  other  property.  The  effect 
of  such  a  classification  is  more  often  felt  by  reason  of  a  difference 
in  the  assessment  of  the  value  of  property  for  taxation.  Thus 
when  subjects  of  taxation  are  classified,  one  class  of  property  may 
be  assessed  nearer  its  true  value  than  another,  and  when  a  subse- 
quent levy  is  applied  to  such  a  valuation  there,  of  course,  results 
an  inequality  in  the  burden  borne  by  the  owner  of  the  property 
as  a  taxpayer.  The  state  and  its  municipalities  are  limited  in  such 
classification  in  that  it  may  not  be  made,  unless  it  is  reasonable, 
that  is,  unless  there  are  reasons  which  support  the  classification  for 
the  particular  purpose  and  even  if  a  classification  is  made,  if  it  is 
merely  arbitrary  in  its  nature,  it  affords  no  basis  for  a  differentia- 
tion in  the  rate  of  taxation,  and  in  this  way  the  power  of  the  state 
to  lay  the  tax  is  limited. 

Certain  exactions  are  imposed  concerning  the  erection  of  what 
are  sometimes  called  public  improvements,  which  exactions  are  in 
the  nature  of  special  assessments.  The  theory  of  these  assess- 
ments, whether  applied  to  mining  property  or  property  generally,  is 
that  they  are  rested  upon  an  increment  of  benefit  to  the  property 
assessed  in  proportion  to  the  cost  of  the  improvement,  and  where 
it  can  be  shown  that  such  an  increment  does  not  in  fact  exist,  then 
the  authority  of  the  state  and  its  municipalities  to  lay  such  a  tax 
is  limited.  As  for  instance,  in  the  recent  case  of  Myles  Salt  Co.  vs. 
Board  of  Commissioners,  239  U.  S.  478,  60  L.  Ed.  204,  an  assess- 
ment of  benefits  from  the  drainage  of  a  marshy  area  was  attempted 
to  be  laid  against  salt  deposits  located  on  an  island  in  the  area.  It 
was  shown  that  this  island  could  have  no  benefit  from  drainage. 
Indeed,  the  difficulty  of  its  owners  arose  from  erosion  rather  than 
submersion,  and  it  was  held  in  this  case,  that  since  there  could  be, 
from  a  physical  standpoint,  no  benefit  to  the  property  attempted  to 
be  charged,  the  tax  being  grounded  upon  the  existence  of  a  benefit, 
the  state  was  without  authority  to  lay  the  same. 

I  cannot  within  any  reasonable  limit  attempt  to  detail  to  you 
the  various  limitations  upon  the  authority  of  the  states  to  impose 
the  various  kinds  of  taxes.  These  matters  are  largely  referable  to 
the  provisions  of  the  particular  laws  in  each  state  and  municipality. 
I  do  want,  however,  to  emphasize  the  thought  that  in  so  far  as 
the  tax  burden  is  concerned,  it  matters  not  how  many  kinds  or 


AUTHORITY  TO  TAX  MINING  INDIAN  LANDS          237 

classes  of  taxes  may  be  authorized  by  law,  or  to  what  extent  any 
particular  levy  may  go,  if  there  exists  an  opportunity  on  the  part 
of  administrative  offices  to  indulge  in  extravagant  and  useless  ex- 
penditure of  funds  so  raised.  In  other  words,  the  amount  of  the 
burden  which  is  imposed  upon  the  property  owners,  whether  on 
Indian  lands  or  not,  is  dependent,  first,  upon  the  efficiency  and  com- 
petency of  the  governmental  officials,  and  second,  upon  the  means 
provided  by  law,  in  which  such  exactions  may  be  laid. 

Very  much  the  larger  proportion  of  governmental  revenue  is 
derived  from  a  general  property  tax,  although  the  trend  of  recent 
legislation  providing  means  of  raising  revenue  for  public  purposes 
has  been  for  a  subdivision  and  classification  of  property  rights,  as 
to  which  different  rates  of  assessment  and  levy  are  applied.  Thus 
we  have  today  an  annual  output  tax,  a  gross  earnings  tax,  a  net 
earnings  tax,  a  gross  production  tax,  an  income  tax,  a  tax  on 
royalty,  a  tonnage  tax,  a  license  tax  or  excise  both  upon  the  right 
to  be  and  the  right  to  do,  inspection  taxes  and  taxes  of  classes  too 
innumerable  to  mention,  grounded  at  least  in  theory  upon  an  incre- 
ment of  benefit  to  the  property  assessed. 

A  review  of  the  laws  enacted  by  almost  any  legislative  body 
in  recent  years  will  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is  really  no 
end  in  sight  of  the  various  kinds  of  taxes  which  may  be  expected 
to  be  authorized,  so  that  I  take  it  to  be  a  futile  hope,  with  the  varied 
interests  of  the  various  types  of  government  in  the  several  sections 
of  the  country  at  large  to  expect  anything  in  the  way  of  uniformity 
in  the  classes  of  taxation  to  which  mines  and  mining  property  are 
subject.  Rather,  it  seems  to  me  that  relief  from  undue  and  inequal 
taxation,  if  it  is  to  be  approached  at  all,  must  come  from  an  effort 
directed  more  at  governmental  needs  than  at  the  means  with  which 
such  needs  are  to  be  discharged.  It  has  long  been  customary  in 
Government  finance  to  subject  suggested  needs  to  scrutiny.  The 
budget  system,  which  is  but  another  name  for  this  phase  of  the 
subject  of  taxation,  found  its  origin  in  England  near  the  middle 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  in  the  language  of  an  eminent  author, 
means  "a  forecast  of  the  Government's  next  annual  income  and 
outlay  as  well  as  the  legislative  authorization  of  both."  Since  a 
budget  in  its  operation  is  a  forecast  of  the  needs  for  the  Govern- 
ment, as  well  as  an  authorization  for  the  raising  of  revenue  to  meet 
such  needs,  it  necessarily  operates  as  a  limitation  upon  the  exercise 
of  the  powers  of  expenditure  af  governmental  funds  by  the  admin- 
istrative branch  of  the  Government,  and  as  such  gives  to  the  direct 


238         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

representatives  of  the  people  a  control  over  such  administrative 
offices.  This  system  prevails  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  in  the 
finance  of  the  general  Government,  as  well  as  practically  all  of  the 
states  and  municipalities;  and  the  thought  that  I  wish  to  convey 
to  you  is  more  nearly  an  enlargement  of  the  budget  plan  than  the 
suggestion  of  any  original  theory  with  respect  to  the  imposition 
of  taxes  for  governmental  purposes. 

It  must  be  recognized  that  in  recent  years  government  gen- 
erally in  all  of  the  United  States  has  become  more  and  more  pater- 
nalistic in  its  nature,  and  it  is  a  self-evident  proposition  that  the 
more  paternalistic  the  nature  of  the  Government,  the  greater  must 
be  the  expenditure  for  governmental  purposes,  and  consequently  the 
administrative  officials  are  more  exacting  in  their  demands  for 
revenue,  which  in  the  main  must  be  produced  by  taxation.  Again, 
I  think  it  must  be  conceded  that  the  more  general  the  Government, 
the  less  paternalistic  is  its  nature.  '  Consequently,  it  is  in  the  smaller 
political  corporations  that  the  greatest  demand  is  made  upon  admin- 
istrative officials  for  the  installation  of  innovations  in  government, 
and  therefore,  in  such  instances  the  requirements  of  the  adminis- 
trative branch  of  the  Government  is  much  greater  proportionately, 
and  affords  the  most  fertile  field  for  apparent  extravagant  expendi- 
ture. 

The  total  revenue  of  the  general  Government  is  very  great, 
but  since  it  is  contributed  by  such  a  vast  populace,  to  the  individual 
it  is  a  minor  charge  when  compared  with  the  fund  required  to 
operate  the  machinery  of  the  municipal  corporation  in  which  he 
lives  or  in  which  his  property  is  located.  The  annual  rate  of 
taxation  upon  property  generally  for  state  purposes  is  much  less 
than  the  rate  of  taxation  in  almost  any  of  the  modern  municipali- 
ties, and  this  is  because  the  municipal  government  is  much  nearer 
the  citizen,  and  its  administrative  offices  are  subjected  to  what 
might  be  termed  individual  demands  of  the  citizens.  Thus  we  have 
provision  for  finer  school  facilities,  sometimes  not  because  they  are 
needed,  but  because  some  other  municipality  located  near  by  has 
established  the  same.  .  A  coal  mine  is  sometimes  subjected  to  a  tax 
for  sprinkling  streets  because  merchants  some  distance  removed 
want  dust  allayed  to  preserve  their  stocks  of  valuable  merchandise. 

Civic  centers  are  quite  the  order  of  the  day.  Public  bath- 
houses have  grown  into  swimming  pools,  which  are  merely  a  place 
of  congregation  for  those  citizens  socially  inclined.  One  municipal- 
ity attempts  to  outstrip  its  neighbor  in  the  matter  of  paving,  or  of 


AUTHORITY  TO  TAX  MINING  INDIAN  LANDS          239 

lighting,  or  of  any  one  of  the  thousand  so-called  public  improve- 
ments which  the  fancy  of  some  influential  citizen  has  impressed 
upon  the  officeholder,  who  perhaps  is  seeking  re-election. 

As  illustrating  the  extent  to  which  municipal  expenditures  may 
go  and  the  consequent  unreasonable  burden  upon  the  owners  of 
property,  it  is  interesting  to  note  certain  statistics  concerning  gov- 
ernmental costs  in  the  village  of  Hibbing,  Minnesota,  for  the  year 
1915.  This  village  had  a  population  of  8,832  people.  By  levies 
for  municipal  purposes,  excluding  schools,  for  the  year  1915,  there 
was  raised  $1,693,889,  or  $191.79  per  capita.  This  means  that  for 
purely  municipal  purposes,  exclusive  of  schools,  the  administrative 
officials  of  this  village  spent  more  than  $3,000  every  day.  In  doing 
this  there  were  many  innovations  installed.  For  instance,  the  vil- 
lage had  a  White  Way  consisting  of  668  metal  posts  on  which  were 
installed  3,136  lights  at  a  cost  of  $81,000,  and  to  operate  it  during 
one  year,  it  cost  tjie  municipality  $19,822.  This  village  had  more 
street  lights  than  the  city  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  with  its  population 
of  363,591.  In  191-3  there  were  eighty-two  cities  in  the  United 
States  having  populations  ranging  from  30,000  to  50,000,  and  only 
four  of  them  showed  governmental  costs,  exclusive  of  school  pur- 
poses, greater  than  those  of  Hibbing.  In  Hibbing  the  annual  pay- 
roll approximated  $500,000.  The  cost  of  maintaining  and  improv- 
ing village  parks  was  $55,863.  To  grave  diggers  and  lawn  rakers 
in  the  municipal  cemetery  in  one  year  there  was  paid  $6,350.  A 
baseball  park  was  built  at  a  public  expense  of  $10,795.  The  average 
cost  of  garbage  collection  was  $130  a  day.  To  a  public  weighmaster 
there  was  paid  a  salary  of  $90  a  month,  while  the  total  receipts 
from  his  office  for  the  year  was  only  $17.20.  The  city's  average 
pay-roll  for  the  greater  part  of  a  year  contained  855  men,  while 
the  total  vote  cast  in  the  village  in  1914  was  1,318.  The  police 
force,  consisting  of  more  than  thirty  salaried  men,  cost  in  1914 
$41,158,  but  this  did  not  include  the  policing  of  the  property  of  the 
mining  companies  within  the  corporate  limits  of  the  town,  since 
the  operators  employed  special  policemen  whom  they  paid.  Quar- 
ters for  the  village  firemen  were  eqipped  with  quarter-sawed  oak 
furniture,  handsome  rugs,  phonographs  and  pianolas.  The  public 
buildings  of  Hibbing  cost  $808,150,  while  the  true  value  of  all  the 
privately  owned  buildings  in  the  village  was  $1,095,852.  These 
striking  statistics  are  to  be  explained  only  by  the  statement  that 
located  within  the  corporate  limits  of  the  village  were  valuable 
mining  properties,  which  were  subjected  to  taxation  for  the  purpose 


240         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

of  raising  this  revenue  in  large  part,  with  which  the  administrative 
officials  installed  the  innovations  in  government  referred  to. 

It  is  true  that  this  is  an  extreme,  but  not  an  isolated  case. 
The  same  conditions,  differing  only  in  degree,  existed  in  other 
towns  located  on  the  Iron  Range  in  Minnesota,  and  I  recall  another 
instance  of  a  school  district  situated  in  Indian  country  where  the 
total  assessed  value  of  property  was  $204,000,  of  which  the  property 
of  corporate  interests  was  valued  at  $202,000.  Upon  this  value 
a  levy  of  fifteen  mills  was  laid,  producing  for  school  purposes 
$3,060  per  year.  Of  this  amount  the  citizens  of  the  district  paid 
only  $30  a  year.  For  the  purpose  of  instructing  five  or  six  pupils 
who  lived  in  the  district  there  were  employed  two  teachers  through 
the  school  year  at  a  monthly  salary  of  $90  each. 

It  is  pleasant  to  know  that  such  instances  of  apparent  extrava- 
gance are  infrequent,  but  the  occasion  for  the  existence  of  even 
infrequent  instances  should  be  removed.  To  that  end  I  desire  to 
submit  for  your  consideration  the  suggestion  that  if  there  was 
created  in  each  taxing  district  a  board  consisting  of  taxpayers  to 
whom  the  administrative  officials  should  submit  an  estimate  of  their 
requirements  of  funds  for  the  ensuing  year,  together  with  a  finan- 
cial statement  showing  among  other  things  the  resources  of  the 
municipality  other  than  from  taxation,  and  if  such  board  was  in- 
vested with  authority  to  review  such  an  estimate  and  reduce  the 
same,  but  not  increase  it,  as  their  judgment  might  dictate,  and 
thereupon  was  empowered  to  lay  the  taxes  necessary  to  meet  the 
estimated  requirements  as  approved  by  it,  it  would  seem  to  me  that 
there  would  be  an  added  assurance  to  the  taxpayer  that  he  would 
be  subjected  to  no  such  extravagant  expenditure  as  is  possible  under 
the  system  existing  in  certain  communities  now.  Again,  such  a  plan 
would  require  the  sharing  of  this  board  of  the  responsibility  of 
expenditures  by  the  administrative  officials  and  would  afford  a 
complete  answer  to  demands  which  might  be  made  upon  them  by 
individual  citizens,  which  would  necessitate  the  expenditure  of  pub- 
lic funds. 

I  can  only  suggest  for  your  consideration  the  salutary  effect 
of  the  inauguration  of  such  a  system. 


CO-OPERATION,  CONSERVATION  AND  COMPETITION 

IN  COAL. 


Address    Delivered    by    E.    W.    Parker,    Director,    Anthracite 

Bureau  of  Information,  at  Nineteenth  Annual  Convention 

of  American  Mining  Congress,  Wednesday, 

November  15,  1916. 


The  first  letter  I  received  from  our  highly  efficient  and  versatile 
Secretary,  asking  me  to  prepare  a  paper  to  be  presented  before  this 
session  of  the  American  Mining  Congress,  suggested  that  the  sub- 
ject of  "Conservation"  had  not  been  entirely  worn  to  shreds  and 
that  it  might  be  considered  from  three  different  standpoints,  namely, 
conservation  of  life,  conservation  of  resources,  and  conservation  of 
investments.  In  the  next  letter  he  mentioned  "Co-operation"  as  a 
suitable  topic  for  discussion,  and  in  one  of  them  he  also  suggested 
that  "Competition"  was  a  factor  not  without  interest  to  those  en- 
gaged in  the  mining  and  merchandising  of  coal.  So  I  have  selected 
for  the  tile  of  this  address  "Co-operation,  Conservation  and  Com- 
petition (the  three  C's)  in  Coal."  It  is  alliterative,  at  least,  what- 
ever criticism  may  be  made  of  the  text  which  follows  it. 

Co-operation. 

In  the  process  of  transferring  coal  from  the  depths  of  the 
earth  to  the  consumer  there  are  four  opportunities  for  the  develop- 
ment of  a  higher  order  of  co-operation  than  we  have  yet  attained, 
and  which  when  effectively  put  into  practice  will  go  a  long  way 
toward  securing  the  elimination  of  unnecesasry  waste,  the  highest 
degree  of  efficiency  in  the  mining,  preparation  and  utilization  of  the 
product,  and  the  end  which  must  be  attained  in  any  successful  busi- 
ness, the  delivery  to  the  consumer  of  the  volume  and  the  quality  of 
coal  that  he  desires  at  a  steady  and  uniform  price  and  at  the  lowest 
possible  price  that  will  return  a  reasonable  profit  on  the  investment 
and  insure  stability  to  the  industry. 

The  opportunities  for  co-operation  are  (i)  among  producers, 
(2)  between  producers  and  distributors,  (3)  among  distributors, 
and  (4)  between  employers  and  employes.  It  is  not  my  purpose 


242         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

to  attempt  to  work  out  the  details  of  these  nor  of  the  subheads  of 
the  second  division  of  my  caption — Conservation — but  to  state  them 
briefly  in  the  hope  that  subsequent  discussion  may  eventually  lead 
to  tangible  results. 

In  any  discussion  of  the  coal  industry  one  must,  as  I  do, 
approach  the  subject  of  co-operation  among  producers  hesitatingly. 
This  is  particularly  true  in  regard  to  the  anthracite  branch  of  the 
industry,  for  heretofore  to  suggest  that  any  two  or  three  of  those 
who  operate  a  coal  mine  should  "assemble  and  meet  together"  for 
the  discussion  of  any  plan  of  co-operation  has  been  to  start  anew 
the  claims  of  the  yellow  press  that  the  operators  were  planning 
some  coup  for  mulcting  the  public.  Nor  have  the  attacks  upon 
the  anthracite  industry  been  confined  to  certain  types  of  journal- 
ists. There  are  government  officials,  both  legislative  and  executive, 
state  and  federal,  who  for  reasons  best  known  to  themselves,  try 
to  persuade  themselves  that  their  duty  to  the  public  and  their  oath 
of  office  requires  action  of  some  kind  against  the  anthracite 
operators. 

It  is  encouraging  to  note  that  there  is  at  last  established  under 
the  Federal  Government  at  Washington  a  tribunal  whose  words  and 
deeds  so  far  have  shown  that  it  realizes  not  only  the  desirability 
but  the  necessity  for  a  higher  degree  of  co-operation  among  the 
producers  of  coal,  to  the  end  that  some  stability  may  be  given  to 
the  industry  and  we  may  hope  before  long  to  see  coal  mining  given 
as  fair  a  chance  to  exist  under  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  as 
railroading  is  under  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission. 

Aside  from  the  effects  produced  by  the  European  war,  the 
beneficent  influences  of  the  new  order  of  things  is  already  apparent 
in  the  bituminous  regions,  and  the  operators  of  the  Pittsburgh  vein 
and  the  Hocking  districts  in  Ohio,  the  operators  in  this  State  of 
Illinois,  in  West  Virginia  and  elsewhere,  are  co-operating  with  the 
sanction  of  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  in  the  exchange  of 
information  through  their  association  with  benefit  to  the  trade  and 
without  injury  to  the  public.  There  is  even  in  the  anthracite  region 
of  Pennsylvania  an  Anthracite  Coal  Operators'  Association,  com- 
posed of  the  individual  operators  who  make  weekly  reports 'to  their 
secretary  as  to  conditions  of  trade,  labor  and  car  supply,  etc.,  and 
receive  a  weekly  bulletin  giving  a  resume  of  these  statements. 

It  is  reasonable  to  believe  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  coal 
operators  may  and  will  co-operate  in  an  exchange  of  information 
relating  to  trade  conditions,  car  and  labor  supply,  etc.,  so  that  pro- 


CO-OPERATION  AND  COMPETITION  IN  COAL  243 

duction  may  be  regulated  somewhat  in  accordance  with  demand, 
even  as  now  the  California  fruit  growers  regulate  their  shipments 
with  entire  satisfaction  to  the  consumers,  and  with  a  stabilizing 
of  the  industry  from  the  growers'  standpoint  which  was  not 
dreamed  of  twenty  years  ago. 

But  if  there  is  need  for  co-operation  among  producers  there 
is  even  greater  need  for  it  between  the  producers  on  one  hand 
and  the  retailers  or  distributors  on  the  other.  As  I  stated  in  an 
address  before  the  New  York  Coal  Merchants'  Association  a  few 
weeks  ago,  the  producing,  end  of  the  coal  business  is  its  foundation 
and  the  retailing  end  is  the  superstructure.  It  is  necessary  that  one 
should  square  with  the  other  if  the  house  is  to  stand.  Mine  oper- 
ators are  not  as  familiar  as  they  should  be  with  the  problems  that 
face  and  harass  the  retailer,  and  the  retailer  cannot  know  or  begin 
to  appreciate  the  larger  problems  that  confront  the  operator.  All 
of  you  have  probably  heard  retail  dealers  express  the  opinion  that 
coal  operators  generally,  and  particularly  the  anthracite  operators, 
are  animated  only  by  self-interest;  that  they  control  the  supply 
of  a  commodity  the  public  must  have,  and  as  the  retailer  had  to 
take  the  complaints  of  the  public,  they,  the  operators,  were  enitrely 
indifferent  as  to  the  quality  of  the  product  they  turned  out,  or  as  to 
how  and  when  the  public  got  it.  But  in  this  regard,  too,  there 
appears  to  be  a  tendency  in  the  right  direction.  Permit  me  to 
recall  that  last  spring  just  prior  to  the  conference  on  the  wage 
agreement,  the  anthracite  operators  took  the  public  into  their  con- 
fidence through  some  large  advertising  displays  in  the  columns  of 
the  daily  press,  and  in  one  of  these  it  gave  some  figures  showing 
what  items  entered  into  the  price  of  the  ton  of  coal  for  which 
the  consumer  paid.  It  was  an  illuminating  statement  and  one  of 
the  things  it  did  was  to  bring  out  some  indignant  protests  from 
retailers,  especially  in  Philadelphia.  The  result  was,  however,  that 
there  were  several  conferences  held  between  some  of  the  repre- 
sentative dealers  and  some  of  the  officers  of  the  operating  com- 
panies, from  which  it  developed  that  many  of  the  dealers  actually 
did  not  know  what  the  first  cost  of  the  coal  was  to  them,  what  it 
cost  them  to  handle  and  deliver  it,  and  how  much,  if  any,  profit 
they  were  making.  The  conferences  gave  them  something  to  think 
about  and  indicate  that  more  of  the  same  thing  would  be  rather 
advantageous  than  other  wise  to  both  sides.  The  operators  realize 
this  and  as  a  step  in  that  direction  have  requested  the  Bureau  of 
Information  to  keep  in  touch  with  the  retailers  as  much  as  possible 


244         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

by  having  its  director  attend  the  meetings  of  their  associations  and 
take  part  in  their  discussions.  The  desire  of  the  operators  has 
been  and  is  for  a  closer  co-operation  and  better  understanding  be- 
tween the  producers  and  the  retailers.  "  Tis  a  consummation  de- 
voutly to  be  wished,"  if  a  higher  degree  of  efficiency  and  economy 
in  the  distribution  of  coal  to  the  consumers  is  to  be  accomplished. 
There  is  no  branch  of  industry  in  which  there  is  greater  need 
of  co-operation  than  among  the  retailers  in  any  specialty — coal 
among  the  rest. 

It  has  been  said  that  it  costs  more  to  deliver  a  quart  of  milk 
in  the  city  of  New  York  than  it  does  to  get  it  from  the  cow  to  the 
city.  What  can  be  more  illustrative  of  useless  expense  than  half 
a  dozen  or  a  dozen  milk  wagons  from  as  many  different  establish- 
ments delivering  milk  in  one  city  block?  Delivery  of  coal  is  not 
exactly  akin  to  delivery  of  milk,  for  one  coal  cart  cannot  deliver 
50  or  100  tons  of  coal  as  a  milk  wagon  delivers  that  many  quarts 
of  milk,  but  there  is  just  the  same  more  waste  energy  in  the  retail- 
ing of  coal  than  in  its  mining,  preparation,  or  transportation,  or 
possibly  all  of  them  put  together. 

Why  should  a  coal  dealer  whose  yard  is  in  one  part  of  a  city 
deliver  coal  to  a  consumer  two  or  three  miles  distant  when  another 
dealer  could  reach  the  same  consumer  by  a  haul  of  as  many  blocks  ? 
The  coal  merchants  themselves  are  beginning  to  realize  this,  as  is 
evinced  by  the  discussions  which  constitute  the  larger  part  of  the 
proceedings  in  their  conventions.  There  is  a  disposition  to  get 
together  and  talk  over  matters  affecting  the  economies  of  their 
business,  to  discuss  candidly  the  problems  that  confront  them,  and 
to  try  by  co-operative  methods  to  improve  their  service  to  their 
patrons  and  incidentally  to  attempt  to  achieve  a  better  return  on 
their  investment  of  capital,  labor  and  brain. 

The  securing  of  a  higher  degree  of  co-operation  between  em- 
ployer and  employes,  or  between  capital  and  labor,  is  perhaps  a 
matter  more  difficult  of  accomplishment,  but  we  can  afford  to  be 
optimistic. 

At  the  present  time  the  periods  between  the  wage  agreements 
smack  somewhat  of  armed  truces,  with  the  terms  of  the  truce  not 
always  strictly  adhered  to,  and  with  apprehension  of  open  conflict 
at  the  termination  of  the  agreement.  But,  unsatisfactory  as  con- 
ditions may  be  as  we  have  them  now,  I  believe  they  are  better  than 
they  were  fifteen  or  twenty  or  twenty-five  years  ago,  and  that  they 
are  going  to  improve  still  further.  And  one  of  the  best  methods  of 


CO-OPERATION  AND  COMPETITION  IN  COAL  245 

securing  this  species  of  co-operation  is  to  compel  the  honest  fulfil- 
ment of  an  agreement  once  it  is  signed  and  not  to  permit  an  evasion 
on  the  part  of  either  side  because  of  a  temporary  situation  that  makes 
the  evasion  easier  or  more  profitable  than  its  enforcement.  The  heads 
of  labor  organizations  today  are  more  than  vituperative  over  the 
Danbury  hatters'  case,  but  because  of  that  case  they  are,  no  matter 
what  they  say,  more  respectful  of  the  law  and  of  the  men  who 
compelled  its  observance.  "Safety  First"  in  keeping  the  mines 
in  operation,  when  it  is  a  matter  of  principle  or  the  fulfilment  of 
an  agreement  for  which  we  should  contend,  will  not  compel  respect 
by  the  other  side.  But  if  both  sides  contend  honestly  and  strenu- 
ously for  the  strict  observance  of  their  agreements,  each  will  have 
a  higher  respect  for  the  other  and  be  more  willing  to  work  in 
9  co-operation  rather  than  in  antagonism, 

Conservation. 

As  stated  in  the  beginning,  Mr.  Callbreath  suggested  that  the 
"Conservation"  part  of  this  paper  might  be  divided,  like  Gaul,  into 
three  parts — conservation  of  life,  conservation  of  resources,  and 
conservation  of  capital.  Of  these,  of  course,  the  first  is  by  far 
the  most  important.  We  all  know  that  coal  mining  is  one  of  the 
most  hazardous  of  occupations  in  which  men  engage,  the  Gloucester 
fisheries,  railroad  train  service,  and  the  steel  mills  being  the  only 
industries  in  which  the  loss  of  life  bears  a  higher  percentage  to 
number  employed  than  does  coal  mining.  But  in  these  four  it  is 
to  the  one  with  the  lowest  percentage  that  credit  must  be  extended 
for  doing  most  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the  employes  and  to 
reduce  the  hazard  of  their  employment.  The  birth  of  first  aid  to 
the  injured  was  in  the  anthracite  region  of  Pennsylvania  and  came 
about  through  the  observance  by  the  present  president  of  the  Phila- 
delphia &  Reading  Coal  &  Iron  Company,  Mr.  W.  J.  Richards,  of 
an  accident  in  which  the  injured  man  lost  his  life  because  there  was 
no  help  at  hand  to  stop  the  flow  of  blood.  That  was  some  fifteen 
years  ago.  Last  September  the  twelfth  annual  field  day  and  first 
aid  contests  of  the  Philadelphia  &  Reading  Coal  &  Iron  Company, 
at  which  seventy-odd  teams  entered  the  competition,  was  held. 
It  was  not  long  before  other  companies  began  to  follow  the  example 
of  the  Reading,  and  now  most  of  the  companies  have  their  trained 
crews  to  render  first  aid,  and  their  annual  contests  a,re  a  feature  in 
the  late  summer  and  early  fall  months  in  the  anthracite  region.  Nor 
is  this  matter  of  saving  life  and  relieving  suffering  now  a  monopoly 
of  the  anthracite  region.  It  has  spread  all  over  the  bituminous  coal 


246         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

mining  districts,  and  even  the  railroads  and  the  steel  mills  have 
been  organizing  and  training  first  aid  corps.  So  efficient  have  these 
men  become  in  the  application  of  first  aid  that  the  chief  surgeon 
of  one  of  the  hospitals  in  the  anthracite  region  has  stated  that  many 
of  the  cases  brought  to  them,  and  which  had  received  first  aid 
treatment,  required  no  further  attention  until  it  was  necessary  to 
remove  the  bandages  to  dress  the  wounds. 

Conservation  of  life  in  the  anthracite  region  is  not  confined 
to  taking  care  of  the  injured  and  to  the  installation  of  "Safety 
First"  signs  and  accident-preventing  devices  and  rules.  It  is  also 
applied  to  looking  after  the  health  and  well-being  of  the  employes 
generally.  It  would  interest  anyone  to  take  a  trip  through  the 
region  and  observe  the  changes  that  have  taken  place  in  the  living 
and  sanitary  conditions  of  the  anthracite  mine  workers.  Villages 
that  are  not  only  model  in  name,  but  in  fact,  have  sprung  up  in 
the  last  few  years  and  there  seems  to  have  developed  a  sort  of 
competition  among  the  companies  as  to  which  can  show  the  best 
results  in  the  matter  of  housing  its  employes.  One  of  the  latest 
projects  of  this  kind  is  the  building  of  some  300  houses  by  one 
company  (150  blocks  of  two  houses  each)  which  are  not  only 
attractive  in  design  but  are  equipped  with  hot-air  furnaces,  heating 
every  room  in  the  house,  electric  lights,  shower  bath  and  toilet 
floored  with  concrete,  laundry,  hot  and  cold  water — in  fact,  all  mod- 
ern conveniences  and  as  sanitary  as  human  ingenuity  can  provide. 
All  of  these  improvements  are  not  made  as  an  investment  in  real 
estate,  but  as  an  investment  in  men,  for  the  companies  judge,  and 
wisely,  that  through  these  they  will  secure  a  better  type  of  work- 
man and  that  it  will  lead  eventually  to  that  much-desired  end — a 
spirit  of  co-operation  among  their  employes. 

In  a  paper  presented  some  years  ago  before  the  American 
Institute  of  Mining  Engineers,  I  hazarded  the  suggestion  that  the 
highest  degree  of  conservation  yet  attained  in  the  conservation  of 
our  natioural  resources  was  typified  in  the  anthracite  region,  and 
that  opinion  still  holds.  Less  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  it  was 
estimated  that  the  average  recovery  of  anthracite  was  only  40  per 
cent,  that  for  every  ton  of  coal  marketed  a  ton  and  a  half  was  lost. 
Competition  was  certainly  not  the  life  of  trade — it  was  rapidly 
exhausting  an  invaluable  resource  and  ruining  the  companies  en- 
gaged in  the  business.  Heroic  methods  were  necessary  and  they 
were  applied.  The  business  was  got  under  control,  improved  meth- 
ods of  mining  and  of  preparation  were  introduced,  and  devices  for 


CO-OPERATION  AND  COMPETITION  IN  COAL  247 

utilizing  the  small  sizes  of  coal  and  of  recovering  them  from  the 
culm  banks  were  invented,  so  that  at  the  present  time  instead  of 
40  per  cent  of  the  coal  being  sent  to  market  the  recovery  is  nearer 
70  per  cent,  and  I  cleave  strongly  to  the  opinion  that  these  im- 
provements upon  the  earlier  conditions  will  extend  the  life  of  the 
anthracite  field  100  per  cent.  To  return  to  the  conditions  of  cut- 
throat competition  as  it  existed  in  the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth 
century  would  be  little  short  of  criminal,  our  friends  in  the  Depart- 
ment of  Justice  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  Many  of  the 
bituminous  fields  have  been  until  quite  recently  in  much  the  same 
condition  as  formerly  obtained  in  the  anthracite  region,  and  when 
such  conditions  exist  it  is  not  much  use  to  preach  conservation. 
Most  of  the  bituminous  operators  are  making  money  just  now,  it 
is  true,  but  the  situation  is  abnormal,  due  to  the  European  war,  and 
there  are  many  lean  years  to  be  made  up.  With  the  end  of  the 
war  we  may  look  for  even  worse  conditions  than  those  that  pre- 
ceded the  present  prosperity. 

Much  of  our  very  best  bituminous  and  semi-bituminous  coals, 
as  well  as  anthracite,  have  been  lost  through  methods  that  must 
be  deemed  wasteful  in  the  light  of  present  knowledge,  but  which 
under  the  circumstances  could  not  be  avoided.  It  is  not  through 
reckless  competition,  but  through  properly  regulated  co-operation 
that  the  highest  possible  recovery  may  be  obtained,  waste  in  mining, 
preparation,  distribution,  and  utilization,  reduced  to  a  minimum,  the 
public  adequately  served  and  protected,  labor  receive  its  just  reward 
and  capital  a  fair  return. 

Capital,  by  the  way,  is  generally  considered  as  being  able  to 
take  care  of  itself  and  that  no  particular  provision  is  necessary  to 
conserve  its  interests.  But  capital  is  timid — nothing  more  so — and 
must  be  assured  of  a  reasonable  degree  of  safety  before  it  ventures 
into  large  undertakings.  Modern  business,  in  order  to  secure  the 
maximum  efficiency  and  minimum  waste,  requires  operations  in 
large  units,  and  large  units  require  large  investments.  Conservation 
in  mining  coal  or  any  other  mineral  resource  cannot  be  successfully 
accomplished  unless  due  consideration  is  given  to  the  conservation 
of  the  capital  invested.  In  a  previous  paper  presented  before  this 
Congress,1  I  called  attention  to  the  meager  returns  on  the  capital 
invested  in  coal  mining  as  shown  by  the  report  of  the  United 
States  census.  This  report  showed  that  in  six  states  the  ^expense 


1  Philadephia  meeting,  October,  1913. 


248         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

involved  in  the  production  of  bituminous  coal  exceeded  the  revenue 
derived  from  it,  and  that  the  average  return  for  the  entire  country 
on  the  capital  invested  in  bituminous  coal  mines  was  only  2.5  per 
cent.  Such  an  exhibit  is  not  encouraging  to  the  investment  of  fur- 
ther capital,  nor  is  it  helpful  to  the  cause  of  conservation  of  life 
and  resources. 

The  present  railroad  situation  is  illuminating.  With  the  bank- 
ing institutions  overflowing,  railroad  building  is  at  a  lower  ebb  than 
at  any  time  since  the  Civil  War  and  fewer  orders  for  cars  have 
been  placed  this  year  than  for  a  long  time.  Part  of  this  may  be 
due,  of  course,  to  the  high  prices  of  all  steel  products  now  obtain- 
ing, but  it  is  also  true  that  capital  is  not  encouraged  to  invest  in  an 
industry  that  is  the  constant  subject  of  antagonistic  legislation  and 
of  governmenal  attack  through  the  courts.  No  objection  can  be 
raised  to  a  reasonable  amount  of  governmental  supervision  and 
regulation,  in  order  that  abuses  may  not  arise,  but  if  the  other 
desirable  forms  of  conservation  are  to  be  effected,  capital  must  be 
given  fair  consideration. 

Fortunately,  a  new  standard  of  business  ethics  is  now  in  force. 
It  is  a  standard  that  denies  to  larger  enterprises  any  right  to  ad- 
vance prices  merely  because  of  a  temporary  demand  over  the  avail- 
able supply,  and  condemns  an  exaction  of  profits  not  commensurate 
with  the  capital  invested,  but  it  recognizes  the  right  to  a  fair  profit 
at  all  times,  and  the  right  of  capital  to  demand  it. 

Competition. 

Competition,  if  it  is  to  be  the  life  of  trade,  must  be  competition 
that  constructs  and  not  that  which  destroys.  Price  cutting  to  secure 
an  order  and  thus  to  injure  the  business  of  a  competitor  is  not 
according  to  a  high  standard  of  business  ethics.  It  is  injurious  to 
the  trade  as  a  whole. 

Other  kinds  of  competition,  such  as  the  unfair  condemnation 
of  a  rival's  goods,  or  of  his  manner  of  doing  business  are  just  as 
reprehensible,  but  competition  of  service  works  for  the  good  of  all 
concerned.  Competition  of  service  consists  in  maintaining  the 
standard  of  your  product,  in  seeing  that  your  customers  are  sup- 
plied with  your  goods  when  and  how  they  want  them — not  when 
and  how  you  want  to  deliver  them — in  the  pleasing  personality  of 
your  salesmen  (for  a  salesman  is  frequently  the  cause  of  making 
or  breaking  with  a  customer),  in  fact,  in  keeping  your  customers 
satisfied.  The  average  buyer  would  rather  do  business  with  a 


CO-OPERATION  AND  COMPETITION  IN  COAL          249 

concern  from  which  he  gets  satisfactory  treatment  than  to  save  a 
few  pennies  or  even  dollars  at  the  expense  of  his  temper.  The 
rivalry  among  anthracite  operators  (for  it  is  a  rivalry)  in  the  secur- 
ing of  better  living  conditions  for  their  employes,  to  which  I  have 
already  referred,  is  a  competition  of  service.  Its  object,  as  I  have 
stated,  is  through  the  improved  living  conditions  to  develop  a  bet- 
ter grade  of  workmen,  who  by  rendering  better  service  to  their 
employers,  will  enable  the  latter  to  render  better  service  to  the 
public. 


COAL   FREIGHT   RATES— RELATIVITY    AND 
UNIFORMITY. 

Address  Delivered  by  R.  W.  Ropiquet,  of  East  St.  Louis,  111.,  at 

Nineteenth  Annual  Convention  of  American  Mining 

Engineers,  Tuesday,  November  14. 


The  same  reasons  that  call  for  uniformity  in  mining  legisla- 
tion, with  greater  force  cry  for  an  equality  in  the  relationship  of 
the  coal  freight  rate  adjustments  between  the  various  competing 
fields. 

Into  the  web  and  woof  of  its  competitive  industrial  garment 
three  basic  strands  are  interwoven;  omit  or  weaken  either  of  these 
and  the  garment  is  "shoddyized."  These  three  are  wage-scale, 
legislative  regulations  and  freight  rate  adjustments,  and  the  latter 
is  not  the  least  of  these. 

The  necessity  for  the  adjustment  of  each  and  all  of  these  upon 
bases  of  uniformity  and  relativity  is  too  obvious  to  require  argu- 
ment. The  competitive  inter-relationship  of  the  coal  fields  is  such 
that  the  weakening  of  any  of  these  elements  in  any  field  may  com- 
pletely destroy  the  potential  competitive  ability  of  that  field. 

"An  unjust  balance  is  an  abomination  unto  the  Lord" ;  and 
likewise  unto  men.  The  iniquity  thereof  evoked  the  legislative 
enactment  of  the  late  Federal  Trades  Commission,  as  it  did  that 
of  the  earlier  Interstate  Commerce  Act. 

Wage  Scale  Adjustment. 

In  the  adjustments  of  the  wage  scale,  the  coal  industry  has 
recognized  the  principles  of  relativity  as  witnessed  by  the  interstate 
conferences  and  the  wage  scales  resulting  directly  and  indirectly 
therefrom. 

The  results,  though  not  commensurate  with  what  might  prop- 
erly be  expected  therefrom,  still  evidence  the  desirability  of  the 
principles  involved.  The  extension  of  their  application  so  as  to 
include  all  the  inter-related  fields,  with  consequent  arbitration  of 
matters  upon  which  no  agreement'  can  be  reached,  would  largely 
overcome  the  failure  of  results  properly  anticipated  and  now  pre- 


COAL  FREIGHT  RATES  251 

vented  by  the  selfishness  inherent  in  human  nature,  the  basis  of 
self-preservation,  magnified  in  the  coal  industry,  because  of  the 
continuous  "struggle  for  existence"  to  which  this  is  peculiarly  sub- 
jetted  ;  and  the  results  would  more  nearly  approximate  the  ideal. 

Legislative  Regulation. 

The  propriety  of  legislative  regulation  tending  toward  the 
conservation  of  life  and  of  the  natural  resources  that  form  the  basis 
of  the  coal  industry  is  admitted  by  all ;  even  though  it  is  evident 
that  legislation  is  not  the  panacea  for  all  of  the  ills  that  infest  the 
industrial  life. 

A  straight  jacket,  proper  and  necessary  for  the  mentally  defi- 
cient and  insane,  can  scarcely  be  commended  as  a  vesture  for  the 
normally-minded. 

The  pendulum  now  swinging  toward  complete  governmental 
"commissionization"  and  supervision  must  not  be  permitted  to  con- 
tinue its  swing  until  the  initiative,  individuality  and  personality  that 
forms  the  vital  force  of  our  business  life  be  submerged  and 
destroyed. 

The  cry,  "Old  things  have  passed  away,  behold  all  things  have 
become  new,"  is  not  modern.  The  peculiar  psychology  that  sees  in 
"newness"  the  supremacy  of  wisdom  often,  however,  presents  as 
"newness"  theories,  the  fallacies  of  which  have  long  been  exploded, 
as  witnessed  by  the  attempt  to  enshrine  in  our  national  laws  the 
principles  of  fixing  wages  by  legislation,  simply  a  recrudescence  of 
long-discarded  economic  principles  rife  in  the  England  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages. 

Essential  as  is  this  mining  legislative  regulation,  it  is  often- 
times retarded  and  defeated  because  of  the  lack  of  uniformity 
thereof;  for  where  enacted  under  present  conditions,  it  is  apt  to, 
and  does,  bear  unduly  upon  one  field  competitive  with  other  fields. 

The  industry  is  national  in  its  competitive  scope;  the  regula- 
tive legislation,  local  or  by  states,  and  the  result  necessarily  follow- 
ing, relative  unfairness  which  does  much  to  hamper  the  effective 
working  of  relative  wage-scale  adjustments. 

The  dual  nature  of  our  Government,  apparently,  prevents  or 
hinders  the  proper  and  effectual  remedying  of  the  situation,  unless 
perchance  the  principles  applied  by  the  courts  to  the  "Federal  Em- 
ployes' Liability  Act"  in  connection  with  those  upon  which  the 
late  national  "Child's  Employment  Act"  was  based,  be  extended  to 
the  coal  industry ;  as  they  both  might  well  be,  because  of  the  inter- 
state character  of  the  coal  traffic. 


252         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

But  irrespective  of  this,  under  the  present  conditions,  uni- 
formity .and  relative  fairness  of  this  legislation  must  be  procured  if 
the  industry  is  to  be  fairly  competitive. 

The  necessity  for  this  has  already  been  fully  emphasized  at 
the  conference  and  the  consideration  is  perhaps  not  properly  within 
the  scope  of  our  presentation.  This  legislative  situation  is,  how- 
ever, so  closely  akin  to  that  in  reference  to  the  freight  rate  adjust- 
ment, that  for  comparative  purposes  at  least  it  may  not  be  amiss 
for  us  to  dwell  upon  this  phase  a  little. 

It  would  seem  to  the  speaker  that  the  adoption  by  all  of  the 
coal-producing  states  of  the  principles  underlying,  for  example,  the 
Mining  Investigation  Commission  Act  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  with 
its  representation  of  operators,  miners  and  the  public,  followed  by 
a  Joint  Legislative  Investigation  Commission  composed  of  members 
or  representatives  of  these  State  commissions,  the  latter  commission 
to  consider  and  formulate  uniform,  remedial  and  regulatory  mining 
legislation  for  recommendation  to  the  various  State  legislatures, 
might,  perhaps,  meet  the  exigencies  of  the  situation. 

There  would  thus  be  presented  the  opportunity  for  the  win- 
nowing of  the  wheat  from  the  chaff,  and  the  adoption  of  real  regu- 
lative legislation  upon  advanced  lines  without  passion  or  undue 
political  pressure,  and  upon  the  basis  of  true  relative  uniformity; 
which  latter  cannot  be  secured  under  the  present  modus  operandi. 

The  Freight  Rate  Situation. 

The  principles  thus  suggested  for  application  to  the  legislative 
situations  will  also  apply  very  largely  to  the  freight  rate  situation. 
The  adjustment  of  the  coal  rates  upon  basic  principles  of  uniform- 
ity and  relativity  can  only  be  secured  by  the  co-operation  of  the 
inter-related  coal  fields  and  the  operators  therein. 

Legally,  it  is  not  the  function  of  commissions  to  equalize  com- 
mercial or  economic  conditions ;  although  in  the  presentation  of 
the  various  complaints  relative  to  the  adjustment  of  the  coal  freight 
rates,  the  questions  of  wage  scale  and  other  relative  conditions  are 
ofttimes  injected  and  may  have  some  weight  in  the  final  decision. 

The  importance  of  these  freight  rate  adjustments  upon  the 
industry,  actually  and  relatively,  seems  not  to  be  realized  by  the 
same,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  attention,  or  lack  thereof,  paid  to 
the  same ;  and  this  notwithstanding  that  of  the  average  delivered 
cost  of  the  products  of  the  industry  the  freight  rates  will  likely 
exceed  the  cost  resulting  from  wage  scales  and  legislative  regula- 
tions. 


COAL  FREIGHT  RATES  253 

This  statement  is  made  by  us  with  full  recognition  of  the  fact 
that  innumerable  complaints  involving  the  relative  freight  rates 
between  the  different  coal  fields  have  been  presented  to  the  various 
commissions. 

But  an  examination  of  these  will  reveal  that  they  were  but 
fragmentic,  without  regard  to  the  larger  conditions  that  confront 
the  industry  as  a  whole,  and  chiefly  evoked  by  the  attempt  of  one 
set  of  operators  to  secure  a  competitive  advantage  or  to  prevent 
others  from  securing  such  an  advantage. 

Apparently,  the  only  result  of  most  of  these  internecine  con- 
flicts, while  actually  changing  the  relative  situation  but  little,  due 
largely  to  the  resultant  divisions  among  operators,  has  been  to  fur- 
nish the  carriers  the  opportunity  of  unduly  increasing  the  coal 
freight  rates,  especially  relative  to  rates  on  other  traffic. 

But  little  special  attention  has  been  devoted  by  the  industry  to 
the  study  and  application  of  foundation  principles  that  must  underlie 
the  permanent  and  successful  relative  adjustment  of  these  coal 
rates,  so  as  to  permit  and  encourage  the  fair  and  relative  growth 
and  development  of  the  industry  as  a  whole,  upon  foundations  of 
stability  and  permanency,  and  of  real  business  principles. 

The  difficulties  confronting  such  an  adjustment  but  emphasized 
the  need  of  a  more  careful  systematic  and  unpartisan  study  thereof. 
The  present  coal  rates  are  largely  a  legacy  of  a  barbaric  age  of  rail- 
roading, based  upon  unbridled  and  unprincipled  competition  be- 
tween carriers,  under  a  distorted  idea,  and  application  of  "what 
the  traffic  will  bear." 

Considered  from  an  economic  standpoint,  the  adjustments  re- 
sulting therefrom  have  proven  a  distinctive  crime  against  the  indus- 
try as  a  whole,  to  which  much  of  the  depressed  condition  of  the 
same  can  be  traced. 

Thus  the  opening  and  development  under  the  fostering  influ- 
ence of  carriers  through  favored  or  special  freight  rates  regardless 
of  the  actual  or  relative  cost  of  transportation,  of  new  coal  fields 
long  before  the  condition  of  other  existing  coal  fields  already  fully 
developed  rendered  the  opening  of  these  new  fields  advisable  is 
the  one  outstanding  economic  crime  against  the  industry. 

There  followed  not  only  the  application  of  wrong  principles 
to  these  adjustments,  which  have  since  proven  obstacles  to  the 
proper  adjustments  of  the  relative  situations,  but  the  potential  over- 
productive  capacity  of  the  coal  industry  and  of  carrier  competition, 
from  which,  for  the  industry,  there  "sprang  death  into  this  world 
and  all  its  woe." 


254         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

Incidental  to  this,  and  with  an  important  bearing  upon  this 
situation,  is  the  over-development,  again  by  preferential  rates,  of 
the  large  civic  and  industrial  centers,  maelstroms  of  civic,  economic 
and  political  degeneration,  these  at  great  distances  from  the  coal 
fields;  with  the  consequent  destruction  of  the  home  markets  and 
the  resultant  economic  waste  of  transportation  and  the  increased 
cost  thereof,  due  thereto.  This  has  served  materially  to  muddy 
the  waters  and  to  render  more  difficult  the  proper  solution  of  the 
situation. 

Relatively  unjust  freight  rate  adjustments  necessarily  followed, 
the  sole  basis  of  the  rates  being,  apparently,  the  attraction,  rela- 
tively, of  the  different  fields  for  the  various  carriers,  who,  to  secure 
longer  hauls,  made  comparatively  much  lower  rates  therefor,  disre- 
garding the  basic  principles  of  transportation. 

Such  adjustments  magnified  by  the  imagination  of  competing 
operators  produced  a  condition  of  irritability  and  of  pugnacity 
between  the  different  fields,  resulting  in  each  attempting  to  secure 
through  freight  rate  adjustments  competitive  advantages  over  the 
other. 

As  a  result,  the  energies  and  intelligence  of  the  industry,  in- 
stead of  being  devoted  to  securing  a  solution  that  would  produce 
proper  competitive  equalization  of  freight  rates  between  these  com- 
petitively inter-related  fields,  was  dissipated  because  concentrated 
on  the  lesser  litigation  resulting. 

The  effect  is  much  akin  to  that  referred  to  in  reference  to  the 
legislative  regulation  situation;  uniformity  based  upon  true  rela- 
tivity is  as  necessary  in  one  field  of  endeavor  as  it  is  in  the  other. 
In  freight  rates  it  does  not  now  exist ;  neither  can  it  be  secured  by 
the  immediate  application  of  real  principles  of  transportation  to 
the  present  situation.  For  in  this  we  are  today,  in  the  words  of 
Grover  Cleveland,  "confronted  by  a  condition  and  not  a  theory." 

Under  long  existing  relative  rate  adjustments,  investments  have 
been  made  and  the  business  has  been  so  established  that  the  imme- 
diate application  of  true  principles  of  transportation  thereto,  and 
the  readjustment  of  coal  rates  in  conformity  therewith,  would 
simply  result  in  "confusion  worse  confounded,"  and  produce  con- 
ditions so  chaotic  as  to  practically  be  destructive  of  the  industry 
in  many  cases. 

But  this  should  not  prevent,  but  really  makes  the  more  neces- 
sary, the  intensive  investigation  and  consideration  of  the  problems 
involved,  for  a  final  adjustment  upon  basis  of  uniformity  and  rela- 


COAL  FREIGHT  RATES  255 

tivity  more  nearly  in  accord  with  the  proper  legal  principles  than 
that  which  now  exists. 

Such  an  adjustment  is  nearer  than  is  generally  supposed,  as  is 
evidenced  by  the  trend  of  the  later  decisions  of  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission. 

The  remedy  to  be  applied  must  be  upon  the  basis  of  evolution 
and  not  revolution.  The  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  has  said 
that  "the  future  may  compel  greater  recognition  of  distance  in  the 
making  of  many  rates,  but  the  present  business  structure  was  not 
developed  on  that  principle,  and  if  a  change  is  to  be  made,  it  must 
be  a  gradual  one." 

In  some  of  the  recent  coal  cases,  for  example,  that  involving 
rates  in  the  southern  Mississippi  valley,  the  principle  of  distance 
was  emphasized  and  applied  by  the  commission  to  quite  an  extent, 
notwithstanding  the  resultant  disturbance  and  disruption  of  long 
existing  rate  adjustments  followed  necessarily  .by  the  greatly  re- 
stricted competitive  ability  of  some  of  the  fields  involved. 

It  therefore  behooves  the  operators  themselves  to  carefully 
consider  the  situation  with  the  end  in  view  of  protecting  the  indus- 
try as  much  as  possible  from  the  chaotic  conditions  that  will  follow 
the  application  of  more  strictly  rate  adjustment  principles  to  the 
coal  rate  adjustments. 

For  the  removal  of  the  existing  evils,  and  the  relative  readjust- 
ment of  the  whole  coal  rate  situation  upon  basis  of  fairness  and 
equality,  which,  while  guided  by  the  legal  principles  applicable  to 
transportation,  will  not  overlook  the  necessarily  competitive  rela- 
tivity of  the  coal  fields — depends  not  altogether,  and  perhaps  not 
so  much  upon  the  action  of  rate  regulating  bodies  as  it  does  upon 
the  joint  and  non-partisan,  or  inter-partisan,  if  you  will,  investiga- 
tion and  action  of  the  members  of  the  industry  themselves. 

For  while  the  theory  of  equalizing  advantages  by  means  of 
freight  rate  adjustments  has  appealed  to  economists  who  have  stud- 
died  the  situation  from  the  view  point  of  the  interests  of  society, 
the  limitation  placed  thereupon  by  the  law  really  prevents  the  appli- 
cation of  this  theory  to  the  making  of  rates. 

The  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  has  frequently  held  that 
it  is  not  within  its  function  to  equalize  competitive  conditions  from 
commercial  standpoints ;  that  carriers  are  under  no  duty  to  equalize 
such  rates,  and  shippers  have  no  right  to  demand  the  same ;  that 
no  order  can  be  issued  to  overcome  advantages  by  making  differ- 
ential rates  to  equalize  advantages  or  disadvantages  of  location, 'cost 
of  production  and  the  manv  other  incidents  that  enter  into  economic 


256         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

and  commercial  conditions,  as  distinguished  from  those  of  trans- 
portation, and  seriously  affect  shippers  competitively. 

While  carriers  cannot  be  compelled  to  thus  equalize  rates,  they 
may  voluntarily  do  things  which  they  may  not  lawfully  be  com- 
pelled to  do,  and  may  make  rates  to  move  the  traffic  so  that  they 
may  participate  in  the  business.  But  as  stated  by  the  Commission, 
this  is  a  different  matter  from  compelling  them  to  adjust  their  rates, 
to  equalize  competition  between  shippers  of  different  fields  of 
supply,  and  by  different  and  unrelated  routes. 

Provided  carriers  are  not  guilty  of  undue  and  unjust  discrim- 
ination, they  have  a  wide  latitude  of  discretion  in  the  adjustment 
of  the  rates;  and  this  adjustment  between  inter-related  fields  based 
upon  real  competitive  situations  and  conditions  can  therefore  never 
be  secured  by  the  sporadic  attempts  of  various  sections  to  force 
carriers  to  meet  them  by  rate  adjustments.  The  real  remedy  lies 
in  the  hands  of  the  operators  themselves :  United  and  harmonious 
co-operation  with  carriers  acting  under  their  "permissive  powers." 

The  operators  have  awakened  to  the  realization  of  the  fact  that 
unbridled  competition  in  the  disposition  of  their  product  spells 
bankruptcy  to  the  industry ;  and  this  applies  as  truly  to  freight  rates 
and  their  adjustments. 

Keeping  in  view  the  fact  that  readjustments  upon  principles 
more  nearly  in  line  with  legal  principles  applicable  to  transportation 
is  rapidly  approaching;  that  there  is  a  large  limit  of  action  which 
the  carriers  may  voluntarily  but  cannot  be  compelled  to  take;  that 
adjustments  by  the  carriers  upon  economic  rather  than  transporta- 
tion conditions  may  be  upheld  by  commissions,  but  that  such  volun- 
tary adjustments  are  subject  to  disturbances  under  complaints  of 
discrimination. 

And  keeping  further  in  mind  that  the  coal  industry  itself  has 
been  built  up  and  to  some  extent,  at  least,  must  be  maintained  by 
rate  adjustments  predicated  upon  competitive  economic  and  com- 
mercial conditions,  as  well  as  upon  transportation  principles,  it  is 
evident  that  the  time  is  ripe  for  and  that  the  occasion  demands  an 
united,  intelligent  effort  on  the  part  of  coal  operators  as  a  whole 
to  secure  an  adjustment  of  the  whole  inter-related  situation  upon 
basis  of  agreements  and  not  of  strife. 

Some  Suggestions. 

For  this  reason  we  would  suggest  an  organization  somewhat 
similar  to  that  suggested  for  the  adjustment  of  the  mining  legis- 
lation questions: 


COAL  FREIGHT  RATES  257 

Let  each  of  the  competing  fields,  considered  from  the  stand- 
point of  larger  units,  form  its  own  organization  which  shall  adjust 
upon  a  fair  and  equitable  basis,  so  far  as  possible,  the  smaller  minor 
local  differences,  and  represent  this  field  in  all  traffic  matters  and 
in  the  larger  joint  body. 

Let  these  representatives  of  the  smaller  organizations  form 
such  a  joint  body  representing  the  whole  competitive  industry, 
which  latter  shall  consider  the  rate  adjustments  as  between  the 
larger  units,  and  represent  the  industry  in  traffic  matters  affecting 
the  coal  interests  generally. 

Both  of  these  bodies  might  gradually  secure  from  the  carriers 
under  the  permissive  power  of  the  latter  adjustments  between  the 
competitive  fields  which,  while  more  nearly  approximating  true 
principles  of  transportation,  do  not  ignore  the  competitive  relativity 
of  the  inter-related  fields;  this  latter  to  be  considered  not  so  much 
from  the  viewpoint  of  the  naturally  selfish  desires  of  the  individual 
field,  but  rather  with  a  wider  vision  and  consideration  of  the  inter- 
ests of  the  industries  in  the  inter-related  fields  as  a  whole. 

Only  when  no  adjustments  could  be  secured  through  either  of 
these  bodies,  and  in  case  of  the  smaller  body,  until  the  matter  has 
been  passed  upon  by  the  larger  body  should  recourse  be  had  to  the 
regulating  commissions.  This  latter  would  be  rather  in  the  nature 
of  an  arbitration;  for  the  facts  upon  which  the  adjustment  was 
desired  could  readily  be  agreed  upon,  or  would  be  within  the  knowl- 
edge of  all  of  the  parties  concerned  and  be,  therefore,  readily 
accessible  to  all. 

In  connection  with  these  bodies  and  their  activities  there  would 
naturally  follow  the  gathering  and  compilation  of  statistics  having 
bearing  upon  the  transportation  problems  involved ;  and  thus  there 
would  be  supplied  the  opportunity  of  readily  securing  the  eviden- 
tiary material  necessary  for  the-  proper  presentation  of  the  cause  of 
the  coal  operators  in  conflicts  that  might  arise  with  the  carriers  in 
reference  to  rates. 

The  weakness,  under  present  conditions,  in  this  respect  has 
been  apparent  in  most  of  the  rate  cases,  wherein  the  solid  massed 
front  of  the  carriers  was  met  by  a  divided  and  but  partially  equipped 
band  of  operators  dependent,  to  a  large  extent,  upon  statistics  com- 
piled by  the  carriers  for  their  own  use. 

The  natural  result  would  be  to  unify  the  industry  as  against 
the  unified  carriers,  the  necessity  for  which  is  certainly  obvious. 
For  in  this  matter  of  freight  rate  adjustment,  as  ofttimes  .in  that 


258         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

in  reference  to  the  wage  scale,  the  coal  operators  have  sadly  learned 
the  truth  of  the  saying  "divided  we  fall."  It  is  time  they  realized 
the  truth  of  "united  we  stand." 

Underlying  Principles. 

As  some  of  the  principles  or  theories  to  be  applied  to  these 
adjustments,  permit  us  to  suggest  the  following : 

First:  The  readjustment,  gradually,  of  these  coal  rates  as  be- 
tween the  home  markets,  or  those  nearest  the  coal  fields,  and  the 
more  distant  markets,  so  as  to  give  these  home  markets  the  benefit 
of  their  location,  and  to  overcome  the  discrimination  that  now  rela- 
tively exists  against  them ;  and  to  foster  and  develop  the  home-con- 
sumptive territory  instead  of  the  more  distant  exaggerated  and  civ- 
ically  dangerous  industrial  communities,  lessening  the  economic 
waste  attendant  upon  the  longer  transportation  under  existing  con- 
ditions, and  increasing  the  use  of  equipment. 

Second :  The  application  of  rates  so  as  to  primarily  reserve  for 
each  field  its  natural  and  tributary  markets,  so  as  to  avoid  as  far 
as  possible  the  undue  competition  existing  therein,  resulting  from 
the  present  rate  adjustments,  and  which  has  heretofore  served 
chiefly  as  a  producer  of  losses  to  all  of  the  operators  engaged 
therein  and  a  profit  to  none. 

Third:  The  adjustment  of  the  freight  rates  so  that  the  surplus 
coal  of  all  of  these  various  fields,  by  which  we  mean  that  which  is 
over  and  above  that  consumed  in  the  naturally  immediate  markets, 
might  compete  upon  some  basis  of  relative  fairness,  both  from 
transportation  and  economic  standpoints,  in  the  larger  consuming 
markets  more  distant  from  the  coal  fields,  and  common  to  them  all ; 
remembering  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  expense  of  a  railway 
is  independent  of  the  amount  of  the  traffic  and  quite  a  percentage 
of  the  cost  of  transportation  is  irrespective  of  distance;  and  also 
keeping  in  mind  the  fact  that  the  economic  inequalities  and  disad- 
vantages, relatively,  must  in  the  end  be  met  by  the  operators  by 
adjustments  other  than  those  of  freight  rates. 

In  addition  to  this,  we  would  suggest  the  nationalization  of 
the  coal  equipment,  with  a  supply  to  reasonably  meet  the  demands 
of  all  of  the  consuming  markets  as  a  whole;  this  equipment  to  be 
distributed  amongst  the  various  inter-related  fields  and  the  oper- 
ators thereof,  under  some  principle  of  distribution  similar  to  that 
applied  on  individual  lines  in  case  of  car  shortage;  so  as  to  give 
to  each  of  the  fields  and  these  operators  a  relatively  fair  proportion 
of  the  equipment,  when  and  as  the  needs  arose,  and  to  prevent  the 


COAL  FREIGHT  RATES  259 

economic  waste  resulting  from  the  present  system,  which  in  ordi- 
nary times  requires  an  equipment  larger  than  the  demands  would 
be  if  it  were  properly  distributed  in  accordance  with  business  needs, 
with  a  surplus  of  idle  cars  in  one  field  and  a  shortage  in  the  other ; 
there  lacking  what  is  termed  in  financial  circles  "fluidity." 

In  other  words,  we  would  suggest,  if  you  will  permit  the  illus- 
tration, the  application  to  the  subject  matter  of  coal  equipment  and 
its  distribution  of  principles  somewhat  similar  to  those  applied  under 
the  National  Reserve  Banking  Act  to  the  financial  situation. 

With  an  equipment  thus  commensurate  with  the  real  market 
demands,  and  no  greater,  fairly  and  equitably  distributed  amongst 
the  various  fields  and  the  shippers  therein,  in  accordance  with  their 
productive  capacity,  the  level  of  the  production  would  be  so  main- 
tained that  there  would  be  no  temptation  on  the  part  of  the  oper- 
ator who  had  the  advantage  of  location  and  consequent  freight 
rates  to  dissipate  this  advantage  in  an  attempt  to  meet  or  destroy 
the  competition  of  the  other  fellow. 

This  benefit  of  location  and  rate  advantage  would  simply  prove 
a  source  of  profit  to  the  operator,  and  there  would  be  no  incentive 
on  his  part  to  sell  his  coal  at  prices  less  than  those  needed  by  his 
competitor,  since  under  the  car  distribution  thus  limited  his  ability 
to  supply  the  market  with  coal  would  also  be  limited. 

The  unbusinesslike  and  unmoral  sale  of  coal  below  the  cost  of 
production,  or  without  a  profit  in  such  cases,  could  only  be  attribu- 
table to  the  lack  of  mental  balance  or  innate  depravity  of  the  of- 
fender, the  remedy  for  which,  while  obvious,  cannot  be  suggested 
here. 

The  present  situation,  exaggerated  though  it  may  be  because 
of  present  conditions,  is  illustrative  of  a  fair  return  to  the  coal 
industry  for  its  products  based  largely  upon  the  knowledge  of  an 
equipment  not  greater  than  that  which  will  meet  the  demands  of 
the  consumers  as  a  whole. 

We  have  thus  briefly  sketched  some  of  the  ideas  that  have 
forced  themselves  upon  us  as  we  have  studied  this  situation  from 
the  view  point  of  an  operator,  and  in  connection  with  litigation. 

We  offer  them,  not  as  a  panacea,  but  rather  with  a  hope  of 
stirring  up  the  industry  to  the  possibility  of  securing  a  greater 
degree  of  uniformity  and  relativity  in  the  rate  situation,  and  the 
removal  of  the  present  "irritability,"  with  the  consequent  unification 
of  the  industry  and  the  destruction  of  the  competitive  pettiness  that 
does  so  much  to  destroy  the  efficiency  thereof. 


260         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

For  whether  these  suggestions  in  themselves  have  any  merit 
or  not,  and  irrespective  of  their  feasibility,  we  are  firmly  convinced 
that  should  the  coal  operators  apply  the  same  energy  to  the  consid- 
eration of  this  rate  situation  which  they  do  to  the  wage  scale  adjust- 
ment, and  will  organize  for  the  purpose  of  securing  a  more  rela- 
tively fair  rate  adjustment,  a  solution  will  be  reached. 

The  stability  of  the  coal  industry  will  thereby  be  enhanced. 
The  economic  waste,  both  in  the  industry  and  the  transportation  as 
it  now  exists,  will  be  lessened;  senseless  competition  minimized, 
and  the  energies  and  ability  so  ofttimes  wasted  in  the  internecine 
struggles  can  be  centralized  and  focalized  against  the  conditions 
and  forces  that  oppose  the  welfare  of  the  industry.  Instead  of  divi- 
sion in  the  face  of  the  enemy,  there  would  be  unity;  and  trite 
though  the  saying  may  be  ain  unity  there  is  strength." 

For  if  the  coal  industry  is  ever  to  have  a  freight  rate  adjust- 
ment based  upon  any  fair  and  reasonable  degree  of  uniformity  and 
relativity,  it  must  in  this  respect,  as  in  others,  have  a  broader  vision, 
less  of  petty  division,  and  more  co-ordination  and  union  of  efforts, 
less  of  passion,  and  more  of  reason,  less  dependence  upon  fortuitous 
chance  and  more  upon  the  principles  of  true  business. 

Then  in  the  words  of  one  of  old,  slightly  adapted,  "forgetting 
the  things  which  are  behind  and  reaching  forth  unto  the  things 
which  are  before,"  the  coal  industry  may  unitedly  "press  forward 
toward  the  mark  of  the  prize  of  its  high  calling:" 

THE  GREATEST  INDUSTRY  IN  THE  LAND. 


REPORT  OF  FORESTRY  RELATIONS  COMMITTEE. 


Presented  to  American  Mining  Congress,  Thursday, 
November  16,  1916. 

Mr.  Carl  Scholz,  President, 
American  Mining  Congress, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

Your  Committee  on  Forestry  Relations  begs  to  submit  the 
following  report  of  its  activities  to  October  i,  1916. 

Owing  to  the  inability  of  Judge  E.  A.  Colburn,  of  Denver,  to 
serve  on  this  Committee,  the  membership  was  too  widely  distributed 
to  make  a  meeting  practicable.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  say,  however, 
that  this  did  not  lessen  in  any  degree  the  work  or  activity  of  the 
members  and  it  is  felt  that  considerable  work  of  a  worth-while 
character  was  accomplished,  and  it  is  expected  that  a  better  and 
more  satisfactory  relation  has  been  established  between  the  pros- 
pector and  the  Forestry  Service. 

Your  Committee  wishes  also  to  express  its  appreciation  of  the 
courtesy  and  sincere  efforts  of  the  Forestry  Service  officials,  par- 
ticularly of  the  Pike  National  Forest  officers  in  Denver.  Their 
kindness  in  officially  approving  the  matter  sent  to  the  prospectors 
no  doubt  went  a  long  way  toward  accomplishing  the  end  intended. 

The  preliminary  work  of  the  Committee  was  covered  by  the 
sending  out  of  the  following  matter  to  several  of  the  leading  mining 
journals,  all  of  whom  very  kindly  published  it: 

"With  a  very  optimistic  feeling  in  the  mining  industry,  with 
the  price  of  all  the  metals  at  a  high  stage  and  a  better  appreciation 
of  the  industry  by  the  investing  public,  it  is  reasonable  to  expect 
that  during  the  coming  season  there  will  be  a  marked  revival  in 
prospecting.  In  some  quarters  at  least  there  is  a  misapprehension 
of  the  rules  regarding  prospecting  on  Forest  Reserves  and  it  may 
be  stated  almost  as  a  general  situation  that  the  attitude  of  the  Forest 
Service  is  not  well  understood  by  the  majority  of  people  who  are 
interested. 


262         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

"Broadly  speaking,  the  same  condition  holds  for  prospecting 
on  the  forest  reserves  as  on  any  public  land,  but  rules  are  laid 
down  by  the  Forest  Service  for  the  preservation  of  timber  and  as 
regards  fires  and  such  like  and  these  must  be  observed  as  well  by 
the  prospector  as  by  any  casual  visitor. 

"This  is  the  only  limitation  which  is  imposed  and  the  Commit- 
tee on  Forestry  Relations  of  the  American  Mining  Congress  is  en- 
deavoring to  render  a  service  in  making  the  situation  plain  to  the 
prospector  and  in  case  of  any  difficulty  with  the  local  forest  offi- 
cials to  do  everything  it  can  in  adjusting  them. 

"The  prime  object  of  this  work  is,  of  course,  to  foster  the  min- 
ing industry  by  furnishing  to  prospectors  information  regarding 
the  rules  of  the  Forest  Service  and  to  make  this  as  definite  and 
conclusive  as  possible;  to  try  and  adjust  .differences  which  have 
already  arisen  by  taking  up  the  case  with  the  headquarters  in  Den- 
ver and  if  necessary  with  the  Chief  Forester  in  Washington. 

"This  Committee  will  not  do  any  legal  work  but  will  use  every 
consistent  endeavor  to  carry  out  the  work  outlined  upon  receipt  of 
a  statement  of  the  facts  of  the  case  which,  it  should  always  be 
remembered,  will  have  to  meet  a  similar  statement  made  by  the  local 
forest  official. 

"It  would  appear  to  the  Committee  that  its  best  results  can  be 
reached  by  furnishing  information  in  advance  of  any  work,  so  that 
the  parties  going  on  a  reserve  may  be  fully  informed  of  what  they 
may  or  may  not  do.  It  would,  therefore,  urge  intending  prospectors 
to  take  up  the  question  at  as  early  a  date  as  possible  and  inform 
themselves  fully  so  that  there  may  be  no  difficulties  or  misunder- 
standings regarding  their  rights. 

"Please  bear  in  mind  that  the  Forest  Service  has  headquarters 
in  Denver,  making  it  very  convenient  to  get  definite  and  conclusive 
information  as  the  Committee  headquarters  is  likewise  there. 

"It  is  hoped  that  this  information  will  be  generally  passed  along 
as  it  is  obviously  impossible  to  reach  the  individual. 

"FORESTRY  RELATIONS  COMMITTEE, 
"THE  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS. 
"Carney  Hartley,  Chairman. 
"316  Colorado  Building,  Denver,  Colorado." 

The  idea  of  sending  this  matter  to  mining  magazines  was  to 
bring  it  to  the  attention  of  operators  and  local  publications,  with 
the  hope  that  in  this  way  it  would  get  generally  distributed  in  the 
mining  district.  The  chairman  received  twenty-five  inquiries  for 
the  information  mentioned,  twenty  of  which  resulted  directly  from 


REPORT  OF  FORESTRY  RELATIONS  COMMITTEE       263 

this  publication.  This,  however,  was  a  small  percentage  of  the  total 
inquirers,  as  will  be  stated  later. 

At  the  same  time  a  letter  was  sent  to  every  member  of  the 
Committee  asking  co-operation  and  outlining  a  plan  for  reaching 
the  man  most  deeply  interested  in  the  subject.  Letters  were  also 
sent  to  the  vice-presidents  of  the  American  Mining  Congress,  in  the 
metal  mining  states,  asking  their  direct  co-operation,  or  that  they 
turn  the  matter  over  to  the  local  metal  mining  association.  Replies 
were  received  from  practically  all  these  letters  and  through  this 
means  direct  communication  was  established  in  many  mining  dis- 
tricts which  relieved  your  Committee  materially  and  no  doubt 
resulted  in  spreading  the  information  very  generally.  This  was  par- 
ticularly true  through  the  efforts  of  Captain  William  McDermott, 
member  of  the  Committee.  Through  his  efforts  the  matter  was 
taken  up  by  the  Arizona  State  Bureau  of  Mines  and  copy  of  the 
rules  and  comments  published  in  every  paper  in  that  state,  with 
requests  that  inquiries  be  made  to  them,  rather  than  to  the  Com- 
mittee. 

Through  the  efforts  of  Mr.  George  L.  Brooks  a  similar  ar- 
rangement was  effected  in  New  Mexico,  and  by  Mr.  A.  G.  Mc- 
Kenzie,  Secretary  of  the  Utah  Chapter  of  the  American  Mining 
Congress,  in  Utah. 

Appended  is  a  compilation  of  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the 
Forestry  Service  in  so  far  as  they  apply  to  prospecting  on  forest 
reserves  and  use  of  timber  and  right-of-way.  To  this  has  been 
added  some  comments  and  explanations,  the  whole  having  been 
formally  approved  by  Mr.  J.  S.  Stall,  Assistant  Forester  of  the 
Pike  National  Forest. 

From  various  conversations  and  other  sources  of  information, 
it  would  appear  that  the  intent  of  the  Forestry  Service  is  being  very 
well  carried  out  by  the  field  officials.  In  some  localities,  at  least, 
where  there  has  been  some  complaint  on  this  score,  the  difficulty 
has  been  that  unfair  advantage  has  been  taken  of  the  rules  in  vari- 
ous ways,  compelling  the  Forestry  officials  to  exercise  the  letter  of 
the  law  in  order  to  carry  out  instructions.  In  some  cases  this  has 
been  due  to  a  lack  of  appreciation  of  the  spirit,  in  a  few  cases 
through  an  attempt  to  take  unfair  and  unlawful  advantage  of  the 
situation.  It  is  generally  believed,  however,  that  by  this  time  the 
situation  is  quite  well  understood  and  the  principal  need  for  the 


264         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

regulations  is  to  show  the  prospector  what  his  rights  are  under 
them,  rather  than  to  serve  as  information  to  cause  friction. 

Respectfully  submitted, 
FORESTRY  RELATIONS  COMMITTEE, 

By  Carney  Hartley,  Chairman. 
Denver,  Colorado,  October  3,  1916. 

Prospecting  on  Forest  Reserves. 

Broadly  speaking,  the  rules  relating  to  prospecting  for  mineral 
on  forest  reserves  are  just  the  same  as  on  any  public  land.  The 
occasion  for  any  difference  between  the  forest  service  and  the  pros- 
pector is  usually  the  result  of  the  fact  that,  because  the  Forest 
Service  covers  its  territory  with  the  rangers,  the  land  laws  are 
enforced,  while  on  public  domain  there  is  no  provision  for  doing 
this  and  in  consequence  their  application  has  been  very  largely  lost 
sight  of. 

All  mineral  land  whether  on  forest  reserves  or  on  other  unlo- 
cated  land  is  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior, 
while  the  Forest  Service  comes  under  that  of  the  Secretary  of  Agri- 
culture. The  part  which  the  Forest  Service  takes  in  connection 
with  mineral  land  is  merely  that  of  carrying  out  a  courtesy  of  one 
department  to  another  and  because  they  have  men  on  the  ground 
who  are  available  for  the  work.  There  is  the  advantage,  however, 
that  the  Forest  Service  is  presumed  to  and  does  go  into  all  the  facts 
and  as  far  as  possible  adjust  any  difference.  It  is  their  purpose 
and  intention  to  encourage  development  of  any  mineral  land,  in  a 
great  many  cases  because  it  is  very  desirable  as  a  matter  of  fire 
protection  to  have  the  reserve  occupied. 

In  addition  to  this  fact  the  Act  creating  the  forest  reserve  spe- 
cifically states  in  the  following  language:  *  *  *  "but  it  is  not 
the  purpose  or  intent  of  these  provisions,  or  of  the  act  providing  for 
such  reservations,  to  authorize  the  inclusion  therein  of  lands  more 
valuable  for  the  mineral  therein,  or  for  agricultural  purposes  than 
for  forest  purposes." 

That  the  situation  is  fully  realized  is  shown  also  by  the  fol- 
lowing quotation  from  the  Act  or  its  amendments : 

"The  Secretary  of  the  Interior  may  permit,  under  regulations 
to  be  prescribed  by  him,  the  use  of  timber  and  stone  found  upon 
such  reservations,  free  of  charge,  by  bona  fide  settlers,  miners,  resi- 
dents, and  prospectors  for  mineral,  for  firewood,  fencing,  buildings, 
mining,  prospecting  and  other  domestic  purposes,  as  may  be  needed 


REPORT  OF  FORESTRY  RELATIONS  COMMITTEE       265 

by  such  persons  for  such  purposes;  such  timber  to  be  used  within 
the  state  or  territory,  respectively,  where  such  reservations  may 
be  located. 

"Nothing  herein  shall  be  construed  as  prohibiting  the  egress 
or  ingress  of  actual  settlers  residing  within  the  boundaries  of  such 
reservations,  or  from  crossing  the  same  to  and  from  their  property 
or  homes;  and  such  wagon  roads  and  other  improvements  may  be 
constructed  thereon  as  may  be  necessary  to  reach  their  homes  and 
to  utilize  their  property  under  such  rules  and  regulations  for  all 
proper  and  lawful  purposes,  including  that  of  prospecting,  locating 
and  developing  the  mineral  resources  thereof;  Provided,  That  such 
persons  comply  with  the  rules  and  regulations  covering  such  forest 
reservations. 

"All  waters  on  such  reservations  may  be  used  for  domestic, 
mining,  milling,  or  irrigation  purposes,  under  the  laws  of  the  state 
wherein  such  forest  reservations  are  situated,  or  under  the  laws  of 
the  United  States  and  the  rules  and  regulations  established  there- 
under. 

"And  any  mineral  lands  in  any  forest  reservation  which  have 
been  or  which  may  be  shown  to  be  such,  and  subject  to  entry  under 
the  existing  mining  laws  of  the  United  States  and  the  rules  and 
regulations  applying  thereto,  shall  continue  to  be  subject  to  such 
location  and  entry,  notwithstanding  any  provisions  herein  con- 
tained." 

From  "The  Use  Book"  it  will  be  very  evident  that  the  policy 
of  the  Forest  Service  is  to  give  anyone  who  goes  on  the  forest 
reserve  in  good  faith  every  opportunity  to  carry  on  his  work  to  the 
very  best  advantage.  They  have,  however,  frequent  cases  to  contend 
with  where  the  rights  are  abused  and  the  laws  broken  without  any 
reason  or  excuse.  The  following  is  quoted  from  instructions  to  the 
executive  portion  of  the  Forest  Service  and  no  fair  minded  person 
can  take  exception  to  what  is  stated  particularly  when  it  is  remem- 
bered that  the  work  of  the  Forest  Service  is  for  the  benefit  of  many 
thousand  people  for  every  prospector  that  might  reasonably  be 

expected  to  go  on  the  ground. 

* 

"Definition  of  a  Valid  Claim." 

"A  valid  claim  is  one  initiated  in  good  faith  under  some  act 
of  Congress  for  the  acquisition  of  title  to  public  lands  and  con- 
tinued by  use  consistent  with  the  character  of  the  claim  and  neces- 
sary for  its  actual  development. 


266         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

"It  is  a  fundamental  requisite  that  all  claims  be  initiated  in 
good  faith  for  the  purpose  contemplated  by  the  law  under  which 
they  are  held.  It  is  bad  faith,  for  instance,  to  hold  a  mining  or 
agricultural  claim  primarily  for  the  timber  thereon  or  to  acquire  a 
site  valuable  for  water  power  development.  Where  the  land  is 
held  for  the  timber,  for  a  hotel  site,  saloon  site,  or  other  foreign 
use,  and  there  has  been  no  compliance  with  the  requirements  of 
the  law  under  which  the  claim  was  initiated,  it  may  be  considered 
prejudicial  to  National  Forest  interests." 

"Examination  of  Mineral  Claims." 

"Prospecting  will  not  be  interfered  with  and  mineral  locations 
will  not  be  examined  prior  to  application  for  mineral  patent,  except 
where  a  report  is  requested  by  the  Department  of  the  Interior  or 
where  locations  interfere  with  the  administration  of  the  National 
Forest.  No  adverse  report  will  be  submitted  to  the  Department 
of  the  Interior  which  has  not  been  made  by  a  mineral  examiner. 
Prospecting  may  be  carried  on  without  obtaining  a  permit  from 
forest  officers." 

"Free  Use  of  Timber  for  Development  of  Mining  Claims." 

"The  locator,  or  subsequent  owner,  of  a  mining  claim  has  a 
right  to  the  use  of  sufficient  timber  from  his  claim  for  develop- 
ment purposes.  This  includes  the  construction  of  such  buildings 
as  may  be  necessary  as  an  adjunct  to  such  development  and  the 
timber  for  shafts  and  tunnels,  as  well  as  for  fuel  in  connection 
with  such  development.  Timber,  however,  may  not  be  cut  from 
one  claim  to  be  used  on  another  claim,  even  if,  it  be  of  the  same 
group,  unless  its  use  tends  to  develop  the  claim  from  which  it  is 
cut,  as  well  as  the  one  on  which  it  is  used,  except  under  free-use 
permit." 

"A  mining  claimant  has  no  right  whatever  to  cut  or  remove 
timber  from  his  claim  for  sale  or  for  purposes  other  than  the  devel- 
opment of  the  claim,  and  such  removal  constitutes  trespass,  except 
where  the  removal  of  the  timber  reasonably  in  advance  of  the  min- 
ing work  is  necessary  to  the  development  of  the  claim." 

The  law  regarding  the  use  of  timber  for  mining  purposes  on 
any  public  lands  states  that  it  may  be  cut  only  from  the  isolated  sur- 
face, although  this  is  something  which  receives  very  little  attention 
from  the  mining  public  and  frequently  is  a  matter  of  surprise  when 
this  restriction  is  made  on  forest  reserves.  The  quotation  above, 
however,  shows  how  very  easy  this  question  can  be  arranged  when 


REPORT  OF  FORESTRY  RELATIONS  COMMITTEE       267 

the  claim  is  taken  up  where  timber  is  unsuitable  or  scarce  and  all 
that  :s  necessary  is  to  consult  the  local  ranger  who  will  advise  what 
timbei  may  be  cut.  Service  Regulations  S  27  and  S  29  quoted 
herewith  will  show  how  well  this  matter  is  taken  care  of. 

Regulation  S  27. 

"Free  use  may  be  granted :  ( i )  To  bona  fide  settlers,  miners, 
residents,  and  prospectors  for  minerals,  for  firewood,  fencing,  build- 
ing, mining,  prospecting,  and  other  domestic  purposes:  (2)  to 
school  and  road  districts,  churches,  or  non-commercial  co-operative 
organizations  of  settlers  for  improvements  of  mutual  or  public 
benefit;  (3)  for  the  construction  of  telephone  lines  when  necessary 
for  the  protection  of  national  forests  from  fire;  (4)  to  certain 
branches  of  the  Federal  Government." 

Regulation  S  29. 
"Permits  will  be  required  for  green  material." 

Free-Use  Areas. 

"Supervisors  may,  with  the  approval  of  the  district  forester, 
designate  as  free-use  areas  portions  or  all  of  any  National  Forest, 
and  settlers,  miners,  residents,  and  prospectors  for  minerals  may 
cut  and  remove  from  such  areas,  free  of  charge  and  without  permit, 
under  such  rules  as  may  be  prescribed  by  forest  officers,  any  dead 
timber  needed  for  their  own  use  for  firewood,  fencing,  buildings, 
mining  prospecting  and  other  domestic  purposes.  No  timber  may 
be  taken  under  this  regulation  for  sale  to  other  persons  or  for  com- 
mercial use." 

Emergency  Use. 

"Material  may  be  cut  outside  of  a  free-use  area  without  permit 
in  cases  of  emergency  of  immediate  need.  The  person  taking  such 
material  shall  promptly  notify  the  forest  officer  in  charge  of  the 
district." 

"Small  quantities  of  material  needed  by  transients  may  be  taken 
without  permit." 

Briefly  stated,  therefore,  the  situation  is  as  follows : 

No  permit  is  required  to  prospect  on  Forest  Reserves. 

Timber  on  claims  may  be  used  freely  for  all  necessary  purposes 
in  developing. 

If  additional  timber  is  required  the  ranger  should  be  consulted. 

Forest  Service  Regulations  regarding  fire  are  perfectly  reason- 
able and  should  be  carefully  observed. 


268         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

The  ranger  has  no  option  in  his  action  in  carrying  out  any 
rules  prescribed  and  fire  rules  are  of  highest  importance.  In  case 
of  any  uncertainty  consult  the  ranger  and  if  not  satisfied  the  Dis- 
trict Forester  or  write  to  the  Secretary  of  the  nearest  chapter  of 
the  American  Mining  Congress,  or  to  the  Forestry  Relations  Com- 
mittee, 316  Colorado  Building,  Denver. 


METHODS    FOR    OBTAINING    A    UNIFORM    MINING 

LAW. 

Address  Delivered  by  Judge  J.  W.  Thompson,  Tuesday,  Novem- 
ber 14,  at  Nineteenth  Annual  Convention  of  American 
Mining  Congress. 

OUTLINE. 
Introduction. 

1.  Assumption  in  discussion. 

2.  Definition. 

3.  Extent  of  uniformity. 

I.  Objections  to  uniform  law. 

1.  Diversity  of  deposits. 

2.  Diversified  methods  of  operations. 

3.  Existing  state  laws. 
A.     Objections  answered. 

II.  Obstacles  to  be  overcome. 

1.  Ignorance. 

2.  Indifference. 

3.  Prejudice. 

III.  Essentials  in  obtaining  uniform  law. 

1.  Knowledge  of  present  state  laws. 

2.  Knowledge  of  court  decisions. 

3.  Draft  of  proposed  law. 

IV.  Treatment  of  proposed  law. 

1.  Study  and  discussion  in  separate  states. 

2.  Amendments  and  changes  by  states. 

3.  Discussion  in  common  parliament. 

4.  Agreement  by  mining  interests. 

5.  Presentation  to  legislatures. 

A  discussion  as  to  the  methods  to  be  employed  for  obtaining 
a  uniform  mining  law  assumes  that  such  a  law  is  desirable.  No 
argument  need  now  be  advanced  to  bodies  of  thoughtful  men  or 
intelligent  miners  as  to  the  advantages  of  such  a  law.  Places  and 
people  who  have  not  reached  this  stage  of  the  discussion  are  too 


270         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

remote  either  for  access  or  influence  and  argument  would  be  useless. 
A  uniform  mining  law  means  one  law  governing  the  entire 
mining  enterprise.  It  is  intended  as  a  single  system  of  laws  adopted 
and  applied  in  mining  operations  in  the  separate  and  several  states. 
A  uniform  law  should  be  so  complete  and  inclusive  that  once  learned 
in  one  state  or  in  one  locality  it  is  learned  and  known  for  every 
state  and  every  locality  where  similar  mining  operations  are  carried 
on.  The  proposed  uniformity  is  not  to  be  limited  to  coal  mining 
but  is  understood  to  mean  a  uniform  law  for  coal  mining  states  and 
a  uniform  law  for  metal  mining  states. 

Objections  to  Uniformity. 

There  are  some  reasonable  objections  to  a  uniform  mining  law. 
One  is  that  there  is  such  a  diversity  of  deposits  of  coal  or  minerals 
in  the  different  states  as  would  render  a  uniform  law  impossible 
of  application.  So  it  is  said  that  methods  of  operations  due  to  di- 
versity of  deposits,  to  the  nature  of  the  surface  of  the  ground,  the 
extent  of  operations  and  the  appliances  employed,  would  render 
such  a  law  impracticable.  Another  objection  is  that  many  states 
now  have  satisfactory  mining  laws,  such  as  have  grown  out  of  expe- 
rience and  study  of  the  needs  of  the  enterprise  and  adapted  to  the 
individual  states  and  to  the  particular  localities  and  mining  regions. 
It  is  urged  with  some  force  that  the  states  having  these  laws  in 
good  working  order  would  be  reluctant  to  surrender  their  present 
laws  and  adopt  instead  a  new  and  untried  code.  There  may  be 
other  minor  objections  but  these  are  the  most  reasonable  and  the 
most  serious  to  be  encountered. 

The  answer  to  each  objection  is  found  in  a  discussion  of  its 
reasonableness.  Conceding  there  is  a  diversity  of  deposits  in  dif- 
ferent states,  it  is  likewise  true  that  there  is  diversity  of  deposits 
in  a  single  state.  Mineral  deposits  in  their  making  were  indifferent 
to  state  lines ;  and  likewise  they  had  as  little  regard  for  the  lines 
bounding  the  subdivisions  of  a  state.  There  may  be  as  great  a 
diversity  of  deposits  in  a  single  state  as  in  the  entire  United  States. 
If  this  assumption  is  correct,  or  if  it  is  a  geological  fact,  it  follows 
that  a  law  applicable  to  the  diversified  deposits  of  one  state  would 
be  equally  susceptible  of  application  to  similar  diversified  deposits 
in  the  several  states.  Likewise  mining  conditions  in  a  single  state 
may  be  as  different  and  varied  as  those  in  a  score  of  states.  Thus 
in  a  single  state  may  be  found  overlying  seams  of  coal;  gaseous 
and  non-gaseous  mines,  wet  and  dry. mines,  mines  the  roofs  of 


METHODS  FOR  OBTAINING  A  UNIFORM  MINING  LAW  271 

which  require  constant  attention  and  propping  and  others  where  no 
props  are  required. 

The  same  is  true  as  to  methods  of  operation.  There  may  be 
in  a  single  state  mines  operated  through  vertical  shafts  and  others 
through  inclined  or  horizontal  haulage  ways ;  mines  where  the  pick 
and  shovel  are  used  for  mining  and  the  lineless  mule  for  hauling, 
while  others  have  the  most  improved  mining  machines,  the  most 
experienced  shot-firers  and  the  safest  possible  electrical  appliances 
for  all  operations.  But  a  single  state  law  adapts  itself  to  these 
motley  methods  of  operation,  and  the  intelligent  mine  inspectors, 
the  careful  operators  and  experienced  foremen  have  little  dif- 
ficulty in  applying  the  law  as  the  varying  needs  and  circumstances 
require. 

It  need  not  be  assumed  by  any  state  official  or  miner  that  a 
proposed  uniform  law  will  take  from  any  present  mining  law  any 
of  its  virtues.  It  can  safely  be  predicted  that  no  state  law  will  be 
robbed  of  any  good  thing.  No  state  should  be  satisfied  with  its 
present  mining  law;  if  any  other  state  has  a  better  law,  or  if  a  pro- 
posed uniformity  is  an  improvement.  If  any  existing  state  law  should 
be  found  to  contain  all  desirable  features,  there  is  no  reason  why 
such  a  law  should  not  be  taken  and  adopted  as  the  model  for  a 
uniform  law. 

Obstacles  to  Be  Overcome. 

In  the  effort  to  secure  a  uniform  mining  law  there  are  certain 
barriers  to  be  removed  and  some  obstacles  to  be  overcome.  The 
first  of  these,  but  perhaps  the  least,  is  ignorance.  Not  only  ignorance 
of  the  importance  of  a  uniform  law  but  of  mining  laws  themselves. 
Some  mining  states  have  done  nothing  or  but  little  in  the  way  of 
perfecting  or  passing  a  mining  code. 

Then  there  is  a  certain  amount  of  indifference  on  the  part  of 
operators,  miners  and  legislators  as  to  the  enactment  or  enforcing 
of  mining  laws — a  feeling  that  mining  like  agriculture  or  common 
commercial  industries  does  not  require  special  legislation.  The  sat- 
isfying feature  of  this  situation  is  that  the  refusal  of  any  such  state 
to  adopt  a  uniform  law  would  not  prevent  other  and  leading  states 
from  enacting  such  a  law.  Furthermore,  the  adoption  of  a  uniform 
law  by  any  considerable  number  of  states  would  be  the  last  argu- 
ment for  the  adoption  of  such  a  law  by  the  states  at  present  indif- 
ferent to  any  law. 

Another  and  perhaps  a  more  formidable  barrier  is  the  preva- 
lent, though  not  necessarily  fatal,  disease  of  prejudice.  This  is 


272         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

known  to  exist  though  never  admitted.  Like  milk-sick  in  the  pio- 
neer days,  it  is  always  in  the  adjoining  township!  The  operator, 
and  the  miner,  whatever  his  rank  or  position,  is  more  or  less  given 
to  the  self -satisfied  status  and  seems  to  have  the  ability  to  convince 
himself  that  what  he  does  and  the  manner  of  its  doing  is  the  only 
way  the  thing  should  be  done. 

It  is  refreshing  to  observe  that  this  disease  is  rapidly  disap- 
pearing, due  to  the  heroic  treatment  received  in  meetings  and  con- 
ventions of  state  and  government  mine  officials  and  the  annual 
gatherings  of  the  numerous  bodies  of  organized  miners  with  their 
sharp  criticisms  and  free  exchange  of  mining  experiences.  Indeed 
these  are  the  things  that  create  the  desire  for,  and  mark  the  trend 
toward,  the  day  of  the  uniform  mining  laws. 

Essentials  in  Obtaining  Uniform  Mining  Law. 

An  essential  feature  in  securing  a  uniform  law  is  a  thorough 
understanding  of  the  present  state  mining  laws.  Not  a  mere  ac- 
quaintance with  the  laws  of  one  state,  but  a  clear  apprehension  of 
the  laws  of  all  the  states.  It  is  not  sufficient  that  a  state  mines 
department,  operators  and  miners  of  a  particular  state,  be  familiar 
with  the  laws  of  their  own  state,  but  there  must  be  a  comparative 
estimate  of  the  laws  of  the  several  states.  There  must  be  such 
critical  examination  and  patient  comparison  that  will  result  in  a 
comprehensive  knowledge  of  the  best  features  of  all  state  laws. 

Another  and  equally  important  factor  is  a  knowledge  of  the 
decisions  of  the  courts  in  construing  the  several  state  statutes.  Some 
state  courts  have  held  certain  provisions  of  state  laws  invalid  while 
courts  of  other  states  have  held  similar  provisions  valid.  This,  by 
way  of  illustration,  is  true  with  reference  to  the  extent  that  state 
laws  may  authorize  state  mining  officials  to  take  charge  and  superin- 
tend the  underground  workings  of  a  mine.  Also  with  reference 
to  wash  houses,  employe's  compensation  acts,  and  as  to  requirements 
for  weighing  and  screening  coal.  A  proposed  uniform  law  would 
meet  with  sudden  and  deserved  doom  should  it  contain  important 
provisions  that  have  been  held  invalid.  Any  proposed  law  must 
meet  every  judicial  objection  that  has  been  raised  against  individual 
state  laws. 

An  essential  step  toward  the  desired  end  is  that  some  person, 
body  or  committee  be  authorized  to  prepare  and  submit  for  inspec- 
tion and  discussion  a  draft  of  such  a  law. 

Miners,  operators  and  mining  conventions  have  discussed  the 
different  phases  of  the  subject  and  the  consensus  of  opinion  estab- 


METHODS  FOR  OBTAINING  A  UNIFORM  MINING  LAW  273 

lishes  both  the  desirability  and  practicability  of  such  a  law.  But 
all  discussion  will  end  in  fruitless  agitation  until  some  person  or 
body  is  delegated  to  prepare  the  contemplated  law.  Some  person 
or  committee  must  be  appointed  to  "bell  the  cat!" 

It  need  not  be  expected  that  even  a  studied  draft  or  carefully 
prepared  bill  will  be  swallowed  as  an  unbroken  dose  by  Operators, 
miners,  state  mining  boards,  governors  and  legislatures.  But  the 
start  must  be  made.  The  end  desired  must  have  this  essential 
beginning. 

The  bill  when  prepared  must  be  submitted  to  the  miners,  oper- 
ators and  mine  officials  of  the  several  states.  This  proposed  draft 
must  be  thoroughly  thrashed  out — beaten  with  the  flails  of  preju- 
dice, opposition  and  self-satisfaction.  If  such  proposed  draft  could 
be  agreed  upon,  or  if  the  same  changes  or  improvements,  if  any, 
could  be  made  by  all  the  states,  then  the  proposed  bill  would  be 
ready  for  presentation  to  the  legislatures  of  the  different  states. 
But  if  the  original  draft  should  in  different  states  be  variously 
amended  or  revised,  it  must  in  its  changed  condition  be  brought  to 
a  common  parliament  of  state  mine  officials,  miners  and  operators 
and  there  solidified  and  unified  and  again  returned  to  state  officials, 
miners  and  operators  for  approval. 

When  such  proposed  draft  is  submitted  its  ultimate  success 
will  depend  on  the  friendly  feeling  of  the  persons  particularly  inter- 
ested and  directly  engaged  in  the  mining  enterprise.  If  when  pro- 
posed it  is  met  with  a  listless  indifference,  prejudicial  opposition, 
vindictive  assaults,  or  a  destructive  criticism,  and  a  disposition  to 
kill  rather  than  cure — the  efforts  at  uniformity  will  there  end.  On 
the  other  hand,  if  the  proposed  law,  however  incomplete  or  defec- 
tive, is  met  with  a  friendly  spirit,  an  attitude  of  constructive  criti- 
cism, a  general  desire  to  cure  the  defects  and  improve  provisions 
and  to  make  perfect  and  practicable  any  seeming  imperfections,  then 
its  final  adoption  is  assured.  Uniformity  in  effort  and  a  disposition 
toward  final  agreement  is  the  prime  requisite  to  a  uniform  law. 
When  such  a  draft  is  proposed  and  submitted  to  individuals  for 
study  or  to  a  common  forum  for  discussion,  miners,  operators,  mine 
officials,  legislators  and  governors  must  remember  that  in  the  set- 
tlement of  every  controversy  and  in  the  compromise  of  every  claim 
or  case  there  must  be  some  crucifixion  of  prejudice,  some  abandon- 
ment of  position,  some  yielding  of  advantage,  when  these  can  be 
done  without  sacrifice  of  principle  or  surrender  of  right. 


274         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

If  harmonious  action  cannot  be  obtained  and  final  agreement 
effected  by  persons  and  interests  most  nearly  concerned,  indifferent 
legislators  cannot  be  expected  to  act.  It  would  be  expensive  folly 
to  present  to  a  state  legislature  a  proposed  mining  law  that  did  not 
have  the  approval  of  state  mine  officials,  leading  operators  and 
representative  miners. 

Such  a  proposed  law  must  be  harmoniously  supported  by 
friends  and  friendly  interests  and  must  be  presented  to  the  gov- 
ernors and  legislatures  of  the  separate  states  with  an  enthusiasm 
that  will  command  sacrifice  of  time  and  expense  and  an  intelligence 
that  will  convince  indifferent  law  makers. 


STATE  MINE  RESCUE  STATIONS. 


Address  Delivered  by  H.  H.  Stock,  Professor  of  Mining  Engi- 
neering, University  of  Illinois  and  Secretary  of  the  Illinois 
Mine  Rescue  Station  Commission,  at  Nineteenth  Annual 
Convention  American  Mining  Congress. 


The  mine  rescue  and  first  aid  movements  in  the  United  States 
are  at  present  being  carried  on  under  a  number  of  distinct  auspices, 
as  follows: 

1.  Federal   bureaus,   such  as   the   United   States   Bureau  of 
Mines ; 

2.  State  bureaus,  such  as  the  Illinois  Mine  Rescue  Station 
Commission  and  the  Ohio  Bureau  of  Mines ; 

3.  Organizations,   such  as  the  National  Red  Cross  and  the 
National  Safety  Council; 

4.  By  the  employers  or  operators; 

5.  By  the  employes  or  miners. 

These  agencies  necessarily  overlap  to  some  extent  in  their  func- 
tions, but  as  far  as  possible  an  effort  has  been  made  to  avoid  dupli- 
cation of  effort  in  the  same  territory.  The  work  of  the  Federal 
Bureaus,  the  Red  Cross  and  the  National  Safety  Council  have  been 
described  more  or  less  fully  in  the  bulletins  of  these  organizations 
and  the  associations  of  employers  and  employes  have  been  taken 
account  of  in  the  technical  press.  The  present  description,  there- 
fore, covers  only  the  second  of  the  agencies  and  as  the  paper  was 
assigned  too  late  to  permit  of  the  gathering  of  data  from  other 
states,  the  topic  might  more  properly  be  State  Mine  Rescue  Meth- 
ods as  Carried  on  in  Illinois.  The  only  other  distinctly  state  agency 
of  which  we  have  been  advised  is  that  in  Ohio,  where  the  mining 
bureau  operates  a  mine  rescue  car,  but  the  details  of  its  operation 
are  not  at  present  available. 

In  1909  the  Technologic  Branch  of  the  United  States  Geo- 
logical Survey,  now  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Mines,  in  co- 
operation with  the  Illinois  Geological  Survey  and  the  College  of 
Engineering  of  the  University  of  Illinois,  established  at  the  Uni- 


276         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

versity  of  Illinois  in  Urbana,  a  rescue  station  for  the  training  of 
miners  and  mining  officials  in  the  middle  west  coal  fields.  As  the 
result  of  this  move  oxygen  breathing  apparatus  was  used  at  several 
accidents  in  Illinois  prior  to  the  Cherry  disaster  and  at  that  disaster 
helmets  were  used  in  the  examination  of  the  mine  prior  to  its  open- 
ing. One  of  the  results  of  the  Cherry  disaster  was  a  strong  demand 
for  greater  safety  measures  in  the  state,  and  during  the  winter  of 
1910  the  state  legislature,  upon  the  suggestion  of  the  Illinois  Min- 
ing Investigation  Commission,  not  only  added  a  number  of  safety 
provisions  to  the  state  law,  but  also  appropriated  $75,000  for  the 
erection,  equipment  and  maintenance  of  three  rescue  stations,  plac- 
ing the  administration  of  the  stations  in  the  hands  of  the  Illinois 
Mine  Rescue  Station  Commission,  ''consisting  of  seven  members, 
including  two  coal  mine  operators,  two  coal  miners,  one  state  mine 
inspector,  one  representative  of  the  Department  of  Mining  Engi- 
neering of  the  University  of  Illinois  and  one  representative  of  the 
Federal  Bureau  of  Mines."  The  law  provided  that  the  work  should 
be  carried  on  under  the  general  direction  of  a  manager  and  there 
should  be  at  each  station  a  superintendent  and  an  assistant,  all  of 
whom  were  at  first  appointed  by  the  commission  but  later  were 
placed  under  a  state-wide  civil  service  law. 

The  commission  also  has  authority  to  employ  such  assistants 
as  may  be  needed  in  giving  first  aid  instruction  to  the  injured  and 
similar  technical  subjects  and  such  assistants  as  may  be  needed 
from  time  to  time  to  properly  carry  on  the  work  of  said  rescue  sta- 
tions and  such  rescue  cars  and  sub-stations  as  may  be  installed  in 
connection  with  said  stations,  but  not  more  than  two  extra  assist- 
ants can  be  employed  for  each  rescue  car.  The  commission  is  also 
instructed  to  "arrange  for  co-operation  in  the  work  with  the  mine 
owners,  miners  and  state  and  federal  organizations  so  as  to  render 
service  of  the  utmost  efficiency."  In  1915  the  legislature  abolished 
the  position  of  manager.  With  this  exception  the  organization  is 
as  previously  provided  for  in  the  law  of  incorporation. 

The  stations  are  located  at  La  Salle  for  the  northern  part  of 
the  state,  at  Springfield  for  the  central  part  and  at  Benton  for  the 
southern  section.  They  are  identical  in  design  and  were  built,  from 
plans  prepared  by  the  state  architect  from  sketches  furnished  by 
the  commission,  upon  ground  that  in  each  case  was  donated  either 
by  the  city  or  by  a  private  corporation  in  the  city.  The  buildings 
cost  approximately  $10,000  apiece  and  each  contains  an  office,  living 
quarters  for  the  superintendent  and  his  family,  a  dormitory  where 


STATE  MINE  RESCUE  STATIONS  277 

ten  or  twelve  men  in  training  may  stay  without  expense  to  them- 
selves, a  work  room  and  store  room  for  apparatus  and  supplies,  a 
smoke  chamber  and  a  lecture  room.  Details  of  the  construction 
and  equipment  of  these  stations  and  the  cost  of  maintenance  can  be 
obtained  from  the  biennial  reports  of  the  Rescue  Commission  which 
may  be  had  upon  application  to  the  Mine  Rescue  Commission, 
Springfield,  Illinois. 

At  each  station  there  is  also  a  rescue  car  which  is  a  remodeled 
Pullman,  very  similar  in  design  to  the  rescue  cars  of  the  Federal 
Bureau  of  Mines.  One  of  these  cars  was  purchased  by  the  Com- 
mission, one  was  donated  by  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern  Rail- 
road and  one  by  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  Railroad. 
It  is  questionable  if  such  refitted  Pullman  cars  are  adapted  for  a 
state  rescue  service  and  the  writer  believes  that  an  ordinary  box 
or  baggage  car,  thoroughly  equipped  with  emergency  supplies  and 
apparatus,  such  as  are  used  by  a  number  of  the  anthracite  coal  com- 
panies would  better  serve  the  purpose,  and  that  automobile  trucks 
developed  within  a  few  years  past  render  inadvisable  any  form  of 
railroad  car  in  a  section  where  the  roads  will  permit  of  the  use  of 
such  trucks. 

The  maintenance  and  upkeep  of  rescue  cars  that  are  kept  on 
the  road  is  excessive  and  apparatus  and  supplies  can  be  transported 
from  place  to  place  much  more  cheaply  by  trucks  or  even  by  express. 

In  considering  the  development  of  the  work  in  Illinois,  it 
should  be  distinctly  remembered  that  the  Illinois  commission  had 
no  precedents  for  its  guidance  and  its  early  labors  were  carried  on 
at  a  time  when  the  general  public  was  excited  by  a  series  of  unusual 
accidents  in  western  Pennsylvania  and  West  Virginia  and  when 
the  feeling  in  Illinois  in  particular  was  very  tense  due  to  the  unpar- 
alleled disaster  at  Cherry.  It  should  not  be  considered  a  criticism 
of  the  early  efforts  of  the  commission,  therefore,  to  say  that  in  the 
light  of  later  experience  undoubtedly  a  number  of  things  might 
have  been  differently  done. 

It  must  also  be  remembered  in  considering  the  development  of 
the  work  in  Illinois  and  in  the  whole  United  States  for  that  matter, 
that  only  a  very  few  years  ago  oxygen  breathing  apparatus  was  to 
a  large  extent  unknown  in  the  United  States  and  when  first  sug- 
gested was  not  believed  in.  Moreover  when  the  law  was  passed 
for  the  establishment  of  mine  rescue  stations  in  Illinois  the  first 
aid  movement  which  had  already  attained  considerable  impetus  in 
the  east  was  practically  unknown  in  Illinois  and  there  was  not  a 


278         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

first  aid  team  in  the  state.  Consequently  much  of  the  early  work 
of  the  commission  had  to  be  of  a  missionary  and  explanatory  na- 
ture, and  if  nothing  else  has  been  accomplished,  very  few  will  deny 
that  there  is  at  present  in  the  state  a  distinct  appreciation  of  first- 
aid  as  a  system  that  can  be  carried  out  with  profit  at  each  mine  in 
the  state. 

In  a  well-meant  effort  to  encourage  men  to  devote  time  to 
rescue  and  first  aid  training.  The  State  Mining  Board  soon  after  the 
installation  of  the  rescue  service  ruled  that  every  applicant  for  a 
certificate  as  mine  manager  or  as  a  mine  examiner  must  have  an 
Illinois  Rescue  Certificate  and  at  first  such  certificates  were  accepted 
by  the  board  as  fulfilling  the  requirements  of  the  state  law  that 
says  a  man  must  have  a  knowledge  of  rescue  and  first  aid  work. 

The  result  of  this  ruling  was  to  create  a  demand  for  certificates 
that  unfortunately  resulted  in  superficial  training  in  too  many  cases, 
for  having  once  gotten  the  certificate  all  training  and  interest  in  the 
subject  ceased. 

For  several  years  the  rescue  cars,  each  in  charge  of  two  men, 
were  sent  from  mine  to  mine,  and  at  each  mine  for  a  period  of 
from  one  to  three  weeks  men  were  trained  in  the  use  of  oxygen 
breathing  apparatus  and  in  first  aid.  This  training  was  given  in 
rooms  that  were  fitted  up  at  the  mine  and  frequently  it  had  to  be 
carried  on  under  very  unfavorable  circumstances.  The  intent  of 
such  training  at  the  mine  was  twofold.  First,  to  demonstrate  the 
use  of  oxygen  breathing  apparatus  and  similar  appliances  and  to 
show  what  first  aid  work  really  meant,  hoping  to  enlist  the  co-opera- 
tion of  the  operators  and  miners  in  carrying  on  the  work  after  the 
car  left  the  mine. 

Second,  to  leave  at  each  mine  at  least  one  trained  squad  that 
should  serve  as  a  nucleus  about  which  to  build  up  a  first  aid  and 
rescue  organization. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  measure  the  results  of  any  pioneer  work, 
but  it  is  unfortunately  true  that  in  very  few  cases  was  interest 
shown  in  the  work  after  the  car  left  a  mine  and  very  little  systematic 
training  was  undertaken,  excepting  in  preparation  for  first  aid  con- 
tests. The  reports  of  the  Commission  for  1913  and  1915  show  that 
six  first-aid  associations  have  been  formed  in  the  state  and  a  num- 
ber of  very  successful  first  aid  contests  have  been  held,  and  there 
are  at  present  at  least  sixty-six  sets  of  breathing  apparatus  pur- 
chased by  coal  companies,  these  being  in  addition  to  the  equipment 


STATE  MINE  RESCUE  STATIONS  279 

of  the  state  stations.  Six  rescue  stations  have  been  built  by  coal 
companies. 

The  Illinois  commission  feels  very  strongly  that  it  is  not  wise 
to  give  indiscriminate  and  broadcast  training  in  the  use  of  oxygen 
breathing  apparatus  and  that  until  such  apparatus  has  been  per- 
fected to  a  far  greater  extent  than  at  present  it  should  be  worn  only 
by  thoroughly  trained  men  who  keep  in  training  by  regular  practice 
with  the  apparatus. 

The  work  of  the  commission  is  at  present  being  carried  on  in 
the  following  manner: 

At  each  state  station  there  is  maintained  in  addition  to  the  two 
permanent  employes  a  team  of  five  men  who  train  twice  a  week  at 
the  rescue  station  and  are  paid  for  their  time.  These  men  work  in 
nearby  mines  and  can  be  quickly  assembled  at  the  stations  if  needed. 

2,  Three  sub-stations  have  been  established  in  districts  where 
there  is  the  most  called-for  assistance  and  as  far  as  funds  will 
permit  and  the  demands  of  such  stations  seem  justified  it  is  planned 
to  establish  other  substations.  One  or  two  permanent  employes 
are  in  charge  of  each  substation  and  at  each  substation  there  is 
maintained  in  addition  a  team  of  five  men  under  the  same  condi- 
tiqns  as  the  regular  paid  teams  at  the  main  stations.  These  stations 
are  at  present  located  at  Herrin,  Harrisburg  and  Duquoin.  Each 
of  these  stations  was  established  at  the  joint  request  of  the  oper- 
ators and  miners  in  the  district,  who  at  first  shared  in  the  expense 
of  hiring  and  maintaining  suitable  rooms  and  furnishing  the  heat 
and  light,  the  Rescue  Commission  furnishing  all  the  equipment. 
Such  co-operation  has  not  usually  lasted  very  long  and  the  expense 
of  maintaining  and  operating  the  stations  is  now  borne  by  the  com- 
mission. 

The  state,  therefore,  has  at  present  six  well  trained  teams  that 
can  be  called  out  on  short  notice.  These  teams  are.  subject  to  call 
whenever  life  or  property  is  in  danger  in  case  of  explosions,  fires, 
etc.,  and  under  such  conditions  the  men  are  paid  by  the  state.  They 
may  also  assist  in  routine  work  of  a  mine  such  as  the  fighting  a 
fire  by  helping  seal  off  a  portion  of  a  mine  or  helping  to  unseal  a 
portion  of  a  mine,  but  in  such  routine  work  in  which  no  saving  of 
life  is  involved,  it  is  expected  that  the  men  will  be  paid  by  the 
operators.  This  does  not,  of  course,  apply  to  the  regular  employes 
at  the  stations  or  substations  who  will  assist  in  such  work  without 
other  compensation  than  the  regular  salaries  paid  by  the  state. 


280         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

3  First-aid  classes  have  been  organized  in  towns  so  near 
the  main  stations  that  the  superintendent  or  assistant  can  reach 
such  towns  though  living  at  the  main  station.  These  classes  have 
in  many  cases  been  very  successful  and  they  represent  a  phase  of 
the  work  that  should  be  greatly  increased. 

To  assist  in  extending  this  work,  about  two  years  ago  a  meet- 
ing was  held  of  representatives  of  the  miners'  organizations,  the 
several  mine  operators'  associations  in  the  state,  the  State  Mining 
Board,  the  Federal  Bureau  of  Mines  and  the  Illinois  Mine  Rescue 
Commission.  A  tentative  organization  was  formed  intended  to 
enlist  the  active  co-operation  of  all  of  these  interests  by  the  estab- 
lishment of  county  organizations.  In  several  counties  a  start  has 
been  made  toward  effecting  local  organization  under  this  plan,  but 
the  possibilities  of  such  an  organization  have  by  no  means  been 
tested  thus  far. 

The  Illinois  Commission,  though  fully  appreciating  the  advan- 
tage of  first-aid  contests  and  rescue  demonstrations  as  a  means 
for  popularizing  such  work  and  as  an  incentive  to  the  formation  and 
training  of  teams,  feels  that  the  permanent  value  of  the  first-aid 
movement  must  come  from  regular  and  systematic  training  of  a 
fairly  large  group  of  men  in  each  mine,  rather  than  in  the  special- 
ized training  of  one  team  mainly  to  participate  in  contests. 

In  addition  to  training  men  about  the  mines,  in  a  number  of 
cases  first-aid  classes  have  been  formed  in  the  public  schools  and 
in  connection  with  various  associations  of  men  and  women  in 
mining  towns.  City  firemen  have  also  been  trained  and  it  is  the 
policy  of  the  commission  to  encourage  such  training  of  persons 
not  connected  with  the  mines  as  much  as  possible  if  it  does  not 
interfere  with  the  regular  training  of  mine  employes.  The  rescue 
men  have  also  assisted  the  city  firemen  in  fighting  fires  where  it 
was  impossible  to  enter  a  burning  building  without  the  use  of 
breathing  apparatus. 


THE  EFFECT  OF  UNIFORM  MINING  LAWS  ON  MIN- 
ING ENGINEERING,  WITH  SPECIAL  REFERENCE 
TO  COAL  MINING. 


Address  Delivered  by  J.   A.  Garcia  at  the  Nineteenth  Annual 
Convention  of  the  American  Mining  Congress. 


The  methods  of  mining,  hauling,  hoisting  and  preparing  bitu- 
minous coal  have  changed  so  during  the  last  decade — primarily 
because  of  the  large  production  at  individual  operations — that  the 
design,  construction  and  development  of  a  mine  both  on  top  and 
underground,  and  also  the  shaft  in  between,  has  developed  into 
one  of  the  most  difficult  branches  of  engineering,  and  the  work  of 
the  mining  engineer  who  practices  his  profession  in  a  number  of 
states  is  further  complicated  by  the  conflicting  or  radically  different 
mining  laws,  as  well  as  the  requirements  of  the  miners'  unions, 
the  rules  of  the  insurance  companies,  compensation  acts,  company 
rules,  etc. 

The  confusion  resulting  from  the  lack  of  codification  of  these 
laws,  rules  and  regulations  can  be  appreciated  only  by  those  who 
have  constructed  or  conducted  operations  in  various  states,  and 
leads  to  errors  in  design  or  false  moves  in  operation  and  construc- 
tion that  are  very  expensive  to  correct.  To  guard  against  these 
the  engineer  must  either  stuff  his  brain  with  a  mass  of  legal  lore 
and  keep  stuffing  afresh  as  new  legislation  is  enacted,  or  make  his 
own  code  and  index  laws  of  each  state  for  convenient  reference. 

Since  the  enactment  of  old  legislation  still  on  the  statute  books 
the  capacities  have  vastly  increased,  the  number  of  men  employed 
underground  doubled  and  trebled,  the  haulage  and  mechanical  prob- 
lems made  much  more  intricate  and  complex,  and  it  is  sometimes 
impractical  or  even  impossible  to  comply  with  these  antique  laws ; 
for  instance,  the  limitation  on  cage  speed  lowering  men  and  number 
of  men  on  a  cage  at  deep  mines,  hoisting  four  to  five  thousand  tons 
per  day  of  eight  hours,  the  number  of  men  on  a  split  regardless 
of  quantity  of  air,  the  innumerable  things  required  of  a  mine  man- 
ager, half  of  which  he  could  not  perform,  in  some  states,  if  he 
had  nothing  else  to  do. 

The  mining  engineer  now  projects  the  underground  workings 
before  the  shaft  is  sunk  and  he  must  be  careful  to  see  that  the 


282         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

mining  system  conforms  to  conditions  demanded  by  the  statutes 
of  the  state,  but  since  the  laws  of  Kentucky  are  different  in  many 
details  from  those  of  Illinois  or  Pennsylvania,  or  Iowa  from  Kansas, 
etc.,  one  must  be  careful  to  avoid  confusion,  even  though  the  min- 
ing conditions  admit  of  standardization. 

The  variety  of  laws  not  only  make  it  difficult  for  the  engineer 
in  laying  out  the  work,  but  cause  radical  differences  in  unit  costs 
and  create  an  injustice  to  investors  or  operating  companies  in  com- 
petitive fields  whereby  the  cost  of  a  new  mine  is  increased  50  per 
cent  or  more  on  account  of  state  laws,  and  another  mine  just  across 
the  state  line  with  duplicate  mining  conditions  can  be  constructed 
and  equipped  for  the  same  capacity  and  production  costs  at  a  much 
less  initial  investment. 

In  Illinois  all  new  shafts  must  be  fireproofed,  while  in  com- 
petitive states  they  may  be  lined  with  wood.  This  item  very  mate- 
rially affects  the  engineers'  estimates  of  construction  cost  and  the 
same  condition  obtains  as  to  the  tipple.  The  fire  risk  is  practically 
the  same  in  all  states,  but  the  engineer  in  preparing  estimates  for  his 
client  must  know  the  law  and  in  certain  states  figure  for  fireproof- 
ing  not  only  the  shafts  and  all  top  buildings,  but  underground  con- 
struction as  well,  for  a  distance  of  300  feet  from  each  shaft. 

The  clearance  between  rail  and  entry  rib  is  fixed  by  law  arid 
varies  in  different  states  and  this  controls  to  a  certain  extent  the 
design  of  the  pit  car.  In  one  state  the  distance  between  crosscuts 
is  sixty  feet,  in  another  forty-five ;  in  Illinois  one  hundred  men  are 
permitted  to  work  on  one  split,  in  Kentucky  sixty  men,  in  Iowa 
eighty,  in  Indiana  fifty,  etc.,  etc.,  and  these  factors  determine  in 
a  measure  the  length  of  panels,  the  working  places  per  panel,  the 
location  and  number  of  overcasts,  doors,  etc. 

The  distance  between  hoisting  and  escape  shaft  varies  several 
hundred  feet  in  different  states;  the  permissible  voltage  for  trans- 
mission of  electricity  may  be  250  in  one  state  and  500  in  another; 
we  must  use  stairways  in  the  escape  shaft  in  one  state  and  may 
use  a  cage  across  the  line ;  we  may  construct  an  underground  stable 
for  mules,  or  may  be  compelled  to  arrange  the  cages  for  hoisting 
the  stock  each  shift ;  we  must  include  a  washroom  in  our  estimated 
cost  at  one  mine  and  cut  it  out  at  another;  we  must  arrange  the 
tipple  in  Illinois,  Ohio,  etc.,  for  weighing  the  coal  from  each  pit 
car,  but  we  can  leave  out  the  scales  in  Kentucky,  where  the  miners 
are  paid  by  face  foot  or  cubic  feet ;  we  must  include  the  cost  of 
a  complete  underground  telephone  system  when  developing  a  mine 


EFFECT  OF  UNIFORM  MINING  LAWS  283 

for  Jones  &  Company  and  can  avoid  that  expense  when  building 
for  Mr.  Smith;  some  ventilating  fans  must  be  arranged  for  con- 
venient reversal  of  air  current,  while  others  may  be  installed  as 
simple  blowers. 

These  are  but  a  few  instances  of  variations  in  the  mining  laws, 
but  should  suffice  to  illustrate  the  confusion  that  may  result  from 
lack  of  uniformity,  and  how  necessary  it  is  for  the  engineer  in 
designing  a  mine  to  be  familiar  with  the  requirements  of  the  laws. 

As  a  general  proposition  there  is  not,  from  an  engineering 
standpoint,  any  reason  why  the  mining  laws  of  the  states  cannot 
be  made  uniform  in  practically  every  section,  with  special  provision 
for  those  districts  or  coal  measures  where  mining  conditions  neces- 
sitate a  departure  from  the  standard  code,  and  such  uniformity 
would  not  only  simplify  the  statutes,  but  would  tend  to  eliminate 
the  penalty  now  imposed  on  operators  in  certain  districts  where  the 
mining  laws  provide  for  most  modern  and  fireproof  construction, 
and,  therefore,  more  investment  and  capital  expenditure. 

It  is  generally  conceded  that  the  mining  laws  of  Pennsylvania 
and  Illinois  embody  the  most  advanced  coal  mining  legislation  en- 
acted to  date,  and  with  these  as  a  basis  it  would  require  only  careful 
and  serious  consideration  of  the  various  sections  by  competent  and 
experienced  mining  men  to  bring  about  a  code  that  would  fulfill  all 
requirements  of  all  the  states,  but  it  would  probably  be  impossible 
to  apply  the  stringent  legislation  that  obtains  in  Illinois  or  Penn- 
sylvania to  such  States  as  Kansas,  Iowa,  etc.,  where  the  short  life 
of  the  mines  prohibits  high-class  and  expensive  construction ;  so  the 
problem  is  one  of  adjusting  or  fitting  a  code  to  existing  conditions 
with  due  consideration  to  the  financial  as  well  as  the  physical  and 
engineering  factors. 

To  the  engineer,  uniform  mining  laws  means  simplification, 
which  is  one  of  the  most  desirable  features  in  any  engineering 
work.  The  physical  conditions  of  the  coal  mining  fields  of  the 
United  States  are  not  so  radically  different  but  that  a  competent 
body  of  men  can  draft  a  set  of  laws,  or  by  synthetic  analysis  of 
those  now  on  our  statute  books,  set  up  a  code  to  fit,  and  all  mining 
engineers  would  be  made  happy  thereby.  However,  the  acceptance 
of  a  general  code  based  on  the  best  and  most  modern  laws  now  in 
existence,  by  operators  and  coal  mining  companies  now  favored  by 
older  and  less  burdensome  legislation,  is  another  question,  and  this 
feature  of  the  case  is  the  real  problem  rather  than  the  actual  work 
of  selecting,  classifying  or  codification  of  a  set  of  mining  laws  that 
could  be  made  to  cover  all  conditions  in  all  fields. 


GEOLOGY  IN  ITS  RELATION  TO  THE  OIL  INDUSTRY. 


Address    Delivered   Wednesday,    November    15,    at   Nineteenth 

Annual  Convention  of  American  Mining  Congress,  by 

J.  C.  McDowell,  of  Pittsburgh. 

In  a  study  of  "Geology  in  Its  Relation  to  the  Oil  Industry," 
we  find  that  oil  and  gas  are  more  widely  distributed  than  any  other 
minerals  being  found  in  practically  every  formation  porous  enough 
to  contain  it  throughout  the  entire  geologic  series,  from  the  Silurian 
to  the  Tertiary  age  in  North  America.  In  each  major  producing 
field  the  oil  and  gas  comes  from  rocks  of  an  age  peculiar  to  that 
field.  For  instance,  the  oil  deposits  of  northwestern  Ohio  and 
Indiana  are  principally  in  the  Trenton  lime  of  Silurian  age.  In 
western  New  York,  the  Province  of  Ontario,  Canada,  and  central 
Ohio  deposits,  up  to  this  time,  of  oil  and  gas,  principally  the 
latter,  are  in  the  Medina  and  Clinton  sandstones  of  the  upper 
Silurian.  Throughout  the  Appalachian  region,  New  York,  Penn- 
sylvania, West  Virginia  and  Kentucky  the  deposits  are  found  prin- 
cipally in  the  many  of  the  sandstone  formations  of  Devonian  age. 
In  Kansas  and  Oklahoma,  at  present,  oil  and  gas  are  found  prin- 
cipally in  the  sandstones  of  the  Carboniferous,  Cretaceous  and 
Tertiary  ages,  while  in  California  and  New  Mexico  the  production 
is  principally,  if  not  all,  from  either  lime  or  sandstone  formations 
of  the  Tertiary.  The  oil  fields  of  Montana  and  Wyoming  are  in  the 
Cretaceous. 

An  analysis  of  the  oil  and  gas  produced  from  each  of  these 
geologic  formations,  covering  aeons,  discloses  a  close  similarity,  sug- 
gesting a  common  origin. 

There  are  two  general  theories  as  to  the  origin  of  oil  and  gas, 
with  many  modifications  of  each.  Briefly,  they  are: 

First — The  inorganic  or  chemical  theory. 

Second — The  organic  theory. 

According  to  the  inorganic  theory,  oil  and  gas  originate  prin- 
cipally from  the  action  of  heated  waters  on  the  iron  carbides  con- 
tained in  the  earth's  crust ;  hydrocarbons,  resembling  oil  and  gas 
have  been  produced  in  the  laboratory  by  this  method. 


GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO  OIL  INDUSTRY  285 

According  to  the  organic  theory,  oil  and  gas  originate  by  the 
action  of  heat  and  pressure  on  animal  and  plant  remains  buried  in 
the  rocks  at  the  time  of  deposition. 

The  process  covers  many  geologic  periods  of  time,  and  although 
slow  in  operation,  it  is  thought  to  be  continuous,  and  that  oil  and 
gas  are  being  generated  now  as  in  the  past  ages.  This  theory  is 
supported  by  the  fact  that  crude  petroleum  can  be  produced  in  the 
laboratory  from  so-called  oil  shales. 

Practically  all  geologists  hold  to  the  organic  theory  of  the 
origin  of  oil  and  gas,  but  there  are  several  eminent  men  among 
them  who  believe  in  the  inorganic  theory.  The  advocate  of  either 
theory  is  able  to  disprove  the  theory  of  the  other  to  his  own  satis- 
faction, but  is  unable  to  conclusively  prove  his  own.  Consequently, 
in  the  absence  of  positive  proof,  when  asked  what  is  the  origin 
of  oil  and  gas,  we  must  answer,  we  do  not  know.  The  interior  of 
nature's  laboratory  is  not  open  to  inspection,  and  it  is  extremely 
doubtful  if  this  question  can  be  solved.  We  think,  however,  that 
the  theory  of  its  origin  held  by  a  geologist  must  to  some  extent 
influence  his  attitude  of  mind  in  attempting  to  locate  deposits. 

While  oil  is  so  widely  disseminated,  like  other  minerals,  its 
accumulation  in  commercial  quantities  is  rare.  The  problem  con- 
fronting the  geologist  is  to  locate  these  deposits.  Profitable  com- 
mercial deposits  are  found  only  when  the  formation  containing  them 
is  enclosed  within  an  impervious  strata  of  rock  or  shale,  usually  the 
latter. 

The  Anticlinal  Theory. 

The  anticlinal  theory  was  first  promulgated  by  Dr.  I.  C.  White, 
about  1880.  It  is  a  theory  to  explain  the  accumulation  of  oil  and 
gas  in  large  quantities.  From  a  study  of  the  distribution  of  oil 
and  gas  pools  in  relation  to  geologic  structure,  he  discovered  that 
the  production  was  generally  found  associated  with  anticlines  or 
earth  folds.  The  anticlinal  theory  of  oil  and  gas  accumulation 
resulted  from  an  attempt  to  explain  this  relation,  and  also  to  explain 
the  relation  of  oil,  gas  and  salt  water,  which  were  observed  to  oc- 
cupy definite  positions  in  the  anticline.  Gas,  the  lightest  substance, 
being  in  the  upper  part  of  the  anticline ;  oil,  the  next  heavier,  below 
the  gas,  and  beneath  the  oil,  the  salt  water. 

The  anticlinal  theory,  in  its  broadest  sense,  is  now  generally 
accepted  by  oil  geologists.  Oil  deposits  are  usually  found  on  or 
along  such  anticlines,  but  there  are  many  modifications  of  this 
theory.  Perhaps  it  might  better  be  said  that  by  recent  studies  the 


286         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

application  of  the  anticlinal  theory  has  been  more  fully  developed, 
and  accumulations  are  found  in  places  where  the  theory  apparently 
does  not  hold,  but  upon  further  study  a  trap  or  some  condition 
similar  to  that  produced  by  anticline  is  found  to  be  present. 

It  is  now  over  thirty  years  since  Dr.  I.  C.  White  first  advo- 
cated his  anticlinal  theory  of  the  deposition  of  oil  and  gas.  Prac- 
tical operators  have  been  very  slow  to  take  full  advantage  of  this 
important  theory.  No  doubt  their  reluctance  or  failure  to  adopt  it 
in  guiding  them  in  the  search  for  new  pools,  and  in  developing 
known  deposits,  was  due  to  a  lack  of  full  understanding  of  the 
application  of  the  theory.  The  most  common  belief  seemed  to  be, 
that  to  be  correct,  the  theory  should  prove  universally  successful  in 
its  application.  It  is  a  common  trait  to  expect  too  much  of  any  new 
theory  stepping  out  in  advance  and  upsetting  the  equanimity  of 
established  practice,  especially  among  men  who  have  gained  their 
knowledge  by  the  sweat  of  their  brow  and  long  years  of  hard, 
practical  operation.  No  doubt  most  operators  who  gave  the  theory 
much  thought  at  all  checked  it  up  against  all  the  exceptions  they 
could  think  of,  and  generally  turned  away  from  it  as  nothing  but 
theory,  notwithstanding  that,  as  operators  checked  up  their  experi- 
ence or  applied  their  judgment  upon  the  possibility  of  .any  field  or 
pool,  they  intuitively  turned  to  the  same  theory  in  comparing  the 
chances  of  production  in  selecting  drilling  locations  from  known 
wells.  Whether  the  sand  raised  or  lowered  in  one  direction  had 
much  to  do  with  the  selection  of  the  location  for  the  well,  the  evi- 
dence disclosed  by  the  drilling  of  each  new  well  was  carefully  con- 
sidered and  applied  in  the  location  of  the  .next  well.  The  higher 
the  top  of  the  sand  rose,  the  more  desirable  was  the  location  in 
that  direction.  The  lower  the  top  of  the  sand  from  that  in  known 
producing  wells,  the  less  desirable  was  the  location  in  that  direction, 
and  if  a  well  drilled  into  water  instead  of  oil  or  gas,  drilling  in  that 
direction  was  either  abandoned  or  greatly  retarded.  To  this  extent 
practically  every  operator  applied,  perhaps  unconsciously,  the  anti- 
clinal theory.  However,,  in  wildcatting,  or  prospecting  in  new  terri- 
tory, not  much  attention  was  paid  to  geologic  structure,  and  this 
f  part  of  the  production  work  remained  much  of  a  gamble,  a  matter 
of  chance.  Wildcatting  was  very  risky,  and  without  any  real  defi- 
nite or  tangible  basis  greater  than,  in  many  instances,  merely  chance. 
In  fact,  the  forerunner  of  oil  or  gas  development,  or  even  wild- 
catting, was  perhaps  the  digging  of  water  wells,  in  which  water 
contaminated  with  petroleum  gave  the  first  hints  of  possible  produc- 


GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO  OIL  INDUSTRY  287 

tion.  Again,  seepage  of  oil  or  gas  at  the  surface  were  indications 
of  possible  reservoirs,  and  occasionally  a  field  was  opened  up 
through  drilling  for  water,  or  salt  or  other  mineral.  Many  of  our 
famous  fields  have  been  opened  up  by  more  adventurous  men,  who 
took  a  long  chance  on  some  such  indication  as  a  small  showing  in 
a  water  well,  or  a  seepage  from  who  knows  where.  The  number 
of  failures  were  far  greater  than  the  successes,  and  the  more  cau-  / 
tious  or  conservative  operators  bought  their  holdings  in  partly  devel- 
oped fields,  in  preference  to  opening  new  pools  by  wildcatting. 

In  years  past,  as  history  of  the  industry  shows,  men  of  strong- 
character  and  who  were  willing  to  take  a  long  chance  for  a  large 
gain,  were  the  pioneers  in  opening  up  new  pools.  Even  in  partly 
developed  pools  the  percentage  of  dry  holes  to  successful  wells  was 
very  large.  The  principal  reasoning  in  locating  wells  was  to  com- 
pare direction,  and  the  operator  was  considered  a  very  fortunate 
man  could  he  but  take  a  lease  lying  between  two  producing  wells. 
Lands  lying  between  producing  wells  commanded  much  higher 
prices  and  values  than  lands  not  so  located.  In  fact,  to  this  day  the 
greatest  number  of  wells  are  located  by  stepping  out  cautiously  from  y 
producing  wells,  and  operators  who  hold  leases  a  half-mile  or  more 
from  a  producing  well  feel  that  they  have  a  good  chance  of  produc- 
tion, and  generally  locate  the  test  well  on  that  portion  of  their  lease 
nearest  the  producing  or  pay  test  well.  Naturally,  the  intervening 
land  is  considered  very  favorable.  However,  an  intervening  well 
is  often  drilled  in  as  a  dry  hole,  and  is  valueless.  In  such  a  case 
the  field  is  designated  as  spotted  and  treacherous.  It  was  found 
that  fields  were  generally  of  greater  length  in  one  direction  than  in 
another,  and  great  stress  was  laid  upon  the  direction  of  the  axis  of 
the  nearest  pool,  and  this  used  as  a  guide  in  directing  drilling.  In 
short,  the  developing  or  proving  up  of  a  field  was  much  a  matter  S 
of  feeling  out  cautiously  for  each  new  well  drilled,  taking  into  ac- 
count the  results  of  each  well  drilled  prior,  until  a  dry  hole  was 
encountered,  and  then  the  direction  of  operations  shifted,  and  so 
on  until  the  field  was  fairly  well  defined  by  dry  holes.  Such  prac- 
tice is  in  great  vogue  today  and  perhaps  the  vast  majority  of  wells 
being  drilled  at  this  time  are  located  in  this  manner. 

Leasing  of  lands  was  conducted  much  in  the  same  way.  When- 
ever a  wildcat  test  is  started  it  is  considered  a  good  practice  to  step 
in  and  take  up  some  leases,  preferably  scattered  in  different  direc- 
tions about  the  drilling  well,  so  that  in  whatever  direction  the  pool 
extends,  the  chances  will  be  good  for  production  in  some  direction 
from  the  test  well. 


288         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

During  all  these  years  Professor  White's  anticlinal  theory  has 
been  given  comparatively  small  attention  notwithstanding  that  more 
recent  work  is  proving  its  fundamental  accuracy  and  far-reaching 
importance  to  the  oil  and  gas  operator.  Without  a  doubt  it  will  in 
time  prove  to  be  probably  next  to  the  discovery  of  the  oil  and  gas 
themselves,  one  of  the  few  great  discoveries  of  the  oil  and  natural 
gas  production  industry.  In  fact,  only  at  this  time  is  a  fuller  and 
truer  conception  of  this  theory  being  had  by  the  practical  operator 
and  its  possibilities  becoming  understood.  Heretofore  too  much 
was  expected  of  this  theory..  Generally  it  was  expected  to  hold  true 
that  a  well  located  on  the  ridge,  and  throughout  the  anticline,  oil 
or  gas  must  be  found,  or  the  theory  fails.  This  is  not  the  case  at 
all,  for  the  ridge  of  any  anticline  is  not  level  or  of  uniform  slope 
or  texture  of  sand  throughout  its  length,  but  there  are  traps  or 
peaks  or  domes  along  the  strike  of  the  anticline  which  are  the  nat- 
ural gathering  points  or  reservoirs  in  which  oil  or  gas  can  collect, 
provided  a  porous  stratum  exists  under  such  domes,  and  also 
provided  oil  or  gas  exists  in  such  stratum  to  gather  in  such  reser- 
voirs. It  does  not  apply  that  oil  or  gas  must  exist  under  every  anti- 
?  cline,  nor  does  it  follow  that  either  must  be  collected  in  the  dome 
if  they  do  exist  in  the  stratum.  Often  a  change  in  texture  or 
porosity  may  form  a  barrier,  and  prevent  the  passage  of  oil  or  gas 
higher  up  in  the  sand.  Naturally  they  tend  to  travel  to  the  highest 
point  in  the  sand  to  which  they  can  pass,  conditional  that  first 
there  is  a  channel  through  which  they  can  find  passage,  either  by 
capillary  force,  by  expansion  of  the  gas  under  its  pressure  and 
tendency  to  fill  all  voids,  and  in  the  case  of  oil,  by  being  able  to 
float  upon  water  in  a  more  porous  formation.  However,  whatever 
the  means  of  causing  the  movement  toward  the  higher  point,  the 
matter  here  considered  is  that  there  can  be  no  passage  where  there 
is  no  opening.  After  the  oil  or  gas  has  once  reached  the  highest 
accessible  point,  it  is  arrested  and  gathers  there,  whether  that  point 
is  a  dome  or  an  anticline,  or  the  highest  extent  of  continuous 
porosity  on  a  natural  slope,  or  whether  it  is  arrested  in  its  travel 
across  flat  or  terrace,  the  matter  is  all  the  same;  it  has  reached 
some  obstruction  retarding  its  further  migration,  and  arresting  it 
there  until  tapped  and  produced  in  commercial  operations. 

As  a  general  rule,  very  little  attention  was  paid  as  to  whether 

7     deposits  which   were   developed  occurred  on   a   fold   or  bore  any 

definite  relationship  to  the  geologic  structure  or  not.    Development 

work  was  carried  on  chiefly  on  the  rule  of  thumb  methods,  with 

rather  tenacious  persistency  to  remain  on  that  basis.     Very   few 


GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO  OIL  INDUSTRY  289 

operating    companies   paid   much   attention   to   the   application   of 
geology  to  deciphering  the  relation  of  existing  fields  to  geologic    I 
structure,  and  very  few,  if  any,  companies  applied  geology  greatly 
to  wildcatting  work. 

Some  of  the  European  companies  operating  in  America  were 
inclined  to  study  the  fields  geologically  in  more  recent  years,  but 
confined  their  work  strictly  to  reconnaissance  work,  but  not  going 
into  plane  table  work  or  actual  surveying. 

In  the  different  main  fields  of  the  country,  as  the  Appalachian 
fields,  the  mid-continent  fields,  the  gulf  coastal  fields,  the  California  ^ 
fields,  and  the  Wyoming  fields,  it  appears  that  the  geological  prob- 
lems are  entirely  different  and  the  experience,  deductions  and  con- 
clusions obtained  in  any  one  of  these  fields  appears  to  involve  a 
problem  entirely  different  from  any  other  field,  and  for  operations 
in  different  fields,  to  be  successful,  work  must  be  studied  from  the 
ground  floor  up,  in  each  case.  In  foreign  fields,  such  as  Mexico, 
with  its  deep-seated  deposits,  apparently  reaching  accessible  shal- 
lower zones,  through  fault  or  other  fissures,  an  entirely  different 
question  is  involved  in  unraveling  the  geological  problem  than  in 
any  field  in  the  United  States.  The  largest  wells  in  the  world  are 
found  there,  but,  like  elsewhere,  the  most  prolific  wells  appear 
to  be  of  the  lower  grade  oils,  there  apparently  being  some  inverse 
relationship  existing  between  quality  and  quantity  throughout  the 
oil-producing  territories. 

Inasmuch  as  each  producing  section  of  the  country  appears 
to  offer  its  own  peculiar  problems  of  relationship  of  deposit  to 
structure,  it  is  practically  necessary  to  study  each  field  by  itself, 
and  often  the  nature  of  the  deposits  change  in  various  parts  of  the 
same  field.  In  the  earlier  attempts  to  unravel  this  relationship,  and 
to  reduce  the  findings  to  practical  purposes,  the  simplest  methods 
were  used,  and  probably  the  most  rational  beginning  was  to  check 
up  the  then  present  developed  fields.  Such  work  was  early  re- 
warded by  good  results.  Probably  the  most  successful  application 
of  geology  to  oil  and  gas  production  is  that  of  the  last  few  years, 
in  the  mid-continent  field  of  Kansas  and  Oklahoma,  where,  during 
the  past  year,  it  may  safely  be  claimed  that  the  application  of  geo- 
logical study  in  the  search  for  and  development  of  oil  and  natural 
gas  along  patient  and  careful  lines  has  resulted  in  opening  up  and 
pointing  out  the  trend  of  geologic  structure,  making  clear  to  all 
operators  a  new  prospective  territory  for  oil  and  gas  development 
every  bit  as  large  as  the  entire  known  productive  area  of  these  two 


J 


290         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

states  prior  to  that  time,  resulting  in  a  leasing  campaign  during 
the  years  1915  and  1916  on  an  extent  never  before  witnessed  in  this 
land. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  several  million  acres  of  land  have  been 
leased  on  this  trend,  and  strange  to  say,  not  only  has  Kansas  acreage 
been  brought  back  into  demand  after  years  of  absolute  condemna- 
tion as  worthless  for  oil  and  gas  purposes,  by  practically  all  of  the 
larger  producers  and  the  state  generally  condemned  from  an  oper- 
ating standpoint,  but  it  is  well  established  that  the  record  prices  of 
the  oil  industry  for  undeveloped  leases  are  now  being  paid  for  that 
even  recently  condemned  territory  of  Kansas.  This  condition  has 
been  brought  about  entirely  by  the  results  obtained  in  carrying  on 
and  applying  geological  study  in  the  search  for  oil  and  gas  by  men 
who  operated  on  a  strictly  scientific  basis;  men  who  had  faith  in 
the  correctness  of  the  anticlinal  theory,  in  its  various  applications, 
and  who  would  not  be  turned  aside  by  the  ridicule  and  comment 
of  many  operators.  The  results  obtained  in  this  work  were  so 
remarkably  successful  and  on  repeated  application  as  to  eliminate 
all  chance  of  mere  good  fortune  and  to  permanently  establish  the 
true  value  of  geology  applied  to  wildcatting  for  and  developing  of 
oil  and  gas  deposits. 

By  this  work  were  opened  three  prolific  oil  and  gas  pools  now 
among  those  attracting  the  attention  of  the  entire  oil  fraternity — 
the  Augusta  pool,  the  North  Augusta  pool  and  the  Eldorado  pool, 
all  of  Butler  County,  Kansas,  which  represent  a  good  individual 
example  of  geology  applied  to  the  oil  industry. 

After  several  years  of  unsuccessful  attempts  to  open  the  Au- 
gusta gas  pool  along  the  customary  practical  lines,  and  this  field 
abandoned  several  times  as  small,  spotted  and  of  no  great  conse- 
quence, crude  methods  of  geological  disclosure  were  attempted, 
which  were  very  successful  from  their  earliest  application  in  1913 
until  today.  We  have  now  one  of  the  great  pools  of  the  mid- 
continent  field.  The  earliest  attempts  were  made  by  taking  the  level 
or  altitude  at  the  rnouth  of  each  of  the  wells  drilled,  whether  pro- 
ductive of  gas  or  dry,  and  plotting  an  arch  representing  the  top  of 
the  gas-bearing  sandstone  stratum  from  the  well  logs  or  drilling 
records,  taking  this  cross  section  at  several  points  and  indicating 
the  true  axis  of  the  anticlinal  dome,  and  thereby  within  a  short 
period  of  time  the  field  was  extended  several  miles  in  length  by 
actually  producing  wells.  Later  a  carefully  prepared  plane  table 
survey  of  the  structure  was  made,  using  the  Ft.  Riley  limestone 


GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO  OIL  INDUSTRY  291 

outcropping  at  the  surface  as  a  base  or  datum  on  which  to  plot  the 
structural  contours,  thus  disclosing  a  dome  or  trap  extending  in 
an  irregular  shape  for  seven  miles  in  length  and  at  least  two  miles 
and  a  half  in  greatest  width.  Meanwhile  detailed  surveys  were 
made  of  many  of  the  older  developed  fields,  checking  up  the  rela- 
tionship of  geologic  structure  to  the  deposits,  even  in  fields  which 
were  replete  with  dry  holes,  and  considered  spotted,  with  rather 
remarkable  results,  and  many  new  views  and  helpful  deductions 
derived.  Such  study  was  used  as  the  basis  for  application  in  the 
forecasting  of  productive  territory  in  the  Augusta  and  Eldorado 
and  other  new  fields.  It  was  very  apparent  that  with  careful  geo- 
logic study  upon  sound  lines  that  practically  all  of  the  main  pro- 
ductive fields  of  Kansas  and  Oklahoma  could  have  been  forecasted 
and  opened  strictly  upon  geological  evidence.  The  famous  Gushing 
field  and  the  Blackwell  field  of  Oklahoma  are  remarkable  concur- 
rences to  geological  structure.  The  extent  and  limits  of  the  Gushing 
field  being  clearly  forecasted  by  geological  surveys  made  after  its 
discovery,  but  prior  to  its  development. 

The  earlier  methods  of  application  were  principally  to  plot 
the  contours  of  the  top  of  the  producing  sand,  or  stratum,  perhaps 
a  thousand  or  several  thousand  feet  underground,  or  of  some 
marked  stratum  underground,  and  easily  identified  in  the  well  logs. 
However,  the  general  features  of  a  vast  territory  can  soon  be 
studied  out  and  its  regularity  as  to  thickness  of  geological  strata 
or  formations  in  the  series  reasonably  determined.  In  such  areas 
where  the  strata  bear  fairly  uniform  thickness  and  individual  strata 
do  not  vary  rapidly,  surface  contours  of  exposed  or  outcropping 
limestones  or  resistent  sandstones  are  sufficiently  accurate  guides 
for  outlining  underground  reservoirs  or  traps  worthy  of  search  or 
wildcatting. 

In  general  it  must  not  be  understood  that  such  forecasting  is 
a  simple  matter,  for  it  is  not.  At  best  there  are  many  chances  of 
failure,  even  after  a  possible  trap  is  disclosed  upon  the  surface  of 
the  ground.  Not  only  is  there  a  danger  of  the  trap  flattening 
before  porous  strata  are  reached,  but  there  may  be  no  porous 
strata  underneath.  Again,  there  may  be,  but  filled  with  salt  water; 
again,  there  may  be  some  denser  impervious  area  intervening  on 
the  slope,  preventing  the  oil  and  gas  from  collecting  in  the  dome 
or  trap,  and  last,  but  not  least,  there  may  be  no  gas  or  oil  in  any 
of  the  formations  tapped  and  so  no  deposit  may  be  found.  Sands 
often  pinch  out  and  terminate.  Sometimes  there  is  a  gradual 


292         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 


GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO  OIL  INDUSTRY  293 

change  from  sandstone  to  limestone,  or  shale,  or  faults  may  occur 
to  permit  the  oil  and  gas  to  escape.  Again,  oil  or  gas  appear  to 
rise  up  into  the  higher  portions  of  the  structure,  chiefly  floating  on 
water,  and  if  the  water  level  or  horizon  is  low  down  on  the  slope, 
the  oil  may  even  occur  in  a  syncline  or  on  a  gentle  slope.  There  are 
many  exceptions  to  the  rule  that  oil  must  occur  at  the  highest  point 
of  a  porous  sand,  and  all  the  various  features  must  be  studied  in 
working  out  the  possibilities  of  a  new  field. 

In  Washington  County,  Oklahoma,  in  a  territory  thoroughly 
tested  out,  in  the  old  way,  and  condemned  as  worthless  by  an 
unusual  number  of  dry  holes  or  failures,  recently  two  good  oil  and 
gas  fields  have  been  opened  by  geological  forecast. 

Only  patient,  careful  thoughtful  study  can  avail.  General 
reconnaissance  alone  cannot  produce  very  successful  results,  and 
the  experience  in  one  section  of  the  country  cannot  avail  in  other 
sections,  as  each  has  its  own  problems. 

Peculiarly,  few  of  the  individual  sectional  fields  have  produc- 
tive formations  in  common.  There  are  sufficient  unconformities 
occurring  in  various  parts  of  our  country  to  in  many  instances 
cause  the  productive  formation  of  one  field  to  be  entirely  missing 
in  another.  The  Ontario  fields  are  of  the  oldest  formations  yet 
found  productive,  while  through  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  West  Vir- 
ginia, Kansas  and  Oklahoma,  Louisiana  and  the  gulf  coastal  plane, 
and  California  the  geological  age  grows  more  recent,  almost  in  the 
order  as  named.  Each  section  has  its  own  characteristics  as  to 
volume  and  size  of  wells,  quality  of  the  oil  or  gas  produced  and 
continuity  or  life  of  production.  The  characteristics  of  any  one 
field  or  section  are  no  criterion  of  those  of  any  other  field,  each 
seeming  to  stand  on  its  own  basis,  and  often  exceptions  are  dis- 
closed which  are  far-reaching  in  their  effect. 

In  the  development  of  the  Augusta,  Kansas,  field  geological 
guidance  has  been  employed  almost  entirely.  The  early  surveys 
of  several  years  ago  have  proven  out  to  be  remarkably  accurate  by 
the  extensive  drilling  to  date.  The  geological  contour  map  ( Fig.  I ) 
illustrates  the  extent  of  the  trap,  as  outlined  by  the  i,25o-foot  con- 
tour, represening  the  last  completely  closing  contour.  This  contour 
has  become  commonly  designated  as  the  "deadline."  It  is  the  out- 
line of  the  trap,  as  indicated  by  the  survey  prior  to  development, 
and  is  proven  such  by  the  great  number  of  dry  holes  drilled  along 
that  line,  tapping  both  the  i,5OO-foot  gas  sand  and  the  2,500- foot 
oil  sand.  By  reference  to  Fig.  2,  on  which  the  "deadline"  is  indi- 


294         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 


GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO  OIL  INDUSTRY  295 

K  4-  E. 


296         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

cated,  it  will  be  seen  that  there  are  only  a  few  producing  oil  and 
gas  wells  a  short  distance  outside  of  the  "deadline,"  while  there 
are  19  dry  holes  drilled  close  to  it  and  well  surrounding  the  pool. 
Within  the  "deadline"  there  are  drilled  235  wells,  114  of  which 
are  gas  wells,  to  the  i,5oo-foot  sand,  and  115  are  paying  oil  wells, 
representing  the  remarkable  record  of  97.4  per  cent  pay  wells, 
drilled  over  a  period  of  three  years. 

In  the  Eldorado  field,  some  fifteen  miles  north  of  the  Augusta 
field,  and  entirely  distinct  and  separate  from  it,  the  discovery  well 
was  drilled  just  one  year  ago.  This  field  was  surveyed  and  fore- 
casted from  its  conception  by  geological  study,  and  the  initial  well 
was  located  on  the  peak  of  the  structural  dome  formed  by  the 
Ft.  Riley  limestone  as  the  datum  or  marker.  This  field  differs  from 
the  Augusta  field  in  that  the  surface  topography  and  the  structural 
contours  closely  coincide.  In  other  words,  the  topographical  peak 
and  the  structural  peak  lie  at  one  common  point. 

The  Augusta  field  topography  does  not  coincide  with  the 
structural  contours.  In  fact,  the  Walnut  River  crosses  one  of  the 
structural  peaks,  thus  placing  the  lowest  point  of  the  topography 
upon  one  of  the  highest  points  of  the  structure.  Thus  it  is  plain 
that  care  must  be  exercised  in  distinguishing  between  the  topog- 
raphy and  the  structure.  This  is  not  easily  done  when  the  out- 
cropping formation  is  shale  or  easily  eroded  sandstone,  nor  in  river 
valleys  filled  with  wash  or  alluvial  deposits.  Every  possible  means 
of  identification  or  disclosure  of  the  structure  available  must  be 
considered  to  procure  the  most  accurate  results. 

Map,  Fig.  Ill,  represents  the  Eldorado  dome,  or  trap,  which 
is  located  on  the  same  general  anticlinal  structure  as  the  Augusta, 
Douglas,  Akron  and  Blackwell  fields,  each  locality  representing  a 
trap  or  dome  on  the  anticline  in  which  a  deposit  has  been  developed 
or  disclosed. 

The  Eldorado  pool  as  outlined  by  the  original  survey  contains 
about  25,000  acres  of  land,  part  of  which  is  condemned  by  a  sharp 
fold  penetrating  the  main  dome  across  sections  12  and  I.  The  past 
year,  since  the  original  discovery  well,  there  have  been  drilled  within 
the  lowest  closing  contour,  at  1,330  feet  above  sea  level,  492  wells, 
of  which  446  are  oil  wells,  21  are  gas  wells,  25  are  dry  holes, 
representing  a  record  of  95  per  cent  productive  wells,  a  record  per- 
haps never  before  equaled  on  so  extensive  a  scale  except  in  the 
Augusta  field,  also  outlined  by  geological  guidance.  (See  Fig.  IV.) 

Lying  between  the  Eldorado  pool  and  the  Augusta  pool,  just 


GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO  OIL  INDUSTRY  297 


Figure  III. 


298         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 


Figure    IV. 


GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO  OIL  INDUSTRY  299 

west  of  the  town  of  Augusta,  lies  a  dome,  or  trap,  constituting  the 
North  Augusta  pool  (Fig.  I),  also  surveyed  and  forecasted  by 
geological  work  prior  to  any  development,  but  now  being  developed 
into  a  very  prolific  pool.  According  to  the  ordinary  practical  meth- 
ods of  development,  intervening  land  would  be  considered  almost 
certain  of  production,  and  that  the  three  pools  would  be  in  one 
continuous  pool.  The  geological  surveys  would  forecast  them  as 
entirely  separate  pools,  not  possible  of  connection,  which  also  being 
fully  borne  out  by  the  number  of  dry  holes  drilled  in  the  interven- 
ing territory. 

Another  feature  disclosed  by  experience  is  that  the  quality  of 
oil  and  gas  produced  in  these  three  pools  from  the  same  sand  or 
stratum  are  different  in  character  and  quality.  The  oil  of  North 
Augusta  field  is  of  38  degrees  Baume  gravity,  and  gives  33  per 
cent  finished  gasoline  and  25  per  cent  finished  kerosene,  and  is  of 
paraffine  base,  free  from  sulphur,  and  is  of  the  highest  grade  crude 
oil  found  in  Kansas-Oklahoma  fields.  The  Augusta  oil,  but  a  few 
miles  away,  is  of  34  degrees  Baume  gravity,  produces  21  per  cent 
finished  gasoline  and  40  per  cent  finished  kerosene,  and  carries  a 
small  amount  of  sulphur.  The  Eldorado  oil  is  of  38  degrees  Baume 
gravity,  gives  30  per  cent  finished  gasoline,  23  per  cent  finished 
kerosene  and  is  free  from  sulphur.  All  these  oils  are  produced 
from  the  same  formation.  There  can  be  no  question  that  the  appli- 
cation of  geological  study  as  applied  to  these  fields  and  to  other 
fields  opened  in  Kansas  and  Oklahoma  in  the  past  two  or  three 
years  is  very  successful,  and  can  be  applied  with  proper  modifica- 
tions to  other  fields.  Kansas  would  not  occupy  the  important  place 
in  the  oil  industry  that  it  does  today  were  it  not  for  the  application 
of  geology  to  the  searching  for  fields  in  that  state,  which  was  prac- 
tically condemned  under  the  ordinary  methods  of  wildcatting. 

Geology  and  Structural  Features  of  the  Augusta  Field. 

The  Devonian  system  in  Oklahoma  and  Kansas  as  disclosed 
at  present  is  represented  by  the  Chattanooga  shale. 

The  Mississippian  system  lies  above  the  Chattanooga  and  con- 
sists mainly  of  limestone  and  chert.  It  has  a  thickness  of  about 
275  feet. 

The  rocks  exposed  at  the  surface  in  the  Augusta  field  are  of 
Permian  age,  and  lie  about  350  feet  above  the  top  of  the  Penn- 
sylvanian  system,  on  which  they  lie  comformably.  The  formations 
exposed  at  the  surface  are: 


300         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

Winfield  limestone    . 25  feet 

Doyle  shale    60  feet 

Ft.   Riley  limestone 40  feet 

Florence  flint  .  20  feet 


Total 150  feet 

The  Winfield  and  Ft.  Riley  limestones  are  excellent  horizons 
for  determining  the  geologic  structure  by  plane  table  methods,  the 
Ft.  Riley  being  used  as  datum  on  which  the  structural  contours  are 
plotted.  (See  Fig.  I.) 

The  Pennsylvanian  system,  which  lies  below  the  surface  at  this 
place,  consists  of  about  2,500  feet  of  alteranting  limestone,  shale 
and  sandstone  beds.  (See  Fig.  V.) 

In  the  Augusta  field  the  first  production  is  found  at  about 
520  feet  below  the  ~Ft.  Riley  limestone.  The  second  production  at 
about  1,500  feet  in  depth,  and  the  third  at  about  2,500  feet.  The 
drilling  to  date  has  not  revealed  any  producing  sands  below  the 
2,5OO-foot  level,  but  it  is  not  unlikely  that  other  producing  sands 
will  be  found.  The  500  and  the  i,4OO-foot  sands  produce  gas,  and 
the  2,5OO-foot  sand  produces  oil.  Another  sand  at  1,700  feet  in 
depth  is  locally  productive  of  oil,  but  it  is  frequently  missed.  A 
remarkable  feature  of  the  2,5oo-foot  sand  is  that  it  contains  no 
gas. 

The  producing  sands  in  the  older  pools  of  the  mid-continent 
fields  lie  in  the  lower  portion  of  the  Pennsylvanian  series,  the  big 
producing  sand  being  known  as  the  Bartlesville  sand.  Several 
sands,  however,  are  locally  productive,  and  have  received  local 
names,  such  as  the  Burgess,  Squirrel,  Peru,  etc. 

These  sands  are  well  known  in  eastern  Kansas  and  north- 
eastern Oklahoma,  where  the  development  for  oil  and  gas  first 
began,  but  their  correlation  across  the  state  into  the  Augusta  field 
has  not  been  established. 

The  2,5OO-foot  sand,  or  Varner  sand,  is  thought  to  be  equiva- 
lent to  the  Peru,  which  lies  in  the  Labette  formation,  between  Ft. 
Scott  and  the  Pawnee  limestones  of  the  Pennsylvanian  system. 

In  Oklahoma  and  Kansas  the  normal  structure  of  the  oil  and 
gas  bearing  formations  is  a  westward  inclining  monocline.  The 
rocks  are  dipping  westward  at  a  rate  of  about  thirty  feet  per  mile, 
away  from  the  Ozark  Mountains,  the  uplift  of  which  seems  to  have 
been  the  center  of  the  crustal  movements  which  caused  the  inclina- 


GEOLOGY  IN  RELATION  TO  OIL  INDUSTRY  301 

tion  of  the  oil-bearing  rocks.  Movements  in  the  earth's  crust,  from 
some  cause,  has  interrupted  the  normal  dip  of  the  strata,  and  pro- 
duced folds.  These  folds,  anticlines,  and  synclines,  as  they  are 
called,  extend  usually  in  a  northeast-southwest  direction  in  the 
mid-continent  field.  They  are  usually  not  long,  continuous  folds, 
but  separate,  irregular  anticlines,  which  succeed  one  another  in  a 
more  or  less  general  direction. 

Thus  the  Eldorado,  North  Augusta,  Augusta,  Rock,  Blackwell, 
Billings  and  Garber  fields  form  a  series  of  separate  domes  along 
a  trend  of  anticlinal  folds.  (See  Fig.  VI.) 

Several  of  these  trends  extend  almost  across  the  states  of 
Kansas  and  Oklahoma.  The  most  easterly  one  passes  through  the 
old  Aliwee — Goody's  Bluff  field — and  another  probably  passes 
through  the  old  Hogshooter  pool.  Still  a  third  extends  through  the 
Cleveland,  Gushing,  Pawhuska  and  Peru  fields,  and  several  others 
are  known  to  exist. 

The  structure  existing  at  Augusta  was  determined  by  a  de- 
tailed survey.  Actual  elevations  above  sea  level  were  established 
at  as  many  points  as  possible  on  top  of  the  Ft.  Riley  limestone,  and 
contours  were  drawn  through  all  points  having  equal  elevation. 
These  contours  have  a  ten-foot  interval.  The  structure  was  mapped 
on  a  scale  of  1,000  feet  per  inch.  In  this  way  the  actual  dip  and 
strike  of  the  strata  at  every  point  could  be  determined  and  the 
structure  accurately  portrayed. 

Reference  to  the  structural  map  (Fig.  I)  will  show  that  the 
Augusta  anticline  is  of  an  irregular  shape.  The  highest  contour  is 
1,290,  and  the  lowest  closing  is  the  1,250,  or  in  other  words,  the 
highest  point  on  the  enclosing  syncline  is  at  least  50  feet  below  the 
peak  of  the  anticline. 

In  general  the  successful  results  so  far  obtained  in  applying 
geological  principles  to  the  practical  production  of  oil  and  gas  are 
but  forerunners  of  what  may  be  expected  in  the  future,  when  fur- 
ther advantage  is  taken  of  the  many  new  discoveries,  theories  and 
conclusions  now  being  disclosed  to  the  operators  following  geo- 
logical guidance. 

In  a  paper  of  this  kind,  and  at  the  present  time,  it  would  be 
unwise  to  disclose  further  theories,  the  application  of  which  our 
geologists  have  convinced  us  have  been  the  chief  factors  in  their 
remarkable  successes  in  locating  oil  and  gas  deposits  in  the  mid- 
continent  field. 


302         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

In  preparing  this  paper  I  am  greatly  indebted  to  Mr.  Alfred 
J.  Diescher,  vice-president,  and  Everett  Carpenter,  chief  geologist, 
of  the  Empire  Gas  &  Fuel  Company,  to  whose  original  ideas,  per- 
sistence and  painstaking  work  we  feel  we  are  indebted  for  valuable 
discoveries. 

J.  C.  MCDOWELL, 
President,  Empire  Gas  &  Fuel  Company. 


THE  SHERMAN  LAW  AND  ITS  RELATION  TO  MINING. 

Address    Delivered    Wednesday,    November    15,   by   Glenn   W. 

Traer,  of  Chicago,  at  Nineteenth  Annual  Convention  of 

American  Mining  Congress. 

During  the  past  year  we  have  numerous  illustrations  of  how 
the  law  of  supply  and  demand  sometimes  works  in  favor  of  sellers. 

Everyone  knows  what  has  happened  in  connection  with  iron 
and  steel,  copper,  zinc,  chemicals,  wheat  and  many  other  commodi- 
ties. Common  labor  costs  twenty-five  to  thirty  cents  per  hour  in 
Chicago  today  and  is  scarce  at  that.  Two  years  ago  the  bread 
lines  numbered  thousands.  The  rising  tide  finally  has  reached  and 
lifted  even  bituminous  coal. 

The  custom  in  ordinary  times  is  for  several  millions  of  do- 
mestic consumers,  who  could  easily  and  cheaply  secure  their  au- 
tumn coal  supply  during  the  summer  months,  to  refuse  to  do  so 
and  throw  the  peak  load  of  their  requirements  upon  the  market 
in  October  and  November.  Industrial  consumers  are  not  so  com- 
pletely improvident,  but  their  requirements  are  materially  increased 
at  the  same  time.  This  custom  of  ordinary  times  is  continued 
•  with  cheerful  optimism  into  a  situation  like  the  present  one.  The 
railroads  are  overwhelmed  with  freight  and  are  unable  to  furnish 
sufficient  cars  and  motive  power  to  keep  the  mines  in  steady  op- 
eration. Consumers  find  prospects  of  delivery  remote  and  uncer- 
tain. Cheerful  optimism  gives  place  to  alarm  and  a  buying  panic 
ensues.  It  is  no  more  unnatural  that  coal  prices  should  rise  rap- 
idly and  largely  under  such  circumstances,  than  that  wheat  should 
do  so  under  like  conditions. 

Fortunately,  it  is  probable  that  the  acuteness  of  the  situation 
is  only  temporary  and  may  pass  in  a  few  months.  It  is  undoubtedly 
true,  however,  that  the  normal  demand  for  coal  has  suddenly  ex- 
panded in  a  material  degree  and  that  the  level  of  prices  will  be 
substantially  higher  for  a  number  of  years  to  come. 

I  believe  it  to  be  undoubtedly  true,  also  that  the  level  of  prices 
is  now  very  much  higher  and  will  remain  perceptibly  higher  for  a 
considerable  time,  than  would  have  been  the  case  if  the  industry 


304         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

had  not  been  so  weakened  and  depressed  by  extreme  and  need- 
lessly severe  competition. 

A  period  of  severe  depression,  without  ability  to  mitigate  the 
peculiarly  exhausting  competition  which  is  characteristic  of 
bituminous  coal  mining,  leaves  the  industry  with  no  recuperative 
financial  power  and  with  lessened  productive  power. 

Perhaps  the  most  noticeable  weakness  at  first,  is  a  lack  of 
miners  and  laborers  at  the  mines.  Too  many  operators  have  been 
trying  to  keep  their  mines  in  operation.  The  aggregate  available 
business  has  been  sufficient  to  give  them  only  very  slack  running 
time.  The  miners  and  laborers  have  averaged  less  than  two  hun- 
dred days'  work  per  year,  for  a  number  of  years.  When  other 
industries  became  more  active  many  men  were  drawn  away  from 
mining,  by  the  prospect  of  steady  work  elsewhere.  Under  the 
sudden  peak  load  of  autumn  demand  the  coal  operator  is  confronted 
with  inability  to  operate  his  mines  a  considerable  portion  oi  the 
time  from  lack  of  railroad  cars ;  and  with  lessened  capacity  on  run- 
ning days,  from  lessened  working  force. 

For  years  coal  operators  have  dwelt  upon  these,  as  well  as 
other  peculiar  features  of  the  industry,  and  have  predicted,  as  one 
of  the  results,  precisely  what  is  happening  now.  We  have  per- 
sistently urged  upon  the  public  and  upon  the  law-makers  that  the 
federal  anti-trust  laws  be  amended  so  as  to  permit  some  reason- 
able regulation  of  destructive  competition.  We  have  asked  that 
this  be  permitted  only  under  the  eye  and  subject  to  the  control 
of  a  commission,  whose  approval  should  be  subject  to  reversal  by 
the  courts,  but  until  reversed  and  the  reversal  disobeyed,  would 
protect  the  parties  from  criminal  prosecution.  To  the  criticism 
that  a  commission  ought  not  to  be  intrusted  with  such  a  power,  it 
has  .been  answered  that  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission, 
for  years  has  been  vested  with  and  has  exercised  greater  power 
and  its  findings  are  generally  considered  to  have  added  greatly  to 
the  public  welfare,  including  even  the  railroads  themselves. 

It  has  been  shown  that  unregulated  and  destructive  competi- 
tion, such  as  has  existed  in  the  bituminous  coal  industry,  is  inimical 
not  only  to  invested  capital,  but  to  the  best  interest  of  the  work- 
men in  the  industry  and  to  the  general  public.  The  fundamental 
difference  has  been  pointed  out,  between  competition  in  a  mere 
merchandising  and  industries  based  upon  the  preparation  for  mar- 
ket of  exhaustible  and  irreplaceable  natural  resources.  It  has  been 
made  plain  that  without  special  forms  of  regulation,  competition  in 
bituminous  coal  mining  is  carried  on  practically  under  duress  and 


SHERMAN  LAW  AND  ITS  RELATION  TO  MINING       305 

without  reasonable  equality  of  advantage  or  disadvantage  as  be- 
tween buyer  and  seller ;  also  that  a  continuance  of  destructive  com- 
petition drives  irresistibly  toward  the  natural  elimination  of  com- 
petition through  the  absorption  of  the  weak  and  exhausted  by 
the  strong.  It  is  as  futile  to  protest  and  threaten  against  such  a 
tendency  as  against  the  operation  of  any  other  natural  law.  This 
agitation  was  commenced  as  long  ago  as  1911. 

In  1914  the  federal  anti-trust  laws  were  amended  by  the  so- 
called  Clayton  Act  and  the  Trade  Commission  Act.  Neither  of 
these  laws,  however,  reflects  a  practical  understanding  of  the  prob- 
lems of  industry  or  a  spirit  of  helpfulness. 

They  seem  rather  to  reflect  a  spirit  of  ossified  suspicion,  harsh- 
ness and  increased  restraint.  The  subject  assigned  to  me  does  not 
call  for  a  discussion  of  these  acts  except  as  they  relate  to  bituminous 
coal  mining. 

I  think  it  is  fair  to  say  that  the  provisions  of  the  Clayton  Act 
furnish  no  helpful  suggestion  for  dealing  with  the  present  prac- 
tical problems  of  this  industry  or  any  that  appear  likely  to  de- 
velop. Sections  four  and  five  threaten  even  the  weak  who,  in  the 
struggle,  not  for  monopoly,  but  for  self-preservation,  may  dare 
to  co-operate  for  the  regulation  of  peculiarly  destructive  competi- 
tive conditions  in  their  industry. 

I  think  it  is  fair  to  say  also  that  the  Trade  Commission  Act 
strongly  resembles  an  attempt  to  give  the  appearance  of  some- 
thing without  giving  the  substance.  No  reflection  or  criticism  upon 
the  commission  personally  is  intended.  For  its  evident  desire  and 
efforts  to  be  just,  helpful  and  constructive,  the  commission  is  en- 
titled to  proper  credit.  .The  weakness  is  in  the  law.  No  initiative 
power  is  conferred  upon  the  commission  except  to  prevent  the  use 
of  "unfair  methods  in  competition."  The  vagueness  of  the  power 
is  self-evident.  The  word  unfair  of  course  is  not  meant  in  an 
ethical  sense,  but  in  a  legal  sense.  No  legal  definition  of  unfair 
methods  in  competition  exists. 

No  single  definition  could  be  made  which  would  be  wholly 
comprehensive.  From  the  passage  of  the  original  Sherman  Act 
until  a  conclusive  legal  definition  of  restraint  of  trade  was  laid 
down  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  was  about  twenty- 
four  years.  Doubtless  within  the  same  period  of  time  we  might 
have  numerous  acts  in  competition,  legally  identified  as  unfair.  But 
does  anyone  believe  that  the  list  will  be  completed  and  closed 
within  that  time  or  ever,  so  that  a  business  man  can  determine  in 
advance  of  being  prosecuted  what  he  may  or  may  not  do  safely?  It 


306         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

seems  as  probable,  if  not  more  so,  that  the  courts  will  declare  this 
provision  of  the  act  invalid  for  indefiniteness,  not  only  of  expression 
but  of  reasonable  ascertainment,  under  the  rules  of  statutory  in- 
terpretation. 

Other  than  that  to  which  I  have  just  referred,  the  commis- 
sion is  vested  only  with  power  to  make  investigations  and  reports 
and  recommendations  to  superior  authorities.  In  the  matter  of 
these  investigations  it  has  the  initiative  in  only  one  class  of 
cases ;  that  is,  cases  which  already  have  been  finally  decided  against 
the  defendants ;  and  for  the  purpose  only  of  ascertaining  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  final  decree  of  the  court  has  been  or  is  being 
carried  out. 

Only  upon  the  application  of  the  Attorney  General  may  the 
commission  make  investigations  and  recommendations  prior  to 
prosecution;  and  in  such  cases  its  recommendations  are  given  no 
force  or  effect  and  can  have  none  except  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
Attorney  General.  The  office  of  Attorney  General  was  created  to 
advise  and  assist  the  executive  in  the  enforcement  of  laws.  The 
form  and  personnel  of  organization  are  not  designed  for  admin- 
istrative or  constructive  work.  Its  activities  should  be  confined 
to  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  created.  It  was  not  created  to 
officially  advise  citizens,  either  natural  or  corporate,  and  could  not 
undertake  to  do  so.  If  the  Attorney  General  were  to  issue  an 
opinion  passing  upon  the  legal  significance  of  the  acts  of  a  citizen 
or  citizens,  such  opinion  would  have  no  direct  legal  effect  whatever. 

I  submit  to  this  Congress  whether  the  governmental  answer 
to  its  pleas  for  assistance  in  working  out  a  difficult  public  prob- 
lem, in  the  best  interest  of  the  whole  public,  is  in  any  way  ade- 
quate or  should  be  accepted  as  conclusive. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  answer  should  be  that  it  is  not;  and 
that  this  organization  should  not  rest  until  a  juster  and  more 
equitable  state  of  law  has  been  brought  about,  together  with  con- 
structive methods  for  its  administration. 

I  urge  that  you  again  assert  that  it  is  the  deliberate  judgment 
of  your  organization  that  arrangements  among  producers  and  dis- 
tributors shall  not  be  declared  unlawful,  unless  the  purpose  or  the 
necessary  result  shall  be  harmful  to  the  public  interest  or  shall 
give  either  buyer  or  seller  an  arbitrary  advantage;  also  that  the 
Trade  Commission  shall  be  vested  with  power  to  pass  upon  the 
propriety  of  such  arrangements,  with  power  in  the  courts  to  re- 
verse the  findings  of  the  commission,  but  that  no  person  or  corpo- 
ration shall  be  liable  to  criminal  prosecution  or  civil  damages  while 
acting  within  the  scope  of  an  order  of  the  commission. 


OIL  STORAGE. 


Address  Delivered  by  Garrett  B.  James  of  Chicago,  Thursday, 

November   16,  at   Nineteenth  Annual  Convention 

of  American  Mining  Congress. 


Introduction. 

Although  the  petroleum  industry  of  America  is  of  compara- 
tively recent  origin,  the  crude  oil  has  without  doubt  been  long  used 
by  the  Indians.  In  Sagard's  Histoire  du  Canada,  published  in  1632, 
is  a  letter,  dated  1629,  which  describes  a  visit  of  a  Franciscan  to 
the  oil-springs  of  what  is  now  the  State  of  New  York.  Even 
though  the  existence  of  petroleum  over  quite  a  large  area  in  the 
United  States  was  known  at  an  early  date,  there  are  no  records 
of  the  systematic  collection  of  oil  prior  to  its  being  obtained  in 
fairly  large  quantities  from  the  brine-wells  which  were  worked  for 
salt  extraction. 

According  to  authentic  records  the  first  oil  well,  drilled  by 
steam  power,  in  the  United  States,  was  located  near  Titusville,  Pa., 
in  August,  1859,  by  Mr.  E.  L.  Drake.  Thus  the  year  1859  marks  the 
beginning  of  the  commercial  development  of  oil  resources  in  this 
country.  The  first  flowing  well  was  completed  about  two  years 
later.  The  following  statement  serves  to  indicate  the  early  growth 
of  the  American  petroleum  industry:  "In  1859  the  total  produc- 
tion, which  was  wholly  obtained  from  Oil  Creek,  was  2,000  barrels. 
In  June,  1860,  the  wells  along  Oil  Creek  yielded  about  200  barrels 
daily,  and  in  September  about  700.  The  yield  then  rapidly  in- 
creased, owing  to  the  discovery  of  flowing  wells,  until  during  the 
winter  and  spring  of  1861  to  1862  it  amounted  to  about  15,000 
barrels  daily.  The  price  obtained  for  the  crude  oil  then  fell  so  low 
that  production  was  largely  arrested,  until  'the  production  in  1863 
was  scarcely  half  that  of  the  beginning  of  1862,  and  that  of  1864 
still  less.  In  May,  1865,  the  production  had  declined  to  less  than 
4,000  barrels  a  day,  the  valley  of  Oil  Creek  being  the  only  producing 
locality  at  that  time'."  (Cone  and  Johns,  Petrolia,  N.  Y.,  1870.) 

After  the  middle  of  the  year  1864  the  industry  began  to  ex- 
pand, and  the  production  has  since  steadily  increased  with  the  open- 
ing of  new  fields  in  different  parts  of  the  United  States.  A  com- 


308         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

bination  of  the  figures  for  marketed  production  and  of  the  esti- 
mated quantity  of  oil  placed  in  producers'  storage  gives  more  than 
290,000,000  barrels  as  the  total  yield  of  the  oil  wells  of  the  United 
States  in  1914.  (Mineral  Resources  of  U.  S.,  1915.) 

As  all  the  petroleum  is  not  marketed  immediately  after  pro- 
duction containers  for  storage  are  a  necessity.  Some  form  of 
either  temporary  or  permanent  storage  tank  must  be  provided 
wherever  an  oil  field  is  opened  up  and  also  at  receiving  points 
for  the  refinery  industries. 

Nature  and  Characteristics  of  Material. 

Crude  petroleum  varies  greatly  in  character  and  physical  prop- 
erties. It  varies  in  color  from  straw-yellow  to  brownish-black. 
Some  samples  are  highly  mobile  while  others  are  quite  viscid.  Ac- 
cording to  different  authors  the  specific  gravity  ranges  from  0.771 
to  1. 06.  The  origin  of  petroleum  has  been  the  subject  of  much 
discussion  among  chemists  and  geologists  for  a  number  of  years. 
Two  groups  of  theories  have  been  set  forth,  namely,  the  inorganic 
and  the  organic.  The  inorganic  theories  consider  petroleum  to  have 
been  produced  from  inorganic  substances,  while  the  organic  the- 
ories state  that  it  has  resulted  from  the  decomposition  of  animal 
or  vegetable  matter,  or  both.  The  organic  theories,  while  still  sub- 
ject to  considerable  speculation,  are  now  generally  accepted.  The 
two  general  classes  into  which. petroleum  may  be  divided  are  those 
of  the  "paraffin-base"  and  the  "asphaltic-base."  The  first  class 
mentioned  yields  solid  hydrocarbons  of  the  paraffin  series  while 
the  other  class  is  rich  in  asphalt  and  contains  practically  no  solid 
paraffins.  No  sharp  line  of  distinction  can  be  drawn,  as  some  oils 
contain  both  asphalt  and  paraffin.  Chemically  speaking,  crude 
petroleum  may  be  considered  to  consist  essentially  of  a  complex 
mixture  of  hydrocarbons  of  different  boiling  points  often  accom- 
panied by  sulphur,  nitrogen  and  oxygen  in  small  amounts. 

Flash  point  determinations  conducted  on  samples  of  crude  oil 
show  results  as  low  as  — i8.5°C.  ( — i.3°F.)  with  the  Abel-Pensky 
instrument.  Tests  of  the  explosive  range  of  petroleum  vapors  have 
been  conducted  by  numerous  investigators,  the  results  indicating 
that  mixtures  of  the  vapor  with  air,  containing  2.5  to  10  or  n  per- 
cent of  vapor  by  volume  are  explosive. 

Present  Methods  of  Oil  Storage. 

Three  general  types  of  storage  tanks  are  in  use  in  the  oil  fields, 
namely:  Steel  tank  with  wooden  roof,  steel  tank  with  gas-tight 
steel  roof,  and  earthen  tank.  Steel  storage  tanks  are  sometimes  of 


OIL  STORAGE  309 

35,000  or  37,500  barrel,  but  usually  of  55,000  barrel  capacity.  At 
the  end  of  the  year  1915,  there  had  been  erected  in  the  State  of 
Oklahoma  1,552  steel  tanks  of  the  55,000  barrel  size  and  17  more 
were  in  process  of  construction  (Oil  and  Gas  Journal,  Tulsa,  Okla.). 
The  number  of  35,000  and  37,500  barrel  tanks  that  had  been  com- 
pleted in  Oklahoma  up  to  the  end  of  1915  was  913.  From  these 
figures  it  may  be  estimated  that  over  $8,000,000  is  invested  in  steel 
tanks  in  this  one  state  alone.  The  cost  of  hauling  and  grading 
for  these  tanks  amounted  to  over  $25,000,000. 

In  the  construction  of  the  large  steel  tanks  with  wooden  roofs 
the  steel  entering  into  the  tank  shell  and  bottom  is  generally  of 
open  hearth  steel  plate.  The  roof  is  supported  on  wood  posts  with 
plates  at  the  top.  A  wood  sheathing  is  then  nailed  over  wood 
rafters  and  covered  with  galvanized  sheet  steel,  closely  nailed,  or 
with  roofing  paper. 

In  the  construction  of  the  steel  tanks  with  gas-tight  steel  roofs, 
wood  posts  are  usually  eliminated  and  the  roof  supports  consist  of 
channels  and  I  beams  on  pipe  posts  in  place  of  wood  supports. 

Usually  the  oil  fields  are  so  far  from  the  railroads  that  it  is 
impossible  to  build  tanks  fast  enough  to  take  care  of  production, 
and  much  oil  has  to  be  stored  in  earthen  reservoirs  which  are  not 
much  more  than  holes  in  the  ground,  roofed  sometimes  with  corru- 
gated iron  or  loose  wood  construction. 

The  loss  of  natural  resources  occasioned  by  storing  oil  in 
earthen  storage  has  been  brought  out  very  forcibly  many  times  and 
it  may  be  easily  perceived  that  the  lighter  constituents  of  the  oil 
will  soon  pass  from  it  into  the  air  when  no  roof  is  provided  for 
the  tank.  The  roofs  on  any  covered  earthen  tanks  are  generally 
of  loose  construction  and  evaporation  takes  place,  but  not  quite  as 
readily  as  in  the  case  of  open  storage.  In  addition  to  the  evapora- 
tion loss  a  considerable  amount  of  oil  is  lost  due  to  seepage.  Oil 
standing  in  open  earthen  reservoirs  has  been  known  to  shrink  as 
much  as  40  per  cent  in  the  course  of  15  to  20  days. 

The  two  main  points  to  be  considered  in  the  storage  of  petro- 
leum are  evaporation  and  fire  hazard.  The  loss  of  the  lighter  or 
more  volatile  constituents  of  the  oil  lowers  its  value  to  a  more  or 
less  marked  extent  from  the  refiner's  point  of  view.  The  open 
storage  oil  is  reduced  in  valueN  probably  30  to  40  per  cent,  but  the 
fire  hazard  is  somewhat  lower,  this  immunity  being  secured  due 
to  the  loss  of  the  more  volatile  content. 

Detail  figures  showing  the  loss  by  evaporation  or  seepage  from 
a  55,000  barrel  wood  roof  steel  tank  in  Oklahoma  during  the  sumr 


310         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

mer  and  fall  of  1914  are  given  below.  The  bottom  and  shell  of 
the  tank  seemed  to  be  in  good  condition  and  the  wood  roof,  covered 
with  paper  and  tarred,  was  apparently  tight.  Between  June  26 
and  September  4  the  loss  was  equivalent  to  993  barrels.  The  tank 
was  then  topped  out  and  the  loss  between  September  7  and  Novem- 
ber 23  amounted  to  slightly  over  1,100  barrels,  making  the  total 
loss  about  2,100  barrels  between  June  26  and  November  23.  Other 
similar  tanks  showed  a  loss  of  between  2,000  and  2,500  barrels 
during  the  same  period. 

No  detail  figures  concerning  the  loss  of  oil  during  storage  in 
steel  tanks  with  gas-tight  steel  roofs  were  available  for  comparison 
against  the  figures  given  above,  but  with  tight  roofs  the  evapora- 
tion has  been  found  to  be  very  much  less.  The  estimated  cost  of 
putting  on  riveted  and  caulked  steel  roofs  on  steel  rafters  with 
posts,  plates,  etc.,  of  steel  is  about  $5,000  to  $6,000  while  the  esti- 
mated cost  of  the  waoden  roofs  generally  used  is  between  $3,000 
and  $3,500.  A  very  conservative  estimate  of  three  per  cent  saving 
yearly,  due  to  decreased  evaporation  losses  with  gas-tight  roofs, 
should  be  considered.  Figuring  that  the  average  amount  in  a  55,000 
barrel  tank  is  50,000  barrels,  the  yearly  saving  would  be  1,500 
barrels  of  gasoline.  As  this  gasoline  is  worth  at  least  $4.00  per 
barrel,  the  yearly  saving  due  to  the  gas-tight  roof  would  be  about 
$6,000.  On  this  basis  the  difference  of  $3,000  in  cost  between  the 
steel  roof  and  the  wood  roof  would  usually  be  saved  in  a  little 
over  six  months  and  in  most  cases  in  less  than  one  year.  A  new 
wooden  roof  could  be  replaced  by  a  steel  gas-tight  roof  and  the 
whole  expense  could  be  met  by  the  saving  due  to  decrease  in  evap- 
oration losses  in  two  or  three  years. 

Submerged  concrete  tanks  have  been  advocated  in  some  parts 
of  the  United  States  and  a  number  of  such  containers  have  been 
built.  The  construction  cost  has  been  high,  and  so  far  their  use 
for  the  storage  of  oil  has  not  always  been  satisfactory,  as  it  is 
difficult  to  build  a  large  reservoir  through  which  the  oil  does  not 
seep  to  some  extent.  It  is  often  necessary  to  run  water  into  con- 
crete reservoirs  to  save  the  oil,  the  seepage  sometimes  amounting 
to  hundreds  of  barrels  per  day. 

Fires. 

A  complete  record  of  oil  fires  in  Oklahoma  and  Texas  since 
the  start  of  production  is  unobtainable.  An  examination  of  all 
available  records  covering  the  period  from  January,  1907,  to  Jan- 
uary, 1916,  shows  that  about  99  per  cent  of  all  fires  were  due  to 


OIL  STORAGE  311 

lightning.  Of  the  total  losses  32  per  cent  occurred  during  the 
month  of  August,  and  no  losses  were  recorded  for  December  or 
January. 

Fires  of  oil  in  storage  may  be  attributed  to  many  different 
causes  falling  within  two  general  classes,  viz. :  ignition  by  electrical 
discharge  and  ignition  by  communicated  flames.  Matches,  smoking 
open  lights  and  friction  have  also  been  responsible  for  oil  tank 
fires.  Defective  electrical  installations  and  unprotected  electric  light 
bulbs  may  also  cause  oil  fires  and  have  been  known  to  have  done 
so.  The  boiling  over  of  burning  oil  has  often  communicated  flames 
from  one  tank  to  its  surroundings,  causing  additional  losses. 
Lightning  has  caused  fires  by  striking  drilling  derricks,  gas  wells, 
oil  wells  from  which  considerable  quantities  of  gas  were  allowed 
to  escape,  flow  tanks,  stock  tanks,  gathering  lines  and  pipe  lines 
and  the  flames  being  communicated  to  near  by  tanks. 

In  an  oil  field,  lightning  does  not  always  strike  single  objects. 
For  example,  a  fire  in  the  Gushing  field  of  Oklahoma  might  be 
cited.  On  August  27,  1914,  a  single  flash  of  lightning  caused  a 
dazzling  sheet  of  flame  more  than  three-quarters  of  a  mile  in 
length  and  simultaneously  ignited  three  55,000  barrel  steel  tanks 
and  many  smaller  tanks  covering  a  range  of  one  mile  in  length 
and  one-fourth  of  a  mile  in  width.  The  large  extent  of  the  fire 
may  be  considered  as  due  to  the  fact  that  the  lightning  flashed  into 
a  highly  inflammable  atmosphere,  over  the  field,  composed  of  air 
and  gas.  Such  an  example  serves  well  to  indicate  that  storage 
tanks  should  be  located  away  from  the  producing  field.  Open  fires 
have  been  responsible  for  some  quite  extensive  conflagrations  and 
a  number  of  smaller  oil  fires.  Ignition  has  been  caused  by  fires 
under  boilers  or  in  derrick  forges,  by  unprotected  lamps,  burning 
matches  and  smoking. 

Numerous  miscellaneous  causes  may  be  mentioned,  among 
which  are  grass  fires,  brush  fires,  spontaneous  heating  of  oily 
clothes  and  ignition  of  waste  oil  in  the  field  or  near  storage  tanks. 

Present  Methods  of  Fire  Protection. 

The  precautions  commonly  taken  for  protection  of  storage 
tanks  against  loss  by  fire  are  as  follows : 

(1)  Permanently  grounding  all  flow  lines  or  other  pipe  lines 
before  making  tank  connections. 

(2)  Building  a  retaining  wall  or  embankment  around  each. 

(3)  Having  steam  connections  to  all  tanks  and  maintaining 


312         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

steam'  pressure  in  boilers  so  that  live  steam  may  be  turned  into 
tanks  on  the  approach  of  a  storm. 

The  practice  of  grounding  all  flow  lines  and  other  pipe  lines 
before  making  connections  to  tanks  is  generally  observed  in  the 
oil  fields  and  on  the  tank  farms.  The  usual  method  employed  for 
pipe  lines  laid  on  top  of  the  ground  is  to  bury  them  for  a  short 
distance  near  each  tank  or  well  to  which  they  are  connected.  Unless 
pipe  lines  are  properly  grounded,  there  is  a  danger  of  lightning 
causing  the  entire  pipe  line  to  become  heavily  charged.  This  might 
result  in  serious  fires  at  all  tanks  and  wells  to  which  the  line 
connects. 

The  embankments,  built  up  of  earth,  around  tanks  are  usually 
high  enough  to  retain  the  contents  of  the  tank  in  a  quiet  state,  but 
when  the  oil  is  heated  to  such  an  extent  that  boiling  occurs,  and 
particularly  if  the  earth  is  wet  or  water  covered,  the  boiling  of  the 
oil  causes  it  to  overflow  the  embankment.  In  such  a  case  addi- 
tional embankments  are  usually  thrown  up  to  prevent  the  spread  of 
the  flames.  Cannons  are  sometimes  provided  on  tank  farms,  in 
order  to  be  able  to  shoot  a  solid  projectile  through  the  wall  of  the 
tank.  In  this  way  the  oil  can  be  permitted  to  run  out  over  the  sur- 
face of  the  ground  where  it  will  burn  harmlessly  within  its  pre- 
scribed bounds. 

Most  of  the  steel  storage  tanks  are  provided  with  steam  con- 
nections at  the  goose  necks,  but  some  tanks  have  no  provisions  made 
for  the  use  of  steam  over  the  surface  of  the  oil  contents.  The  steam 
when  properly  applied,  causes  the  liberated  gas  and  oil  vapors  to 
be  blanketed  and  rendered  incombustible.  The  steam  lines  in  many 
instances  are  laid  on  the  surface  of  the  ground,  uncovered,  and 
the  heavy  rains  that  usually  accompany  an  electrical  storm  serve 
to  cool  the  pipe  and  cause  condensation.  It  is  doubtful  whether  a 
sufficient  volume  of  steam  could  be  delivered  through  such  a  line 
to  be  effective  at  a  tank  any  distance  away.  The  apparent  failure, 
in  some  cases,  of  steam  to  prevent  the  loss  of  tanks  by  fire  cannot 
be  considered  as  a  proof  that  it  is  inadequate ;  the  methods  of  appli- 
cation were  probably  at  fault. 

Suggested  Precautions. 

The  precautions  usually  taken  have  undoubtedly,  in  many 
instances,  prevented  fires  or  served  to  reduce  the  amount  of  loss 
by  fire.  It  is  also  true  that  there  have  been  instances  when  the 
best  methods  of  protection  yet  applied  have  failed  in  their  purpose. 
Steam  lines  for  all  tanks  should  be  of  large  size  and  'enclosed  in 


OIL  STORAGE  313 

tight  wooden  boxes  or  otherwise  insulated  to  prevent  condensation. 
Suitable  ground  connection  should  be  made  at  each  tank.  All  pipe 
lines  should  be  either  underground  or  buried  for  a  short  distance 
near  each  tank  or  well  to  which  they  connect. 

Drainage  pipe  connections  of  large  size  should  be  made  to 
each  tank,  whereby  a  portion  of  the  contents  may  be  withdrawn 
by  means  of  suction  pumps  and  delivered  to  other  tanks  at  a  safe 
distance  from  the  fire.  Strainers  of  large  capacity,  and  so  arranged 
as  to  be  readily  cleaned  without  interrupting  the  flow  of  oil,  should 
invariably  be  installed  in  such  suction  lines,  as  otherwise  the  pump 
would  be  rendered  inoperative  by  the  quantities  of  charcoal  or 
other  material  that  would  find  its  way  into  the  suction  line  with 
the  oil. 

The  most  effective  means  known  of  reducing  the  fire  hazard 
of  oil  in  steel  storage  would  be  the  equipment  of  all  steel  tanks  with 
gas-tight  steel  roofs,  properly  vented,  so  as  to  eliminate  any  possi- 
bility of  back-firing.  All  steel  tanks  and  pipe  lines  connected  to 
them  should  be  thoroughly  grounded  electrically.  The  wooden 
roofs  at  present  in  use  on  steel  tanks  may  be  greatly  improved  by 
the  addition  of  a  substantial  metallic  sheathing,  making  good  gas- 
tight  electrical  connection  with  the  shell  of  the  tank,  thoroughly 
grounding  the  tank  electrically,  and  making  the  roof  gas-tight.  The 
electrical  connection  between  the  metallic  covering,  over  the  wood, 
and  the  shell  of  the  tank,  may  be  made  by  bringing  the  sheathing 
over  and  under  the  angle  iron  at  the  top  of  the  shell.  This  joint 
should  be  made  gas-tight  by  means  of  caulking  or  a  suitable  material 
used  as  a  gasket.  The  top  angle  should  be  tightly  caulked  to  the 
shell,  using  additional  rivets  where  necessary. 

As  a  thoroughly  grounded  gas-tight  tank  of  metal,  or  one 
sheathed  with  metal,  is  safe  from  damage  by  lightning,  and  will 
also  reduce  evaporation  losses  to  a  very  marked  extent,  the  addi- 
tional cost  for  building  such  a  tank  will  be  saved  in  a  comparatively 
short  time. 

The  use  of  explosion  hatches  is  strongly  advocated  by  some 
tank  builders  and  tank  owners ;  but  with  a  gas-tight  steel  roof  and 
proper  vents,  in  a  territory  where  fires  and  explosions  from  causes 
other  than  lightning  are  not  feared,  no  explosion  hatches  would  be 
needed.  As  an  additional  safeguard  they  might  be  used.  If  used 
at  all,  the  explosion  hatches  should  be  of  very  light  construction. 
Tanks  equipped  with  gas-tight  roofs  should  be  provided  with  suit- 
able vents  to  take  care  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  level  in  the  tank 
due  to  inflow  or  discharge  of  oil.  These  vents  must  also  prevent 


314         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

the  ignition  of  the  gas  in  the  tank  through  the  vent.  The  gauge 
hatches  in  the  roof  should  be  made  tight  or  have  hinged  covers 
which  by  their  own  weight,  would  maintain  a  gas-tight  joint.  These 
hatches  should  be  closed,  except  when  gauges  are  being  taken.  The 
location  of  these  hatches  is  a  matter  of  choice,  but  the  placing  of 
one  near  the  stairs  would  be  very  convenient  for  ordinary  gauging. 
The  winch-box,  or  boxes,  should  be  gas-tight  to  carry  out  the  plan 
of  making  the  roof  gas-tight.  As  the  value  of  the  gas-tight  roof 
depends  upon  its  condition,  careful  inspection  should  be  made  fre- 
quently of  the  roofs,  vents,  gauge  hatches  and  explosion  boxes,  if 
any  are  used. 

Another  idea  in  connection  with  the  use  of  gas-tight  steel 
roofs  has  been  suggested.  The  tank  is  to  be  so  constructed  that 
a  small  pressure  will  be  maintained  in  the  tank  at  all  times.  When 
this  pressure  increases,  due  to  expansion  of  the  vapor  above  the 
oil,  it  will  be  relieved  automatically  and  kept  at  the  correct  amount. 
If  contraction  of  the  vapor  occurs,  natural  gas  will  be  introduced 
over  the  surface  of  the  oil  to  maintain  the  proper  pressure.  With 
such  an  arrangement,  the  evaporation  will  be  reduced  to  a  mini- 
mum and  the  mixture  over  the  oil  will  be  kept  too  rich  in  vapor 
to  explode.  A  pressure  regulating  device  could  be  placed  on  the 
tank  and  no  difficulty  would  be  encountered  in  maintaining  the 
desired  pressure  in  the  tank.  Another  'economical  system  would 
contemplate  the  use  of  gas-tight  tanks  for  oil,  with  a  suction  pipe 
connection  to  the  space  above  the  oil,  whereby  the  gas  which  arises 
from  the  oil  may  be  withdrawn  from  the  tank.  This  gas  could 
then  be  delivered  to  a  compressing  tank  for  extraction  of  gasoline, 
utilized  commercially  as  a  fuel,  or  carried  to  a  safe  distance  from 
the  tank  before  liberation. 

The  question  as  to  whether  an  empty  tank  should  be  set  aside 
on  each  tank  farm,  to  be  used  in  case  of  fire,  is  subject  to  much  dis- 
cussion. The  expense  of  erecting  a  spare  tank  seems  to  be  the 
main  objection  offered  to  this  course.  It  would  be  advisable,  if 
possible,  to  keep  some  space  available  on  each  tank  farm.  The 
practice  of  storing  oil  in  the  producing  field  should  be  discouraged, 
as  it  has  the  disadvantage  of  concentrating  the  fire  hazard  and  it 
would  seem  that,  as  far  as  possible,  storage  tanks  should  be  erected 
in  a  district  remote  from  the  producing  field  and  beyond  the  pos- 
sible fire  zone  of  the  field. 

The  placing  of  additional  cross  walls  on  a  tank  farm  would  be 
of  marked  advantage,  in  case  of  a  burning  tank  boiling  over.  Pro- 
tection would  thus  be  afforded  to  adjoining  property.  This  dis- 


OIL  STORAGE  315 

tance  between  tanks  on  a  farm  should  also  be  considered.  Cases 
have  been  recorded  in  which  burning  oil  has  been  thrown  approxi- 
mately 500  feet  from  one  tank  to  another,  causing  further  damage. 
It  is  suggested  that  tanks  be  placed  as  far  apart  as  possible,  to 
avoid  danger  from  this  source. 

The  use  of  a  tenacious  foam  solution  as  a  means  of  extinguish- 
ing oil  fires  has  been  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  oil  producers 
in  this  country  during  the  last  two  years.  The  process  consists 
essentially  in  mixing  two  chemical  solutions,  to  produce  a  thick 
tenacious  foam,  containing  bubbles  of  carbon  dioxide,  and  in  spread- 
ing this  foam  over  the  surface  of  the  burning  oil.  There  are  two 
methods  of  application  of  the  foam:  ist,  pumping  the  two  chemical 
solutions  from  a  central  point  through  twin  pipes  to  a  point  as 
near  as  possible  to  the  oil  tank,  bringing  them  together  in  a  mixing 
chamber  and  allowing  the  foam  to  spread  over  the  burning  oil ; 
2nd,  automatic  distribution  from  foam  generators  on  each  tank. 
The  distribution  of  foam  from  generators  on  each  individual  tank 
has  the  distinct  advantage  that  the  generators  are  installed  so  that 
they  will  operate  automatically.  The  foam  is  produced  by  the 
action  of  sulphuric  acid  on  a  solution  of  bicarbonate  of  soda  and 
soap  bark  in  water.  The  following  descriptive  matter  is  quoted 
from  a  statement  of  the  manufacturer  of  the  automatic  foam 
extinguisher:  "It  is  the  intention  to  install  the  apparatus  in  two 
different  types,  one  called  the  stand-pipe  method,  and  the  other  the 
underground  method.  The  reason  for  this  is  as  follows :  On  any 
container  in  which  there  are  steam  coils,  the  stand-pipe  method  is 
used,  and  a  small  coil  put  on  to  prevent  the  solution  freezing.  Also 
the  solution  can  be  protected  from  freezing  in  the  stand-pipe  method 
by  means  of  electric  heaters.  However,  there  are  locations  where 
neither  steam  nor  electricity  are  available,  and  in  these  the  under- 
ground method  is  used.  In  this  case  the  solution  tank  is  put  under 
ground  to  prevent  it  from  freezing;  the  acid,  of  course,  will  not 
freeze." 

In  the  installation  of  the  above  ground  type  the  stand-pipe  is 
mounted,  alongside  of  the  oil  tank,  on  a  concrete  base  and  contains 
a  solution  of  sodium  bicarbonate  and  soap  bark  in  water.  Above 
the  level  of  the  soda  solution  is  mounted  an  acid  container  in  which 
sulphuric  acid  is  stored.  Below  the  acid  reservoir  and  extending 
down  into  the  soda  solution  is  a  perforated  pipe  through  which  the 
acid  when  released,  goes  into  the  soda  and  soap  bark  solution  and 
generates  foam  which  passes  through  the  outlet  at  the  top  of  the 
stand-pipe  and  into  the  tank.  The  release  of  the  acid  is  accom- 


316         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

plished  by  one  or  more  fusible  links  melting  and  allowing  the  ham- 
mer at  the  top  of  the  acid  tank  to  fall  on  a  plunger  and  break  the 
glass  plate  in  the  acid  box  at  the  top  of  the  acid  discharge  pipe. 
The  fusible  links  are  so  arranged  in  the  tank  that  there  is  always 
one  near  the  surface  of  the  oil.  Other  links  are  located  in  chains 
placed  horizontally  across  the  tank  just  under  the  roof  and  running 
over  sheaves  down  into  the  tank. 

In  the  underground  method  of  installation  the  tank  containing 
the  solution  of  sodium  bicarbonate  and  soap  bark  is  placed  below 
the  ground  level  and  the  top  of  the  sulphuric  acid  container  is  just 
above  ground.  The  foam  is  conducted  from  the  generator  to  the 
top  of  the  oil  tank  by  means  of  a  vertical  discharge  tube.  This 
type  of  generator  is  equipped  with  fusible  links  arranged  in  a  man- 
ner similar  to  those  used  in  connection  with  the  stand-pipe  type 
of  generator.  The  fusible  links  used  are  designed  to  fuse  at 
about  212°  F. 

Tests  of  this  extinguisher  were  conducted  at  the  shops  of  the 
Treadwell  Construction  Co.  (builders  of  the  device),  at  Midland, 
Pa.  The  first  ring  about  5  feet  in  height,  of  a  55,000  barrel  steel 
tank  was  set  up  on  a  concrete  base.  One  stand-pipe  type  of  gen- 
erator was  erected  as  if  the  tank  had  been  built  up  to  its  full  height. 
From  a  post,  in  the  bottom  of  the  tank,  about  40  feet  from  the  base 
of  the  generator  a  chain  was  run  through  the  discharge  tube  and 
connected  to  the  hammer  above  the  acid  reservoir.  In  this  chain 
were  placed  a  number  of  fusible  links,  one  being  about  two  feet,  in 
a  vertical  line,  above  the  surface  of  the  oil  in  the  tank.  Onto  a 
two-foot  layer  of  water,  in  the  tank  about  100  barrels  of  crude  oil 
were  run  and  on  top  of  this  were  poured  100  gallons  of  gasoline. 
The  flammable  liquids  were  ignited  near  the  center  of  the  tank 
by  means  of  lighted  cotton  waste  thrown  over  the  side.  In  a  short 
time  the  entire  surface  of  the  oil  was  in  flames.  Approximately 
two  minutes  after  the  fire  was  started  the  hammer  above  the  acid 
reservoir  was  automatically  released  by  means  of  the  fusing  of  a 
link.  Twenty  seconds  elapsed  after  the  release  of  the  hammer 
before  any  foam  came  from  the  discharge  tube  of  the  generator. 
Then  foam  fell  onto  the  surface  of  the  oil  and  gradually  covered 
the  whole  area  and  extinguished  the  fire.  The  time  required,  after 
the  foam  started  from  the  discharge  tube,  to  extinguish  the  fire  was 
one  minute  and  thirty-five  seconds.  Thus  the  total  time  from  the 
start  of  the  fire  until  it  was  extinguished  was  approximately  three 
minutes  and  fifty-five  seconds.  During  the  test  a  wind  with  a  ve- 
locity of  about  12  to  15  miles  per  hour  was  blowing  at  right  angles 


OIL  STORAGE  317 

to  an  imaginary  line  between  the  center  of  the  tank  and  the  gen- 
erator. The  vertical  distance  from  the  level  of  the  oil  in  the  tank 
to  the  lowest  part  of  the  discharge  tube  was  about  28  feet.  Numer- 
ous other  very  successful  demonstrations  of  this  device  have  been 
made  at  different  points  in  the  United  States. 

Lightning  rods  have  been  applied  to  storage  tanks  without 
marked  benefit ;  in  fact,  it  has  at  times  seemed  that  tanks  carrying 
lightning  rods  were  the  most  likely  to  be  destroyed. 

In  several  articles  written  by  Mr.  E.  A.  Barrier  it  is  maintained 
that  sawdust  with  about  ten  pounds  of  sodium  bicarbonate  per 
bushel  of  sawdust  is  superior  to  sand  sometimes  used  for  extin- 
guishing fires  in  tanks  of  inflammable  liquids.  Carbon  tetrachloride 
is  very  useful  as  an  extinguishing  liquid,  but  its  anesthetic  prop- 
erties and  cost  tend  to  prohibit  its  use  in  the  petroleum  industry.  It 
is  believed  that  the  most  efficient  extinguisher  for  oil  tank  fires  is 
the  foam  extinguisher. 


THE  MINING   INDUSTRY^ITS    MAGNITUDE. 


Address  by  C.  A.  Tupper  of  the  Mining  &  Engineering  World, 

Chicago,  Delivered  Tuesday,  November  14,  at  the 

Nineteenth  Annual  Convention  of  the 

American  Mining  Congress. 


Mining  is  the  second  great  basic  industry  of  the  country.  Its 
magnitude  may  be  partially  shown  by  the  fact  that  for  ten  years 
preceding  the  European  war,  or  up  to  the  beginning  of  1915,  the 
value  of  mineral  products  in  the  United  States  was  $19,793,928,955, 
or  an  average  of  nearly  $1,980,000,000  per  year.  In  the  last  nor- 
mal year,  which  was  1913,  it  had  risen  to  $2,439,159,728. 
The  totals  for  the  several  years  are  as  follows : 

1905 ; $1,623,664,785 

1906 1,903,229,387 

1907 • 2,069,941,398 

1908 1,594,696,842 

1909 1,886,756,730 

1910 1,991,216,220 

191 1 1,926,284,008 

1912. . 2,244,033,833 

i9T3 2,439,159,728 

1914 2,114,946,024 


$19,793,928,955 

This  represents  the  amount  directly  contributed  to  the  wealth 
of  the  nation,  which,  under  the  stress  of  war  demand  and  war 
prices  has  now  increased  to  approximately  $4,300,000,000  per 
annum. 

But  that  is  only  the  beginning.  In  the  workings  necessary 
for  the  recovery  of  such  values,  together  with  others  which  failed 
to  yield  returns,  a  great  quantity  of  equipment  and  supplies  were 
utilized,  exclusive  of  food,  miners'  clothing  and  living  necessities 
which  are  naturally  covered  by  wages.  Such  items  cannot  be  de- 
termined with  absolute  accuracy,  but  it  is  possible  to  compute  them 
approximately — and  quite  closely — by  figuring  on  a  series  of  aver- 
age percentage  costs  for  the  various  years.  During  the  decade 


THE  MINING  INDUSTRY— ITS  MAGNITUDE  319 

mentioned  purchases  of  equipment  and  supplies  made  by  the  min- 
eral properties  of  this  country  aggregated  not  less  than  $7,200,- 
000,000,  being  at  present  on  a  basis  of  $900,000,000  per  annum  or 
more.  An  amount  somewhat  in  excess  of  material  costs  is  nor- 
mally expended  in  wages,  and  such  proportion  for  most  of  the  full 
ten-year  period  has  been  greater,  so  that  the  total  wages  paid  would 
be  over  $14,000,000,000.  Based  on  the  figures  thus  far  available 
for  1916,  it  is  reliably  estimated  that  about  1,825,000  men  are 
employed  in  the  mines  and  oil  fields  of  the  country.  [Taking  only 
the  principal  items  of  development,  equipment,  wages  and  output, 
the  amount  of  money  put  in  circulation  by  the  mineral  industries 
of  the  United  States  in  ten  years  has  exceeded  $39,000,000,000,  of 
which  the  bulk  stands  for  wealth  newly  created.] 

Even  with  this  magnificent  sum,  however,  only  a  start  has 
been  made;  for  it  will  be  remembered  that  the  mineral  industry 
is  essentially  basic,  being  the  broad  foundation  upon  which  great 
structures  of  other  industries  are  reared.  In  this  respect,  while 
mining  stands  below  agriculture  in  original  output,  it  far  overtops 
it  in  secondary  products ;  and  the  further  derivatives  of  those  prod- 
ucts reach  a  total  value  which  is  simply  stupendous. 

Probably  few  people,  even  among  our  leading  manufacturers, 
have  tried  to  realize  what  the  condition  of  this  country  would  be 
without  its  mineral  resources  or  without  the  development  of  those 
resources  on  an  adequate  scale. 

In  the  first  instance,  if  manufacturing  had  been  in  progress 
for  many  years,  we  would  be  situated  as  France  is  today,  utterly 
dependent  on  importations  for  all  raw  material  except  what  is 
grown  from  the  soil — with,  however,  this  difference,  that  manu- 
facturing on  a  large  scale  would  never  have  gotten  a  start  in  the 
United  States  at  all.  We  would  have  remained  essentially  an  agri- 
cultural people. 

In  the  second  instance,  had  our  mineral  resources  not  been 
well  developed,  we  would  find  ourselves  today  in  the  position  of 
Russia. 

Does  the  present  situation  of  either  France  or  Russia — even 
apart  from  their  war  problems — appeal  to  Americans?  If  not, 
we  owe  it  to  ourselves  to  get  in  mind  some  proper  appreciation 
of  what  the  mineral  industries  of  this  country  mean  to  it. 

[One  of  the  most  important  lessons  for  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  as  the  late  Dr.  Holmes  pointed  out,  is  to  realize 
the  importance  of  the  mining  industry;  and  a  means  of  teaching 
them  some  part  of  this  lesson  has  been  found  in  the  publication 


320         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

of  dividends  paid  by  the  principal  mining  companies.]  The  only 
earnings  ever  made  public  in  this  manner  are  those  of  certain 
metal  mining  corporations  whose  stock  is  widely  distributed;  and 
these,  of  course,  represent  a  mere  fraction  of  the  total  mineral 
production  of  the  country ;  but,  even  so,  they  are  sufficiently  im- 
pressive. 

The  wonderful  earning  capacity  of  American  mines  can  be 
well  illustrated  by  referring  to  the  dividend  disbursements  made 
by  167  companies  (all  that  make  their  dividends  public)  during 
the  ten  months  of  1916  just  past.  These  companies  between  Jan- 
uary i,  1916,  and  October  31,  1916,  divided  among  shareholders 
the  sum  of  $184,830,127.  If  the  dividend  payments  of  the  se- 
curities-holding corporations  were  to  be  included  (as  they  could 
rightfully  be)  the  year's  total  would  reach  $223,433,208 — a  most 
convincing  argument  that  mining,  as  now  carried  on,  is  the  prin- 
cipal reason  for  our  present  standing  at  the  head  of  the  world's 
great  industrial  countries. 

That  these  companies  not  only  enjoyed  a  remarkable  prosperity 
during  the  past  ten  months,  but  also  in  previous  years,  is  shown 
by  reports  made  to  the  Mining  &  Engineering  World,  that  these 
companies  previously  paid  dividends  amounting  to  $1,067,277,064, 
which,  with  the  dividends  already  paid  in  1916,  makes  a  total  of 
$1,252,107,191.  This  is  a  return  of  better  than  133%  on  the  com- 
bined issued  capital  of  the  companies,  a  remarkable  record  and  one 
hardly  duplicated  by  any  other  industry. 

The  great  bulk  of  these  figures  for  dividend  paying  stock  com- 
panies represents  metal  mines  operated  solely  within  the  United 
States.  If  you  added  to  the  exact  proportion  of  that  total  the  ac- 
tual earnings  of  close  corporations  in  the  same  fields  and  those  of 
coal  and  other  mineral  producing  companies,  you  would  have  an 
aggregate  almost  unbelievable.  Yet  even  that  is  but  a  fraction  of 
the  colossal  totals  of  production  and  disbursements  for  labor,  equip- 
ment and  supplies  cited  at  the  beginning  of  this  paper. 

[No  more  important  work  faces  the  American  Mining  Con- 
gress, and  the  mineral  interests  generally,  than  that  of  impressing 
upon  the  people  of  the  United  States  the  tremendous  value  of  the 
mining  industry  to  the  welfare  of  the  country.] 

This  will  strengthen  the  hands  of  the  tireless,  efficient  secre- 
tary of  the  Congress,  J.  F.  Callbreath,  in  his  great  work  to  secure 
legislation  better  suited  to  the  needs  of  the  industry;  it  will  bring 
more  encouragement  and  support  from  Congress  to  the  United 
States  Geological  Survey ;  it  will  foster  the  growth  of  the  United 


THE  MINING  INDUSTRY— ITS  MAGNITUDE  321 

States  Bureau  of  Mines  and  it  will  attract  to  sound,  legitimate  min- 
ing enterprises  the  new  capital  constantly  needed  for  development. 

In  this  the  mineral  interests  will  have  the  vigorous  backing 
of  the  mining  press,  and  I  can  particularly  pledge  that  of  the  one 
paper,  cited  above,  which  has  consistently  and  persistently  supported 
the  American  Mining  Congress  from  its  inception.  With  a  long 
pull,  a  strong  pull  and  a  pull  all  together,  there  is  much  that  can 
be  accomplished  in  the  immediate  future  to  raise  trie  mineral  in- 
dustries to  the  plane  on  which  they  belong. 

Let  us  try  our  best  to  do  this. 


ADEQUATE  ACREAGE  AND  OIL  CONSERVATION. 


Address  Delivered  by  Max  W.  Ball,  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Mines,  at 
19th  Annual  Convention  of  American  Mining  Congress. 


Universal  Use  of  Oil  and  Gas. 

•It  is  not  necessary,  before  this  Congress,  to  emphasize  the 
necessity  for  careful  conservation  of  our  oil  and  gas  supply.  By 
January  I,  it  has  been  estimated,  there  will  be  3,000,000  automobiles 
in  use  in  the  United  States.  More  and  more  the  American  merchant 
depends  on  gasoline  to  deliver  his  goods;  the  American  farmer  to 
pump  his  water,  plow  his  fields,  and  carry  himself  and  his  crops 
to  town.  Fords  multiply  and  cover  the  earth.  Very  likely  petroleum 
takes  you  to  the  office  in  the  morning  and  takes  you  home  at  night. 
If  it  does  not  furnish  the  power  it  lubricates  the  bearings.  In  the 
evening  it  takes  you  and  your  family  for  a  spin  along  streets  lighted 
by  natural  gas  or  gas  made  from  petroleum.  It  heals  the  burn  you 
got  from  the  engine,  cures  the  baby's  croup,  and  furnishes  the 
family  with  chewing  gum.  Mr.  Northrop,  of  the  Geological  Survey, 
has  pointed  out  that  every  American  industry  is  dependent  in  greater 
or  less  measure  on  petroleum  or  natural  gas* ;  and  indeed  can  you 
imagine  modern  life  without  gasoline,  kerosene,  vaseline,  fuel  oil, 
or  lubricants  ? 

Should  it  become  necessary  to  defend  our  American  life  and 
American  ideals  against  a  foreign  foe  the  first  line  of  defense  will 
be  dependent  on  oil  for  fuel.  All  of  the  modern  war-craft  are  being 
built  to  burn  oil  exclusively.  I  recently  heard  a  naval  officer  say, 
"Yes,  oil  is  more  expensive  than  coal,  but  so  is  smokeless  powder 
more  expensive  than  black,  and  we  might  as  well  return  to  one  as 
the  other." 

Limited  Supply. 

How  great  is  our  supply  of  these  substances  on  which  our  daily 
life  so  much  depends?  An  estimate  furnished  Congress  by  the 
Secretary  of  the  Interior,  early  in  the  present  year,  based  on  the 


*Paper  by  John  D.  Northrop,  read  before  Convention  of  Oil  and  Gas  Pro- 
ducers' Association  of  West  Virginia,  1915;  see  Petroleum  Age,  October,  1915, 
p.  6. 


ADEQUATE  ACREAGE  AND  OIL  CONSERVATION        323 

most  complete  data  in  possession  of  the  Government,  gives  the 
amount  of  oil  remaining  in  the  ground  as  perhaps  7,704,000,000 
barrels.  Independent  estimates  made  about  the  same  time  by  Ralph 
Arnold  and  Mark  L.  Requa  do  not  differ  widely  from  this.  The 
figures  at  first  glance  seem  enormous,  but  they  represent  less  than 
29  years'  production  at  last  year's  rate. 

This  does  not,  of  course,  mean  that  in  29  years  our  oil  fields  will 
be  exhausted.  As  exhaustion  approaches,  production  will  be  slower 
and  slower.  Oil  from  Latin-American  fields  is  already  entering  our 
markets.  As  soon  as  prices  warrant,  the  great  oil-shale  deposits  of 
Colorado,  L^tah  and  Wyoming  will  be  made  to  yield  petroleum  and 
its  products.  Thus  there  is  little  danger  that  by  1945  the  oil  fields  of 
the  United  States  will  have  been  exhausted  and  abandoned,  but 
there  is  grave  danger  that  by  1945,  and  in  fact  long  before,  we  will 
be  paying  the  increased  prices  consequent  upon  increased  cost  of 
production  from  depleted  fields,  transportation  from  foreign  coun- 
tries, and  mining  and  treating  deposits  from  which  the  oil  must  be 
distilled. 

Necessity  for  Conservation. 

It  is  evident  that  here  is  a  resource  the  use  of  which  is  rapidly 
increasing  the  dependence  upon  which  is  well-nigh  universal,  and 
the  readily  available  supply  of  which  is  limited.  There  could  be 
no  situation  calling  more  clearly  for  prevention  of  waste,  economical 
production,  and  careful  use — principles  of  wise  development  and 
proper  utilization  which  we  comprehend  by  the  word  "conversation." 
If  the  American  people  have  need  to  practice  conservation  with 
regard  to  any  natural  resource,  it  is  with  regard  to  their  supplies 
of  oil  and  natural  gas. 

Enormous  Quantities  Wasted. 

Are  we  practicing  this  conservation  ?  Within  the  last  few  weeks 
I  have  seen  millions  of  cubic  feet  of  natural  gas  wasting  into  the 
air — gas  so  rich  in  gasoline  that  it  dripped  from  the  trees  like  an 
April  shower.  I  have  seen  wells  capable  of  yielding  40,000,000  cubic 
feet  of  gas  each  being  deliberately  drowned  out  by  pumping  water 
into  the  gas  sands.  Reckless  drilling,  defective  casing,  careless 
plugging  are  flooding  great  areas  with  water  and  losing  forever 
enormous  quantities  of  oil.  It  has  been  testified  before  the  Corpora- 
tion Commission  of  Oklahoma  that  ordinary  methods  leave  from 
25  to  85  per  cent  of  the  oil  in  the  ground,  and  this  estimate  is 
concurred  in  by  careful  engineers  and  practical  oil  men.*  Think  of  it ! 

*McMurray,  W.  F.,  and  Lewis,  J.  O.,  Bureau  of  Mines  Technical  Paper  130, 
1916. 


324         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

Twenty-five  to  eighty-five  per  cent  of  this  valuable  resource  left 
underground,  chiefly  through  ignorant,  careless,  wasteful  methods. 

Nor  are  these  underground  losses  the  only  ones.  When  the  oil 
is  brought  to  the  surface  before  transportation  and  market  are  ready 
for  it,  it  must  go  into  storage.  Indeed,  in  many  fields  oil  has  been 
produced  before  storage  was  available  and  millions  of  gallons  have 
gone  down  the  streams  or  seeped  away  from  earthen  reservoirs. 
Even  when  the  best  steel  tankage  has  been  provided  evaporation 
losses  still  go  on.  Gushing  crude  stored  in  steel  tanks  for  a  few 
months  lost  approximately  a  fifth  of  its  gasoline  content.  The  State 
Mineralogist's  office  of  California  has  estimated  that  even  with  the 
heavy  oils  of  that  State  the  loss  by  evaporation  represents  perhaps 
25  per  cent  of  the  total  value  of  the  production  at  the  well.  An 
official  of  one  of  the  largest  companies  in  the  Midcontinent  field 
recently  told  me  that  last  year  fire  destroyed  six  per  cent  of  his 
company's  production. 

Just  consider  these  examples :  twenty-five  to  eighty-five  per  cent 
left  underground;  twenty  to  twenty-five  per  cent  of  the  value  of  oil 
produced  lost  through  evaporation  in  storage ;  six  per  cent  of  stored 
oil  lost  by  fire !  These  losses  are  staggering  and  are  not  exceptional ! 
What  a  small  percentage  of  this  wonderful  natural  resource  is  saved 
to  run  your  machine  or  to  deliver  goods  at  your  door,  or  to  plow  the 
fields  from  which  your  food  must  come! 

Forms  and  Proximate  Causes  of  Waste. 

If  we  feel  these  losses  in  the  high  prices  of  the  present  day, 
how  much  more  will  we  feel  them  five,  ten,  twenty  or  thirty  years 
from  now  ?  Is  it  not  time  we  considered  them  seriously  and  tried  to 
determine  upon  some  remedy?  Suppose  we  begin  by  studying  in  a 
little  more  detail  the  nature  and  forms  of  waste  and  the  proximate 
causes :  Hasty  drilling  and  production  methods. 

What  is  the  usual  history  of  an  oil  field?  Someone  drills  a 
wild-cat  well  and  discovers  oil.  Immediately  a  horde  of  companies 
and  individuals  rush  in,  leasing  every  tract  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  discovery.  Conservatism,  competition  for  leases,  and  a  general 
public  sentiment  against  large  holdings  result  in  the  fields  being  cut 
up  into  small  tracts.  Then  everybody  starts  to  drill  at  once,  as  fast 
as  he  can.  Smith  knows  that  unless  he  reaches  the  oil  and  before 
Brown,  who  is  drilling  just  across  the  line,  Brown  will  draw  some 
of  the  oil  from  under  his  land.  On  the  other  three  sides  are  Jones, 
Snider  and  Standard  Oil,  each  drilling  as  many  wells  as  he  can  get 
tools  for,  and  Smith  must  race  them  all,  well  for  well.  If  he  doesn't 


ADEQUATE  ACREAGE  AND  OIL  CONSERVATION        325 

he  might  as  well  quit  and  throw  up  his  lease,  for  they  will  have 
his  oil. 

Half  way  to  the  oil  sand  he  encounters  large  quantities  of  gas. 
Just  at  present  there  is  no  available  market  for  gas.  Two  years  from 
now  it  may  have  a  high  commercial  value ;  two  months  from  now  he 
may  be  paying  a  big  price  for  enough  to  run  his  lease ;  but  at  present 
this  great  natural  gas  deposit  is  of  no  particular  use  to  him.  He  is 
after  the  oil  and  he  must  get  it  as  soon  as  possible.  Perhaps  to  case 
off  the  gas  properly  would  require  a  few  days'  time.  It  would  be 
simplicity  itself  to  seal  the  sand  by  the  use  of  mud-laden  fluid,  but  in 
his  haste  he  has  not  provided  himself  with  a  pressure  pump,  and  he 
can't  stop  now.  So  the  gas  is  bradenheaded,  allowed  access  to  a  few 
hundred  feet  of  uncased  hole,  and  in  a  little  while  has  dissipated 
itself  and  been  lost  to  human  use,  not  only  so  far  as  Smith's  well  is 
concerned,  but  probably  also  in  all  the  surrounding  wells  of  the  field. 

Five  hundred  feet  deeper  Smith  drills  through  a  water  sand. 
Here  again  a  little  mud  properly  applied  would  make  everything 
safe,  but  that  pressure  pump  is  still  lacking,  and  Smith  hurriedly 
sets  a  string  of  casing  and  drills  on. 

At  last  he  drills  into  the  oil  sand,  about  two  screws  ahead  of 
Brown,  Jones,  Snider  and  the  Standard,  and  finds  that  the  oil  is 
accompanied  by  gas  at  high  pressure.  Now  Smith  is  no  ignoramus. 
He  has  studied  the  habits  of  oil  and  gas  wells.  He  knows  that  it  is 
the  gas  which  drives  the  oil  from  the  sand  into  his  well  and  forces 
it  to  the  surface.  He  knows  that  if  allowed  to  flow  without  re- 
striction the  gas  will  exhaust  first,  leaving  much  of  the  oil  in  the 
sand.  He  knows  that  by  restricting  the  flow  he  can  considerably 
increase  the  total  flush  production  of  oil.  This  is  the  course  he 
would  like  to  follow,  but  he  knows  that  if  he  restricts  the  flow  of  his 
wells  Jones  and  the  rest  will  allow  theirs  to  flow  unrestricted  and  he 
will  be  drained  of  some  of  the  oil  that  is  rightfully  his.  Brown,  Jones, 
Snider  and  the  Standard  each  looks  at  it  the  same  way,  and  as  a 
result  the  wells  of  the  field  flow  wide  open,  the  gas  pressure  in  the 
oil  sand  is  soon  exhausted,  and  the  recovery  of  the  remaining  be- 
comes an  increasingly  difficult  and  expensive,  if  not  impossible 
operation. 

About  this  time  the  wells  of  the  field  begin  to  make  water  with 
the  oil.  Jones  is  sure  that  Smith's  hasty  setting  of  the  water  string 
was  defective,  and  that  water  has  leaked  through  to  enter  the  oil 
sand.  Smith  is  equally  sure  that  the  leakage  is  in  Brown's  or  Jones' 
well,  and  Brown  is  certain  that  Snider  or  the  Standard  is  guilty. 
The  chances  are  that  each  of  them  is  right,  but  the  great  outstanding 


326         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

fact  is  that  the  field  has  been  ruined,  and  that  the  public  has  been 
permanently  deprived  of  thousands  of  barrels  of  its  oil. 

Demoralisation  of  Market. 

So  much  for  the  drilling  side  of  it.*  Let  us  turn  to  another  side. 
It  is  fair  to  assume,  based  on  the  history  of  the  industry,  that  when 
the  first  well  is  brought  in  this  field  the  market  is  already  fairly 
well  supplied  with  oil.  A  market  for  the  oil  of  the  new  field  must, 
then,  be  found  or  created,  and  this  is  a  task  which,  if  the  general 
oil  market  is  not  to  be  demoralized,  must  be  accomplished  slowly. 
The  new  field  should,  therefore,  be  brought  in  gradually,  a  well  at  a 
time,  as  the  market  is  built  up  for  it,  the  oil  being  left  in  the  ground 
until  it  is  needed.  The  necessary  pipe-line  facilities  would  be  in- 
stalled in  advance  of  any  great  production,  little  storage  would  be 
required,  the  operator  would  receive  a  fair  price  for  his  oil,  and  the 
drilling  wastes  already  cited  be  reduced  to  a  minimum. 

Is  this  the  way  it  works  out  in  general  practice  ?  Not  much ! 
Smith  has  only  a  small  lease.  He  must  produce  his  oil  as  quickly 
as  possible  or  lose  it.  Brown,  Jones,  the  Standard,  and  the  hundred 
and  one  other  operators  in  the  field  are  in  the  same  fix.  Everybody 
gets  his  oil  out  as  fast  as  he  can.  He  has  to.  As  a  result,  the  maximum 
production  of  the  field  is  thrown  on  the  market  practically  all  at 
once.  If  the  field  is  an  extensive  one  the  result  can  only  be  a 
demoralization  of  the  market,  with  inadequate  prices  to  the  operators 
not  only  in  this  field,  but  throughout  the  region  and  perhaps  through- 
out the  country. 

Premature  Abandonment  of  Small  Wells. 

At  first  thought  this  lowering  of  prices  would  appear  to  be  a 
good  thing  from  the  consumer's  standpoint,  but  let  us  look  a  little 
further.  All  over  the  older  fields  are  hundreds  of  wells  which  once 
were  big  producers,  but  which  have  now  dropped  down  near  the 
lower  limit  of  profitable  production.  One  of  these  wells  will  produce 
but  a  small  amount  daily,  but  its  aggregate  future  production,  if 
properly  handled,  may  run  into  thousands  of  barrels.  The  total 
production  from  this  class  of  wells  is  large,  but  if  the  price  of  oil 
drops  the  margin  of  profit  in  their  operation  is  wiped  out  and  the 
wells  are  abandoned.  In  most  cases  the  abandonment  is  permanent, 
the  wells  are  ruined,  and  the  oil  remaining  in  the  ground  is  no  longer 
available  except  at  prohibitive  cost. 

*For  actual  examples  of  these  wastes   see  Bureau  of  Mines  Technical   Paper 
130,  by  W.  F.  McMurray  and  J.  O.  Lewis. 


ADEQUATE  ACREAGE  AND  OIL  CONSERVATION        327 

Inferior  Uses  of  Oil. 

Let  us  consider  another  effect  of  lowered  prices.  There  are 
many  uses  for  which  coal  ancl  oil  are  equally  adapted.  The  supply 
of  coal  in  the  United  States  is  immensely  greater  than  that  of  oil. 
To  burn  oil  for  a  purpose  for  which  coal  is  equally  adapted  is  an 
economic  waste.  Yet  that  is  what  is  done  whenever  the  price  of  oil 
falls  so  low  that  it  is  cheaper  foj  these  inferior  uses  than  coal.  And 
this  is  not  the  worst  of  it.  When  the  price  of  oil  falls  abnormally 
low  as  it  did  a  year  and  a  half  ago,  vast  quantities  of  crude  oil  are 
burned  as  fuel  without  separating  out  the  gasoline,  kerosene,  and 
other  lighter  constituents.  Think  of  it !  Burning  oil  under  boilers 
without  taking  out  the  gasoline.  Yet  whenever  prices  are  so  low 
that  it  is  cheaper  to  burn  the  crude  than  to  refine  it,  the  crude  will 
be  burned  and  the  gasoline  lost.  Thus  in  the  long  run  the  result  of 
these  lowered  prices  is  to  increase  the  average  price  of  oil  and  its 
products. 

Storage  Losses  and  Storage  Charges. 

Nor  is  the  demoralization  of  prices  the  only  result  of  suddenly 
throwing  the  maximum  production  of  a  field  onto  -the  market.  Per- 
haps when  the  discovery  well  is  brought  in  the  pipe-line  facilities  of 
the  field  are  inadequate ;  perhaps  there  are  none  at  all.  Can  our 
friend  Smith  wait  until  transportation  becomes  available,  leaving  his 
oil  in  the  sand,  the  storage  nature  provided  for  it?  If  he  does  he 
stands  a  chance  of  never  getting  it,  for  his  neighbors  will  have  it. 
No,  he  has  no  alternative.  If  he  wants  his  oil  he  must  bring  it  to 
the  surface  and  store  it  as  best  he  may  until  he  can  sell  or  transport 
it.  If  he  sells,  the  purchaser  probably  stores,  waiting  for  a  market 
and  the  inevitable  rise  in  price.  Thus  most  of  the  field's  maximum 
production  goes  into  storage — steel  tanks  if  they  are  available, 
earthen  reservoirs  if  nothing  better  can  be  had — down  the  creek  in 
too  many  cases.  I  have  already  pointed  out  what  waste  this  means 
under  even  the  most  favorable  circumstances ;  how  Gushing  crude 
lost  approximately  a  fifth  of  its  gasoline  in  steel  storage ;  how 
California  is  estimated  to  lose  a  fourth  the  value  of  her  oil  through 
evaporation ;  how  one  large  company  lost  six  per  cent  of  its  stored 
oil  from  lightning.  And  there  is  another  angle  to  this  matter  of 
storage.  It  costs  almost  as  much  to  store  oil  in  steel  tanks  for  a 
considerable  period  as  it  does  to  obtain  the  oil  in  the  first  place. 
Think  that  over  for  a  moment,  and  figure  out  who  pays  that  storage 
charge.  You  know  that  neither  the  producer,  nor  the  pipe-line 


328         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

company,  nor  the  refiner,  nor  the  jobber,  pays  it,  but  that  it  falls 
on  you  and  me  and  the  rest  of  the  consumers. 

Unnecessary  Wells. 

While  we  are  talking  of  charges  against  the  industry,  let  us 
consider  another  and  very  heavy  charge.  We  have  supposed  that 
Smith  owned  a  small  acreage,  and  that  he  is  a  man  of  keenness  and 
foresight.  Studying  the  character  of  the  oil,  the  porosity  and  dip 
of  the  sand,  and  the  gas  pressure,  he  concludes  that  three  wells, 
properly  placed,  will  obtain  all  the  recoverable  oil  from  his  lease. 
He  knows  also  that  a  dozen  wells  will  drain  the  tract  far  more 
quickly,  though  at  four  times  the  expense.  He  would  like  to  produce 
his  oil  in  the  economical,  careful  way,  but  across  one  line  is  Jones, 
across  the  other  Brown,  and  to  north  and  south  are  Snider  and  the 
Standard  Oil  Company.  Each  has  considered  the  same  problem,  each 
has  competitors  on  every  side,  each  is  drilling  as  many  wells  as  he 
can  as  fast  as  he  is  able.  Smith  doesn't  consider  long.  He  gets  a 
dozen  strings  of  tools  dropping  as  soon  as  his  finances  let  him.  Of 
course  the  oil  costs  four  times  what  it  should,  but  so  does  everyone 
else's  oil  in  the  field,  the  general  price  is  correspondingly  high,  and 
whoever  buys  the  oil  pays  the  extra  expense. 

Do  not  think  this  is  an  overdrawn  picture,  or  that  the  item 
is  a  small  one?  Just  have  a  look  at  this  diagram  of  the  famous 
Glenn  Pool  of  Oklahoma,  taken  from  hearings  before  the  Senate 
Committee  on  Public  Lands,  January  12,  1915.  It  shows  that  the 
total  cost  of  drilling  in  the  Glenn  Pool  was  $11,250,000,  and  estimates 
that  all  the  oil  could  have  been  obtained  for  $3,177,000;  a  useless 
expenditure  of  $8,073,000.  Is  that  a  negligible  item?  Is  that  the 
way  the  public's  necessities  should  be  produced?  Eight  million  out 
of  eleven  millions  expended  uselessly  !  Three  hundred  and  fifty- four 
per  cent  of  what  it  should  have  cost !  And  who  do  you  suppose  paid 
the  extra  254  per  cent?  Do  you  think  for  a  minute  that  the  com- 
panies that  drilled  those  extra  wells  paid  for  them  in  the  long  run? 
Of  course  not !  Those  wells  were  paid  for  by  the  man  with  a 
machine,  or  a  gasoline  pump,  or  a  farm  tractor,  by  the  laborer  whose 
home  is  lighted  by  kerosene. 

Fundamental  Cause  of  These  Losses. 

These  are  some  of  the  ways  in  which  oil  and  gas  are  being 
wasted,  some  of  the  reasons  why  petroleum  products  are  high  in 
price.  Let  us  see  if  we  can  discover  in  them  some  fundamental  cause, 
some  condition  that  may  be  remedied. 


ADEQUATE  ACREAGE  AND  OIL  CONSERVATION       329 

The  first  thought  that  suggests  itself  is  that  the  operators  must 
be  grossly  ignorant  or  grossly  careless.  Perhaps  this  is  in  a  measure 
true.  Smith  should  have  had  a  pump  and  a  slush-pit  ready  to  mud 
off  the  gas  and  water  sands  he  encountered.  But  does  this  go  to 
the  root  of  the  matter?  Why  was  Smith  in  such  haste  to  start  that 
he  had  neglected  these  precautions  ?  Why  wouldn't  he  wait  for  the 
equipment  when  he  found  he  needed  it?  Because  he  feared  his 
neighbors  would  drain  his  oil.  Yes,  and  why  was  this  an  ever-present, 
driving  fear?  Because  he  held  only  a  small  tract.  There  we  have 
it,  gentlemen!  There  is  the  root  of  the  whole  trouble — the  small 
holding.  Let  us  go  back  over  the  history  of  the  field. 

We  saw  that  as  soon  as  the  field  was  discovered  it  was  leased 
up  in  small  tracts.  Then  we  saw  the  Smiths,  the  Browns,  the 
Joneses  and  the  Standard  Oil  drilling  for  dear  life,  each  trying  to 
get  the  oil  from  under  his  little  tract  and  a  bit  of  the  other  fellow's 
before  the  other  fellow  could  get  it.  Why?  Because  each  tract 
was  so  small  it  could  be  drained  by  wells  on  the  surrounding  tracts. 

We  saw  that  the  race  was  so  keen  that  wells  were  improperly 
drilled,  that  gas  was  allowed  to  waste  into  the  air  or  dissipate 
itself  through  barren  formations,  that  water  was  allowed  to  enter 
the  oil  sands,  and  that  great  quantities  of  oil  were  left  underground, 
never  to  be  recovered.  Why?  Because  the  small  holding  forced 
each  man  to  race  with  his  neighbor. 

We  saw  the  entire  flush  production  of  the  field  thrown  on  the 
market  at  once,  demoralizing  market  prices,  forcing  the  premature 
amandonment  of  wells  in  other  fields,  resulting  in  the  burning  of 
unrefined  crude  and  the  waste  of  the  more  valuable  products.  We 
saw  iihfe  maximum  production  of  the  field  go  into  storage,  where  the 
losses  from  evaporation  and  fire  were  enormous,  and  where  the 
cost  of  the  oil  was  nearly  doubled.  What  caused  these  things  ?  The 
fact  that  every  holder  of  a  small  lease  must  drill  it  up  as  soon  as 
possible. 

Lastly,  we  saw  the  cost  of  production  more  than  300  per  cent 
what  it  should  have  been.  And  what  was  the  reason?  That  every 
man  must  drill  his  lines  as  fast  as  might  be,  and  must  completely 
drill  up  his  land  at  the  earliest  moment.  Why?  Because  the  oil 
under  his  small  holding  could  be  taken  from  him  by  wells  on  sur- 
rounding tracts. 

Ignorance  there  may  be,  carelessness  there  undoubtedly  is,  but 
back  of  ignorance,  of  carelessness,  of  reckless,  headlong  methods  is 
the  real  cause — the  fact  that  the  average  holding  is  so  small  that 


330         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

speed  is  the  owner's  sole  protection.  Let  him  be  careful  if  he  can, 
let  him  be  economical  if  he  can  find  a  way,  but  careful  or  careless, 
reckless  or  conservative,  he  must  be  speedy  if  he  would  survive. 
The  small  holding  is  his  master. 

The  Remedy — Adequate  Acreage. 

Here,  then,  we  have  isolated  the  cause.  Have  we  not  at  the 
same  time  discovered  the  remedy?  If  the  small  holding  has  brought 
the  wastes  and  losses  of  the  oil  industry,  will  not  adequate  acreage 
cure  these  evils  ?  Let  us  go  over  them  again. 

If  Smith's  lease  is  large  enough  so  that  he  does  not  fear  drain- 
ing by  Jones  or  Brown  or  Snider,  he  will  undoubtedly  drill  more 
carefully.  When  he  encounters  the  high-pressure  gas  sand  he  will 
mud  it  in,  where  it  can  be  drawn  on  at  some  time  in  the  future  when 
it  has  a  commercial  value.  He  will  mud  in  the  water  sand  also,  and 
none  of  the  wells  of  the  field  will  be  flooded  by  infiltrating  water. 
When  he  finds  gas  in  the  oil  sand  he  will  restrict  the  flow  so  that 
the  maximum  amount  of  oil  may  be  brought  out  by  the  gas,  the 
life  of  the  well  be  prolonged,  and  its  yield  augmented.  Thus  the 
main  dangers  of  waste  in  the  drilling  and  handling  of  the  wells 
are  eliminated. 

.  If  the  holdings  in  the  field  are  of  adequate  size,  Smith  will  not 
fear  Brown,  nor  Brown,  Jones.  The  field  can  therefore  be  brought 
in  gradually,  building  up  a  market  for  the  production  as  the  produc- 
tion is  increased.  There  is  no  demoralization  of  market  prices,  no 
premature  abandonment  of  wells  in  other  fields,  no  burning  of 
unrefined  crude,  no  letting  of  oil  go  down  the  creek,  no  storage  of 
huge  quantities,  no  great  evaporation  or  fire  losses,  no  tankage 
,  charges. 

Finally,  if  the  holdings  are  of  adequate  size,  the  ruimber  of 
line  wells  will  be  reduced  to  a  minimum,  and  there  will  be  no  inside 
wells  drilled  from  fear  of  drainage.  The  drilling  cost  will  be  little 
if  any  above  100  per  cent  what  it  should  be,  instead  of  more  than 
300  per  cent. 

Do  you  think  these  views  of  the  benefits  of  adequate  acreage 
are  too  rosy?  Not  long  ago  I  had  the  pleasure  of  visiting  first 
Gushing,  a  typical  small-holding  field,  and  then  Augusta,  Kansas, 
the  major  part  of  which  is  held  in  large  blocks.  You  know  the 
history  of  Gushing;  how  it  was  thrown  on  the  market  almost  over 
night,  how  the  bottom  dropped  out  of  oil  prices,  how  millions  of 
cubic  feet  of  gas  went  to  waste,  how  millions  of  barrels  of  oil  went 
into  storage,  and  how  the  production  suddenly  fell  off  nearly  70 


ADEQUATE  ACREAGE  AND  OIL  CONSERVATION        331 

per  cent.  At  Augusta  physical  conditions  do  not  differ  greatly  from 
those  at  Gushing.  The  average  wells  of  each  field  do  about  the  same. 
Both  have  areas  of  great  gas  production.  Around  the  outskirts  of 
the  Augusta  field  are  small  holdings  and  here  Gushing  conditions 
may  in  time  be  duplicated.  Rut  with  these  things  the  resemblance 
between  the  two  fields  ceases.  In  the  large-block  part  of  the  Augusta 
field  I  saw  no  gas  going  to  waste,  no  huge  quantities  of  oil  in  storage, 
no  feverish  drilling  activity.  I  gained  an  impression  of  order,  of 
care,  of  efficiency  and  business  like  methods.  And  then,  to  show 
that  the  difference  is  not  a  matter  of  locality  or  state  law,  I  stumbled 
onto  a  small  holding,  a  church  yard  of  perhaps  ten  acres,  and  there 
the  derricks  fairly  jostled  the  tombstones. 

I  found  some  people  in  Augusta  who  complained  because, 
although  the  oil  field  has  brought  the  town  prosperity,  it  has  brought 
no  such  boom  as  other  places  have  known.  A  dealer  in  acreage  was 
very  bitter.  "It's  all  because  of  large  holdings,"  he  said.  "If  this 
field  had  been  cut  into  small  tracts  like  Gushing,  it  would  have  been 
and  gone  long  ago."  I  agreed  with  him. 

Arguments  Against  Adequate  Acreage. 

Is  it  monopolistic? 

Failing  to  get  from  the  Augustans  any  farsighted  arguments 
against  adequate  acreage,  I  have  tried  to  find  some  for  myself.  In 
the  first  place,  large  acreage  somehow  sounds  monopolistic.  I  find 
that  wherever  I  talk  acreage  someone  holds  up  his  hands  and  says, 
"Oh,  but  that  would  be  creating  a  monopoly."  But  would  it,  now? 
What  is  a  monopoly?  According  to  Webster  it  is  "the  sole  power 
of  dealing  in  any  species  of  goods,  or  of  dealing  with  a  country  or 
market."  Giving  a  man  a  large  instead  of  a  small  oil  lease  certainly 
doesn't  grant  him  any  such  "sole  power"  as  that.  The  New  Standard 
Dictionary  gives  a  similar  definition  and  adds,  "especially  *  *  *  such 
control  of  a  special  thing,  as  a  commodity,  as  enables  the  person  or 
persons  exercising  it  to  raise  the  price  of  it  above  its  real  value, 
or  above  the  price  it  would  bring  under  competition."  Now  it  is 
easy  to  see  how  granting  a  man  a  lease  on  all  the  oil  lands  in  the 
United  States,  or  in  some  part  of  the  United  States,  or  of  all  the  oil 
of  a  particular  grade  in  a  given  region  might  be  giving  him  a 
monopoly  as  thus  defined,  but  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  giving  him  an 
adequate  lease  in  any  given  field  would  bring  him  within  the  defini- 
tion. He  could  not  raise  the  price  above  the  real  value,  or  above 
the  price  the  oil  would  bring  under  competition,  for  he  would  be 


332         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

in  direct  competition  with  oil  produced  from  similar  leases  in  other 
fields,  or  in  the  same  field  if  the  field  were  a  large  one. 

Perhaps  the  idea  that  adequate  acreage  tends  toward  monopoly 
is  based  on  a  belief  that  each  small  lease  represents  the  entire  hold- 
ings of  a  company  or  individual  in  a  given  field.  Of  course  this  is 
not  the  case.  In  the  major  fields  a  company  holds  a  tract  here, 
another  there,  a  third  yonder,  a  fourth,  fifth  and  sixth  beyond.  The 
trouble  is  not  that  the  acreage  held  by  one  company  is  too  small  but 
that  it  is  broken  up  into  such  small  units,  instead  of  being  in  a 
compact  block.  If  each  company  operating  in  Gushing  had  held  all 
of  its  acreage  in  a  single  unit,  the  history  of  the  field  might  have 
been  radically  different,  with  no  harrowing  tales  of  waste  and  losses. 

Does  It  Eliminate  the  Small  Operator? 

If  we  have  laid  the  monopoly  ghost,  let  us  turn  to  another  and 
more  real  objection  to  large  acreage — that  it  eliminates  the  small 
operator.  But  does  it?  To  my  mind  it  would  tend  to  eliminate  the 
very  small  operator,  but  not  the  operator  of  moderate  resources. 
The  competition  for  leases  would  probably  be  less  of  a  cutthroat 
struggle  if  the  leases  were  larger,  and  the  acreage  price  would  per- 
haps be  less.  If  so,  the  operator  of  moderate  resources  could 
swing  a  larger  lease  than  he  can  now,  particularly  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  he  could  handle  his  lease  more  economically  after  getting  it. 

Before  we  expend  any  sympathy  on  the  very  small  operator 
who  might  be  lost  in  large-unit  operations,  suppose  we  consider  his 
present  status.  How  many  of  him  do  you  think  get  a  foothold  in 
any  field  of  consequence?  Very  few  indeed.  And  what  happens  to 
those  who  do  ?  When  the  field  is  flooding  the  market  and  tankage  is 
high,  they  cannot  afford  to  buy  or  lease  storage.  They  must  produce 
their  oil;  they  cannot  care  for  it  after  it  is  produced.  Talk  about 
your  upper  and  nether  millstones ! 

What  do  they  do?  Sell  their  leases  for  a  song  to  some  big 
company  with  plenty  of  tankage,  or,  if  not  forced  quite  so  far,  sell 
their  oil  to  the  company  at  prices  that  do  not  cover  the  cost  of 
drilling  the  wells.  That  is  the  way  the  small-acreage  system 
encourages  the  small  operator.  How  many  genuine  little  fellows, 
for  example,  got  rich  in  Gushing  ? 

Then  there  is  another  angle  to  this  small-operator  question. 
Suppose  for  the  moment  that  adequate  acreage  will  put  him  out  of 
business.  Can  we  afford  to  continue  wasteful,  careless,  extravagant 
methods  for  the  sake  of  giving  him  a  job?  After  all,  whose  interest 
is  paramount,  that  of  the  public  or  that  of  the  small  operator? 


ADEQUATE  ACREAGE  AND  OIL  CONSERVATION       333 

Will  Regulation  Accomplish  the  Same  Results? 

There  remains  one  point  to  be  considered :  Can  the  same  results 
be  accomplished  by  some  other  means  ?  How  about  laws  and  regula- 
tions against  waste?  I  believe  thoroughly  in  such  legislation.  In 
Oklahoma  the  supervision  of  Indian  lands  by  the  Bureau  of  Mines 
and  of  commercial  lands  by  the  Corporation  Commission  has  proved 
beyond  a  doubt  that  proper  drilling  methods  can  be  enforced  and 
enormous  waste  prevented  under  proper  laws,  but  there  are  certain 
things  which  it  is  hard  to  reach  by  administrative  regulation ;  such, 
for  example,  as  the  drilling  of  too  many  wells,  racing  along  property 
lines,  premature  production,  storage  losses,  and  the  like. 

There  is  another  phase  of  the  regulation  matter  which  to  me 
seems  important.  It  is  much  easier  to  regulate  a  man's  business  if 
your  regulations  run  with  rather  than  contrary  to  his  economic 
interests.  When  economic  necessity  goes  counter  to  regulation  and 
statute,  the  operator  can  be  depended  upon  to  find  some  way  to 
avoid  the  regulation  and  nullify  the  statute.  And  whenever  it  be- 
comes profitable  for  the  operator  to  prevent  waste  he  can  be  de- 
pended upon  to  do  so  without  compulsory  regulation. 

C  onclusion. 

Hear,  then,  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter.  If  you  would 
prevent  waste  of  oil  and  natural  gas,  if  you  would  do  away  with 
careless  drilling  methods,  excessive  production  charges  and  storage 
losses,  if  you  would  insure  the  production  of  the  maximum  amount 
of  oil  at  the  minimum  cost,  if  you  would  help  to  maintain  a  reason- 
able price  for  petroleum  and  its  products  in  the  years  to  come ;  then 
do  your  part  in  creating  a  public  sentiment  in  favor  of  adequate 
acreage.  You  may  not  find  it  a  popular  propaganda  just  now.  You 
will  doubtless  be  accused  of  advocating  monopoly  and  probably 
branded  as  a  corporation  partisan.  But  if  you  take  one  step  toward 
imbedding  the  acreage  idea  in  the  popular  mind,  or  incorporating  it 
into  state  legislation,  or  embodying  it  in  oil-field  practice,  you  will 
have  assisted  in  conserving  the  oil  and  gas  deposits  of  the  United 
States,  and  will  have  rendered  a  valuable  public  service. 


RESPONSIBILITIES  AND   DUTIES  IN   MINE  SAFETY 

WORK. 


Address  Delivered  by  Thomas  M.  Gann  at  Nineteenth  Annual 
Convention  of  American  Mining  Congress. 


The  subject  on  which  I  am  to  address  you  is  of  vital  impor- 
tance to  the  coal  industry  and  those  engaged  therein,  and  one  which 
should  be  discussed  openly  and  frankly  in  a  friendly  manner,  in 
order  that  the  best  results  may  be  obtained  and  in  order  that  each 
party  thereto  may  know  and  understand  the  part  he  should  play.  I 
take  it  that  the  operators,  the  miners  and  the  public,  all  being  inter- 
ested in  this  work,  are  willing  to  bear  the  responsibility,  and  to  do 
their  duty  when  they  know  and  understand  what  is  required  of 
them. 

Let  us  hope  that  whatever  may  be  said  along  this  line  will  be 
said  with  one  object  in  view — that  all  may  be  benefited.  The  Amer- 
ican Mining  Congress,  with  the  co-operation  of  the  miners  and 
operators,  together  with  the  assistance  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines, 
should  be  able  to  reduce  accidents  and  loss  of  life  in  the  mines  to 
a  minimum. 

The  subject  has  been  properly  divided  into  three  parts,  viz. : 
"Responsibilities  and  Duties  of  the  'Operator,'  'Miner'  and  the 
'Public.'  " 

The  part  which  I  am  to  discuss  is  that  of  the  "operator." 
Permit  me  to  say  in  the  outset  that  if  the  responsibilities  and  duties 
of  one  party  are  greater  than  those  of  another,  it  is  those  of  the 
operator;  his  responsibilities  are  great,  and  his  duties  are  many. 
He  invests  his  money  in  a  coal  mine,  and  he  expects  the  miners  to 
produce  the  coal ;  he  expects  the  public  to  pay  for  and  consume  his 
product,  and  that  isn't  all  he  expects.  His  main  object  in  going 
into  the  coal  business  is  to  make  money.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
miners  require  that  he  pay  them  a  living  wage  (and  a  living  wage 
does  not  mean  just  enough  to  keep  body  and  soul  together,  but 
that  there  must  be  a  margin  between  his  earnings  and  what  it  costs 
him  to  live  up  to  the  American  standard,  in  order  that  he  may 
have  a  dollar  for  a  wet  day),  that  he  equip  the  mine  with  those 


RESPONSIBILITIES  IN  MINE  SAFETY  WORK  335 

safety  appliances  which  are  necessary  for  the  protection  of  their 
health,  life  and  limb.  Every  precaution  should  be  exercised  to 
protect  them,  for,  after  all  is  said  and  done,  they  have  more  at 
stake  than  all  others  interested.  The  operator  should  exercise  care 
in  selecting  his  managers  and  foremen,  being  sure  that  they  are 
men  who  not  only  possess  the  necessary  qualifications  for  intelligent 
work,  but  also  men  who  are  of  a  disposition  which  will  invite 
the  co-operation  of  the  other  employes  in  the  making  and  enforce- 
ment of  the  rules  which  shall  govern  the  operation  of  that  mine. 
They  should  also  invite  the  co-operation  of  the  miners  in  the  en- 
forcement of  the  mining  laws. 

It  has  been  said  that  an  impartial  investigation  would  dem- 
onstrate that  cheap  coal  is  the  principal  cause  for  the  awful  de- 
struction of  life  incident  to  the  development  of  the  mining  industry; 
and  long  as  the  consumer  can  buy  coal  at  cost  of  production  or  less, 
there  will  be  enforced  economy  in  the  development  and  operation 
of  mines. 

I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the  statement  is  true,  because  I  have 
had  operators  tell  me  that  they  were  selling  their  best  coal  (not 
run  of  mine)  for  80  cents  per  ton,  and  I  understand  also  that  quite 
a  number  of  operators  in  my  district  are  handling  a  large  portion 
of  their  tonnage  through  coal  brokers,  who  have  no  interest  what- 
ever in  the  coal  industry,  except  their  commissions.  There  cannot 
be  any  justifiable  reason  for  continuing  such  a  condition,  this  waste 
must  stop  and  coal  must  command  a  higher  price  in  the  market,  or 
everything  which  contributes  to  the  safety  of  the  mine  worker,  and 
the  welfare  of  his  family  will  suffer. 

The  operator  should  work  in  harmony  with  the  miners,  in 
securing  better  mining  laws ;  with  reference  to  protection  and  safety 
of  the  men  in  the  mines,  but  instead  we  usually  find  them  opposing 
all  amendments  in  this  respect,  if  there  is  any  semblance  of  addi- 
tional cost  of  the  operation  of  their  mines.  And  this  simply  reverts 
back  to  the  evil  of  cheap  coal,  selling  coal  at  or  near,  and  some- 
times below,  the  cost  of  production  places  them  in  a  position  where- 
by they  are  unable  to  pay  a  living  wage ;  much  less  meet  the  cost 
of  properly  equipping  the  mine,  and  installing  the  necessary  safe- 
guards that  should  be  thrown  around  those  employed  in  the  mines ; 
these  conditions  apply  more  especially  in  the  coal  fields  of  the 
south. 

The  question  of  organization  and  co-operation  enters  very  seri- 
ously into  the  Safety  First  Movement.  In  an  address,  delivered 
at  the  University  of  Illinois,  May  9,  1913,  on  the  subject,  "Organi- 


336         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

zation  as  Affecting  Mining,"  by  Mr.  A.  J.  Moorshead,  President 
and  General  Manager  of  the  Madison  Coal  Corporation,  be  said: 
"That  upon  organization  hinges  the  success  or  failure  of  a\\  enter- 
prises." With  this  statement  we  must  all  agree,  and  therefore  if 
it  is  necessary  to  have  organization  for  the  successful  operajtign  of 
any  business,  it  is  just  as  essential  in  the  Safety  First  Movement. 
The  miners  individually  cannot  do  much,  in  this  work,  for  without 
organization,  they  cannot  have  discipline  and  harmony ;  andf  in  this 
respect,  the  operators  of  the  south  have  lost  sight  of  the  Saline 
Safety  Work.  Because,  as  a  general  rule,  they  fight  every  movdthat 
the  miners  make  to  try  to  build  up  an  organization  by  whicttfthey 
can  obtain  better  working  conditions.  I  am  not  telling  of  these 
things  for  the  purpose  of  injecting  unionism  into  this  discussion, 
but  simply  to  try  and  get  the  operators  referred  to  to  see  that  they 
are  wrong.  And  if  they  are  really  interested,  in  protecting  the 
miners  in  their  employment  and  the  industry  itself ;  they  will  have 
to  change  their  policy  if  they  expect  to  make  any  progress,  fit  is 
my  purpose  to  only  try,  to  point  out  some  of  the  greater  things, 
that  should  be  done,  and  by  a  thorough  organization  of  both  the 
operators  and  miners,  the  lesser  things  can  be  worked  out  mutually 
by  friendly  discussions  at  the  mines. 

The  coal  industry  of  this  country  does  not  occupy  that  posi- 
tion which  it  should  in  the  industrial  world.  And  there  is  no  one 
to  blame,  except  those  who  are  engaged  in  that  industry,  and  it 
remains  for  the  operators  and  miners  through  their  own  efforts  to 
make  out  of  the  industry  that  which  they  are  entitled  to. 

Let  us  hope  that  when  we  leave  this  convention  we  will  all 
have  a  better  understanding  as  to  what  our  responsibilities  and 
duties  are,  with  reference  to  the  Safety  First  Movement,  and  go 
with  a  determination,  that  when  the  convention  may  meet  again; 
we  can  see  some  good  results  from  these  discussions. 


REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE 

Upon  the  Revision  of  the  Mineral  Land  Laws  to  the  American 
Mining  Congress,  November  13-18,  1916. 


When  the  American  Mining  Congress  a  few  years  ago  deter- 
mined to  bring  about  the  reformation  of  the  mining  code,  it  ap- 
peared to  many  casual  observers  that  the  Congress  had  selected 
the  most  difficult  and  uninteresting  of  all  tasks  within  its  choice. 

The  foundations  upon  which  vast  structures  stand  are  not 
exposed  to  view  and  never  become  subjects  of  popular  enthusiasm. 
Only  the  few  to  whom  this  part  of  the  world's  work  has  fallen 
actively  concern  themselves  about  its  workmanship,  its  safety  and 
its  effectiveness. 

That  the  body  of  mineral  land  laws  known  as  the  Mining  Code 
is  the  basis  of  all  mining  in  the  west  and  Alaska  is  generally  under- 
stood. The  industry  is  so  vast  and  complex,  however,  that  even 
within  its  ranks  the  overwhelming  importance  of  this  code  to  its 
health  and  its  life  is  best  realized  by  those  who  have  had  to  do 
with  the  processes  of  creating  mining  property  from  public  lands 
and  also  by  those  who  are  familiar  with  the  record  of  such  proc- 
esses in  past  history. 

Mining  men  know  that  it  is  fatal  to  the  industry  to  treat 
mineral  land  like  ordinary  land ;  that  an  unwise  mining  code  tends 
to  rapidly  paralyze  the  development  of  mining  districts  and  that 
from  ancient  times  mining  men  have  had  to  struggle  with  the 
legislation  imposed  upon  them  by  the  superior  power  of  non-mining 
men. 

For  over  forty  years,  American  industry  has  suffered  increas- 
ingly from  the  defects  of  its  mining  code.  By  every  means  in 
its  power  it  has  called  attention  to  these  defects  and  has  presented 
suggestions  for  their  cure  but  all  to  no  avail.  In  the  face  of  these 
past  failures,  the  American  Mining  Congress  undertook  to  secure 
the  reform  by  an  organized  effort  which  would  for  the  first  time 
be  persistent  and  also  by  adopting  a  novel  and  practical  plan  of 
action  which  has  made  an  unusual  appeal  to  the  common-sense  of 
mining  men  and  legislators. 


338         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

This  was  the  idea  that  a  work  so  technical  and  important  as  the 
revision  of  the  mining  code  should  be  based  upon  the  practical 
experience  and  judgment  of  those  who  are  actually  engaged  in  the 
industry.  If  their  wisdom  could  be  assembled  and  condensed  for 
the  use  of  Congress  by  a  commission  composed  of  men  whose  com- 
petence was  known  to  the  industry  and  this  commission  should  hold 
public  hearings  for  the  purpose  throughout  the  mining  regions  of 
the  west  and  Alaska,  then  mining  men  could  feel  assured  of  a 
satisfactory  result. 

For  several  years  the  American  Mining  Congress  has  now 
been  working  for  the  appointment  of  this  commission ;  watching 
every  chance  at  Washington  and  pressing  its  measure  at  every  ses- 
sion of  Congress.  The  discouraging  indifference  under  which  the 
work  was  begun  has  given  place  to  a  rapidly  widening  interest. 
The  American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers,  the  Mining  and  Metal- 
lurgical Society  of  America,  and  practically  all  the  local  mining 
organizations  of  the  country  have  been  actively  co-operating  in 
the  work. 

Two  successive  administrations  have  approved  the  measure 
and  two  successive  Senates  have  passed  it.  For  two  successive 
years  the  bill  has  nearly  passed  the  House,  failing  once  because  of 
pressure  of  other  business  and  again  last  winter  through  the  cause- 
less opposition  of  one  man.  It  is  clear  that  success  is  only  a  matter 
of  continuing  the  patient  and  persistent  work  which  it  was  known 
in  the  beginning  would  be  necessary. 

In  the  meantime  while  waiting  for  the  next  opportunity  at 
Washington,  the  interest  created  has  caused  the  Mining  and  Metal- 
lurgical Society  of  America  to  take  up  a  discussion  of  the  details 
of  a  new  code.  This  valuable  and  important  work  is  now  in  prog- 
ress and  is  further  stimulating  and  extending  interest  in  the  prob- 
lems involved. 

EDMUND  B.  KIRBY,  Chairman. 


FEDERAL  AID  TO  MINING  EFFICIENCY— NATIONAL 
IMPORTANCE  OF  AGRICULTURE  AND  MINING. 


Address  Delivered  by  Van  H.  Manning  at  Nineteenth  Annual 
Convention  of  American  Mining  Congress. 


On  two  foundation  industries,  agriculture  and  mining,  the 
welfare  and  prosperity  of  this  country  rest.  Agriculture  is  unques- 
tionably still  the  greatest  of  our  industries,  but  mining  is  easily 
second  in  importance.  The  value  of  the  products  and  the  number 
of  men  employed  by  these  two  industries  are  sufficient  evidence  of 
this  fact. 

Agriculture,  the  source  of  food  and  clothing,  is  the  older  indus- 
try ;  mining  developed  with  the  growth  of  the  arts.  In  this  country 
agriculture  received  aid  from  the  Federal  Government  and  the 
states  long  before  mining,  and  today,  as  far  as  official  encourage- 
ment is  concerned,  agriculture  is  the  best  organized  of  all  our  indus- 
tries. You  will  find  agricultural  organizations  in  every  state  of 
the  Union ;  in  addition,  there  are  several  great  national  organiza- 
tions, any  one  of  which  is  at  all  times  ready  to  call  attention  to  the 
needs  of  agriculture. 

Mining  is  becoming  better  organized,  and  a  number  o*f  organi- 
zations, notably  the  American  Mining  Congress,  are  now  working 
in  its  behalf,  but  we  have  much  farther  to  go  to  reach  the  stage  of 
organization  attained  by  agriculture. 

This  organization  of  agriculture  is  reflected  in  a  most  sub- 
stantial manner  by  the  activities  of  the  Federal  Government.  With 
the  great  Department  of  Agriculture  back  of  this  industry  and 
several  thousand  skilled  men  looking  after  its  every  interest;  with 
Congress  for  many  years  educated  to  the  needs  of  agriculture,  it 
is  a  comparatively  easy  matter  for  agriculture  to  get  what  it  wants 
in  the  way  of  appropriations. 

I  have  had  some  comparative  statistics  prepared  concerning  the 
two  great  industries  and  some  of  the  conclusions  reached  are  almost 
startling.  According  to  these  statistics,  mining  is  not  receiving  from 
the  Federal  Government  anything  like  its  just  share  of  the  appro- 
priations annually  made. 


340         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

The  statistics  show  that  if  mining  were  to  receive  the  same 
consideration  as  agriculture,  considering  the  relative  value  of  the 
outputs  of  the  two  industries,  mining  would  receive  nearly  four 
times  as  much  as  it  now  receives,  or  $8,018,560  instead  of  $2,333,075. 

Another  interesting  comparison  shows  that  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment in  the  present  year  has  donated  to  the  farmers  one  dollar 
for  every  $295  worth  of  products  of  the  farms.  It  has  donated  to 
mining  one  dollar  for  every  $1,017  worth  of  products  from  the 
mines. 

Perhaps  some  of  the  figures  in  detail  will  be  of  interest. 

The  total  amount  of  money  appropriated  by  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment in  behalf  of  agriculture  for  the  present  fiscal  year  is 
$35,553,852. 

The  total  amount  of  money  appropriated  by  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment for  this  year  for  mining  is  $2,333,075.  This  includes  the 
total  appropriations  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines  and  the  United  States 
Geological  Survey. 

The  per  capita  contribution  of  the  people  for  the  betterment 
of  agriculture  is  34  4-5  cents. 

The  per  capita  contribution  of  the  people  for  the  betterment 
of  mining  is  2  3-10  cents. 

The  gross  value  of  all  agricultural  products  in  the  year  1915, 
as  estimated  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  is  $10,501,636,000. 

The  gross  value  of  all  raw  mineral  products  for  the  year  1916, 
as  estimated  by  the  United  States  Geological  Survey,  is 
$2,373,000,000. 

The  per  capita  production  of  agriculture  is  $102.94. 

The  per  capita  production  of  mining  is  $23.26. 

While  the  value  of  the  agricultural  production  of  the  country 
is  less  than  five  times  that  of  the  mineral  production,  the  per  capita 
appropriation  for  agricultural  investigations  is  fifteen  times  the  per 
capita  appropriation  for  mineral  investigation. 

I  shall  allow  the  statistics  to  stand  for  themselves  and  permit 
you  to  make  your  own  deductions.  To  me  they  seem  to  indicate 
a  need  of  better  organization,  a  more  intelligent  co-operation,  and 
a  general  demand  that  mining  shall  receive  more  recognition  from 
the  Government. 

In  the  Department  of  Agriculture  single  bureaus,  such  as  the 
Bureau  of  Animal  Industry,  the  Bureau  of  Plant  Industry,  the  For- 
est Service,  the  States  Relations  Service  and  Meat  Inspection,  each 
received  more  money  than  is  allotted  by  the  Federal  Government  for 
all  mining. 


FEDERAL  AID  TO  MINING  EFFICIENCY  341 

Under  the  Merrill  Act  alone  each  state  in  the  Union  receives 
more  than  $67,000  each  year  for  the  colleges  of  agriculture  and 
mechanic  arts. 

I  am  pleased  to  say,  however,  that  mining  is  beginning  to  re- 
ceive more  recognition.  Last  year  Congress  passed  a  law  providing 
for  the  establishment  in  the  several  important  mining  regions  of 
the  United  States  of  ten  mining  experiment  stations  and  seven  mine- 
safety  stations  in  addition  to  those  already  established,  but  provid- 
ing that  not  more  than  three  of  the  mining  experiment  stations  and 
the  same  number  of  safety  stations  shall  be  established  in  one  year. 

Having  thus  called  attention  to  the  comparative  financial  aid 
given  by  the  Federal  Government  to  the  two  great  industries,  I 
shall  summarize  somewhat  briefly  the  work  being  done  by  the  De- 
partment of  the  Interior  in  its  efforts  to  aid  mining.  That  Depart- 
ment, as  you  know,  includes  the  two  Federal  bureaus,  the  United 
States  Geological  Survey  and  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  whose  activities 
relate  almost  wholly  to  the  mineral  industries. 

The  United  States  Geological  Survey  is  much  the  older  of  the 
two,  in  fact  it  may  be  regarded  as  the  parent  of  the  Bureau  of 
Mines.  In  its  great  task  of  preparing  a  geological  map  of  the  United 
States  and  its  allied  duties  of  measuring  stream  flow  and  classifying 
the  public  lands,  the  Geological  Survey  has  done  and  is  doing  a 
work  of  primary  importance.  However,  I  shall  not  dwell  on  its 
activities,  for  its  Director  is  here  and  will  speak  for  it. 

Why  the  Mining  Industry  Needs  Federal  Aid. 

No  country  in  the  world  has  such  vast  and  varied  mineral  re- 
sources as  the  United  States.  The  development  of  these  industries 
has  been  rapid  and  on  an  enormous  scale.  In  1880  the  value  of  the 
mineral  products  of  this  country,  according  to  the  Tenth  Census, 
was  $364,900,000;  in  1900  the  value  had  risen  to  $1,063,600,000; 
in  1910  to  $1,991,200,000,  and  in  1915,  according  to  the  advance 
figures  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey,  to  $2,373,000,000. 
From  1880  to  1915  the  population  of  the  United  States  increased 
about  TOO  per  cent,  whereas  the  value  of  its  mineral  production 
increased  nearly  seven-fold. 

But  this  tremendous  increase  in  production  has  been  accom- 
panied by  unparallel  waste,  in  both  the  production  and  utilization 
of  our  mineral  wealth,  and  altogether  too  little  regard  for  the  health 
and  safety  of  the  men  whose  labor  converted  the  natural  resources 
into  the  commercial  products.  A  people  of  restless  energy,  individ- 
ualistic, eager  for  immediate  success,  and  having  little  regard  for 


342         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

the  lessons  of  the  past,  we  have  indulged  in  an  orgy  of  hasty  ex- 
ploitation, with  the  result  that  already  we  are  nearing  the  limit  of 
maximum  production  of  some  minerals,  although  the  original  supply, 
if  wisely  mined  and  utilized,  would  have  lasted  us  many  years  longer 
and  would  have  brought  us  ten  times  the  wealth. 

To  conserve  our  remaining  supplies,  that  is,  to  extract,  prepare 
and  utilize  the  minerals  and  ores  in  such  manner  as  will  be  of  most 
benefit  to  the  nation,  is  clearly  not  a  simple  nor  an  easy  task.  Our 
mineral  resources  are  many  and  extend  throughout  large  areas, 
occur  under  widely  varying  geological  conditions,  and  are  subject  in 
large  part  to  state  laws  that  differ  greatly. 

Evidently  no  one  state  should  be  expected  to  bear  the  cost  of 
investigations  that  are  of  interest  to  all  the  states,  and  for  each 
state  to  undertake  such  investigations  would  cause  much  duplica- 
tion of  effort  and  unnecessary  expense.  Private  investigation  of 
large  problems,  aside  from  the  duplication  involved,  would  neces- 
sarily be  limited  to  concerns  commanding  abundant  capital;  and  in 
any  event  the  cost  of  the  investigations  will  be  borne  by  the  con- 
sumer of  the  products,  that  is,  by  the  public. 

Work  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines. 

Investigations  of  the  causes  of  mine  explosions  and  the  meth- 
ods of  preventing  such  explosions  were  begun  by  the  Government 
in  response  to  a  general  demand  that  measures  be  taken  to  lessen 
the  loss  of  life  in  mining  operations.  When  it  established  the 
Bureau  of  Mines,  Congress  directed  the  bureau  to  investigate  not 
only  mine  explosions,  but  also  mine  accidents  in  general  and  the 
conditions  that  affect  health  and  safety ;  and  also  to  investigate 
methods  of  mining,  treating,  and  utilizing  mineral  substances  with 
a  view  to  economic  development  and  the  prevention  of  waste. 

Thus  it  happens  that  the  motto  of  the  bureau  is  safety  and 
efficiency,  the  two  words  being  in  a  way  mutually  supplementary, 
for  safety  is  determined  by  efficiency,  and  true  efficiency  implies 
safety. 

For  purposes  of  administration,  the  investigations  conducted  by 
the  bureau  are  grouped  in  five  divisions ;  mining,  fuels  and  mechan- 
ical equipment,  mineral  technology,  metallurgy,  and  petroleum,  each 
in  charge  of  a  chief  engineer.  However,  for  convenience  of  con- 
sideration in  line  with  the  title  of  my  address,  I  will  group  them  as 
safety  investigations  and  efficiency  investigations,  and  will  give  at- 
tention chiefly  to  the  latter. 


FEDERAL  AID  TO  MINING  EFFICIENCY  343 

Safety  Investigations. 

The  early  activities  of  the  bureau  centered  about  investigations 
to  determine  the  causes  of  explosions  in  coal  mines,  the  methods 
by  which  such  explosions  could  be  prevented  or  checked,  and  the 
development  of  safer  and  more  healthful  conditions.  Consequently, 
the  most  notable  result  of  the  bureau's  efforts  during  the  past  six 
years  has  been  the  arousing  of  a  wider  interest  in  greater  safety  and 
more  healthful  conditions  in  mines  and  metallurgical  plants,  and 
the  gaining  of  the  co-operation  and  active  aid  of  all  possible  agencies 
in  the  progress  of  improvement. 

The  Bureau  of  Mines  makes  no  claim  to  having  been  the  first 
agency  to  call  attention  to  the  high  death  rate  among  miners;  nor 
does  it  claim  it  was  the  first  to  urge  the  need  of  safer  methods.  It 
has  gladly  welcomed  the  aid  of  all  agencies  that  have  sought  to 
better  conditions,  and  it  freely  concedes  the  credit  that  is  due  them 
for  what  they  have  done.  The  bureau  does  claim,  however,  that 
its  work  has  served  to  stimulate  a  nation-wide  movement  for  greater 
safety  in  all  industries  and  that  the  value  of  this  work  has  been 
great  and  can  not  be  measured  in  dollars. 

Among  the  results  of  this  increase  in  safety  and  health  are  the 
saving  of  life  among  miners  who  received  first-aid  treatment;  the 
enactment  of  state  laws  to  increase  safety,  prevent  accidents,  and 
lessen  waste ;  and  the  tendency  to  demand  more  efficient  inspection 
in  mining  and  other  industrial  establishments. 

The  Bureau  of  Mines  has  been  responsible  for  a  revolutionary 
change  in  the  use  of  explosives  in  coal  mines.  It  pointed  out  the 
dangers  attending  the  use  of  black  powder  in  mines  that  were 
gaseous  or  filled  with  coal  dust,  and  urged  the  substitution  of  what 
it  termed  "permissible  explosives,"  those  that  had  successfully 
passed  severe  tests.  In  the  year  1906  only  2,000,000  pounds  of 
these  permissible  explosives  were  used  in  the  coal  mines  of  the 
United  States.  In  1915  the  amount  of  permissible  explosives  sold 
was  27,360,000  pounds,  or  nearly  fourteen  times  as  much  as  in  1906. 

By  calling  attention  to  the  possible  dangers  attending  the  use 
of  electricity  in  mines  the  bureau  has  led  manufacturers  to  devise 
safer  types  of  apparatus,  especially  electrical  switches  and  motors, 
that  can  be  used  in  gaseous  atmospheres  without  danger  of  causing 
explosions  by  sparks  or  flashes.  Also,  the  bureau's  activities  have 
led  to  the  manufacture  of  approved  types  of  hand  and  cap  lamps 
for  miners,  by  which  mining  is  rendered  safer.  Several  states  have 
followed  the  bureau's  recommendations  in  enacting  stricter  laws 


344         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

regarding  electrical  equipment  in  mines.  Recently  the  bureau  has 
been  investigating  gasoline  and  storage-battery  locomotives  for  mine 
haulage. 

In  co-operation  with  the  Public  Health  Service  the  bureau  has 
investigated  the  health  conditions  in  certain  of  the  metal-mining 
districts  where  miners'  consumption,  caused  by  the  breathing  of 
siliceous  dust,  is  prevalent,  and  where  the  death  rate  from  this  dis- 
ease was  causing  alarm.  It  has  shown  the  operators  and  miners 
the  injurious  effects  of  breathing  this  dust  and  how,  by  the  proper 
treatment  of  the  rock  dust,  deaths  from  this  cause  may  be  greatly 
reduced  if  not  entirely  stopped. 

The  bureau  has  pointed  out  how  the  homes  of  miners  can  be 
made  more  comfortable  and  more  sanitary,  and  has  already  wit- 
nessed its  recommendations  adopted  by  mining  companies  and  con- 
struction concerns. 

By  its  persistent  campaign  for  "Safety  First"  the  Bureau  of 
Mines  has  added  to  the  value  of  a  human  life.  Its  vigorous  propa- 
ganda has  resulted  in  not  only  a  nation-wide  but  a  world- wide 
campaign  for  greater  safety  for  workmen,  a  movement  that  has 
reached  beyond  the  mining  industry  until  today  it  includes  workers 
in  all  industries. 

Some  direct  results  of  the  safety  movement  and  the  workmen's 
compensation  laws  have  been  a  saving  of  thousands  of  men  to  their 
families,  a  tremendous  reduction  in  the  amount  of  suffering  through 
lessened  injuries,  and,  where  men  have  lost  their  lives  through  the 
hazards  of  industry,  an  adequate  compensation  to  sustain  the  widow 
and  the  orphans. 

The  Bureau  of  Mines  sends  out  to  the  men  in  the  mines  pam- 
phlets called  "miners'  circulars,"  which  tell  of  the  dangers  in  the 
mines  and  the  precautions  a  man  should  take  to  avoid  injury  and 
disease.  The  bureau  is  issuing  a  number  of  these  safety  papers  for 
the  especial  benefit  of  foreign-born  miners,  each  paper  being  printed 
in  a  foreign  language  with  the  English -translation  on  facing  pages, 
so  that  the  miner  is  enabled  to  learn  English  at  the  same  time  that  he 
learns  the  safety  lessons. 

Since  the  Government  began  its  educational  work  of  demon- 
strating the  use  of  rescue  apparatus  and  of  training  miners  in  meth- 
ods of  recovery  work  and  administering  first  aid  to  those  injured 
by  accidents,  more  than  40,000  miners  have  been  trained  by  the 
crews  of  the  bureau's  stations  and  cars.  Moreover,  as  a  result  of 
this  educational  work  and  of  the  efforts  of  men  who  had  received 


FEDERAL  AID  TO  MINING  EFFICIENCY  345 

training,  nearly  1,000  men  have  been  rescued  from  mines  after 
explosions  or  other  disasters.  It  is  estimated  that  at  more  than 
1,000  mines  there  are  now  well  equipped  and  trained  rescue  crews. 
Interest  in  first  aid  methods  is  being  stimulated  by  contests  between 
teams  representing  different  mining  companies  and  by  teams  repre- 
senting miners'  organizations  in  different  states. 

The  additional  safety  stations  that  are  to  be  provided  under  the 
terms  of  the  act  approved  by  Congress  in  1915  will  enable  training 
to  be  given  in  districts  where  such  training  and  proper  training 
facilities  have  long  been  requested. 

The  bureau's  engineers  have  been  highly  successful  in  develop- 
ing devices  for  preventing  dust  explosions  in  coal  mines.  Dusts 
from  hundreds  of  mines  in  different  coal  fields  have  been  studied 
and  their  relative  inflammability  has  been  determined.  In  addition, 
suggested  methods  of  rendering  coal  dust  harmless  have  been  tested 
at  the  experimental  coal  mine. 

Since  the  bureau  was  created  it  has  kept  careful  statistics  of 
the  number  of  men  killed  in  coal  mines,  metal  mines,  and  quarries 
throughout  the  country.  These  statistics  now  cover  a  period  of  five 
years  and  show  in  the  first  year,  1911,  a  total  of  3,539  killed  in 
all  of  the  coal  and  metal  mines  and  quarries  of  the  United  States, 
with  a  death  rate  of  3.52  for  every  1,000  employed.  There  has 
been  a  steady  decrease,  not  only  in  the  number  of  men  killed,  but 
also  in  the  death  rate.  For  the  year  1915,  which  is  the  best  year 
mining  has  seen  as  far  as  safety  is  concerned,  there  were  2,970 
men  killed  with  a  death  rate  of  3.01  for  each  1,000  employed. 

The  greatest  progress  has  been  made  in  coal  mining.  The  sta- 
tistics for  the  year  1915  show  these  rather  important  conclusions. 

The  actual  number  of  men  killed  was  the  lowest  in  the  last 
eight  years. 

The  death  rate  for  each  1,000  men  employed  was  the  lowest 
in  the  last  sixteen  years. 

The  number  of  tons  of  coal  produced  for  each  miner  killed 
was  the  largest  in  the  entire  history  of  coal  mining  in  the  United 
States. 

I  am  pleased  to  be  able  to  tell  you  that  while  1915  was  the 
safest  ever  known  in  coal  mining  in  the  United  States,  the  figures 
for  the  first  eight  months  of  1916  indicate  that  the  1915  record  will 
be  eclipsed.  For  these  eight  months  of  this  year  there  are  seventy- 
two  less  fatalities  than  for  the  same  months  of  1915,  or  a  reduction 
of  5  per  cent  from  the  splendid  record  of  that  year. 


346         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

To  me  these  figures  indicate  very  plainly  that  Safety  First  has 
come  to  stay  in  the  coal-mining  industry  and  that  it  is  being  prac- 
ticed more  assiduously  than  ever  before.  Every  effort  along  this 
line  spells  lives  saved,  suffering  lessened,  and  poverty  and  want 
prevented. 

It  is  especially  gratifying  that  this  movement  is  progressing  so 
rapidly  in  an  industry  that  is  one  of  the  greatest  in  the  world.  The 
United  States  today  mines  40  per  cent  of  the  world's  output  of  coal, 
or  as  much  as  Great  Britain -and  Germany  combined;  and  its  coal 
mines  employ  an  ever  increasing  army  of  men  which  now  numbers 
more  than  three-quarters  of  a  million. 

This  reduction  has  been  brought  about  by  the  many  agencies 
striving  to  reduce  mine  accidents,  and  each  deserves  credit  for  the 
work  it  has  done. 

Recognizing  the  need  of  reliable  figures  of  deaths  and  injuries 
in  the  mineral  industries,  as  a  basis  for  determining  the  hazards, 
arid  the  rules  and  regulations  needed  for  safety,  the  bureau  complies 
and  publishes  annually  accident  statistics  for  coke  ovens,  ore-dress- 
ing plants,  and  smelters,  as  well  as  quarries.  Under  a  co-operative 
arrangement  with  all  state  coal-mine  inspectors  it  publishes  a 
monthly  report  of  coal-mine  fatalities,  showing  their  number,  cause, 
and  distribution  by  states.  Recently  the  bureau  published  a  com- 
pilation of  all  coal-mine  fatalities  (over  50,000)  reported  by  state 
mine  inspectors  since  the  beginning  of  inspection  by  each  state,  the 
figures  covering  the  mining  of  more  than  89  per  cent  of  all  the 
coal  produced  in  the  United  States  since  1807. 

Investigations  of  More  Efficient  Methods. 

Investigations  of  the  problems  of  miscellaneous  mineral  tech- 
nology include  safety  and  efficiency  in  the  preparation  and  use  of  the 
minor  metals,  rare  metals,  and  various  minerals  used  in  the  arts. 
In  these  investigations  especial  attention  has  been  given  to  the  pos- 
sibility of  eliminating  some  of  the  great  wastes  that  take  place  and, 
incidentally,  to  increasing  the  efficiency  of  manufacturing  processes 
and  the  substitution  of 'domestic  for  imported  products.  These  in- 
vestigations have  alreaxiy;fdemonstrated  the  extent  and  variety  of 
the  losses  occasioned  by  methods  in  current  use. 

The  feldspar,  mica,  and  kaolin  resources  of  the  Appalachian 
region  and  the  kaolin "  resources  of  the  Coastal  Plain  region  of 
Georgia  and  South,  Carolina  have  been  studied  with  reference  to 
the  needs  of  American  potters.  The  results  show  that  American 
feldspar  is  fully  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  that  obtainable  anywhere, 


FEDERAL  AID  TO  MINING  EFFICIENCY  347 

that  many  of  the  kaolin  deposits  of  the  southern  Appalachian  region 
yield  china  clay  that  is  remarkably  white  and  equal  in  quality  to 
any  imported,  that  By  a  simple  and  inexpensive  treatment  under 
careful  technical  control,  the  immense  deposits  of  kaolin  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  Atlantic  Coastal  Plain  may  be  made  available 
for  china  and  other  white  ware. 

An  investigation  of  the  fuller's  earth  industry  of  the  country 
has  been  largely  instrumental  in  bringing  about  a  great  increase  in 
the  production  and  utilization  of  domestic  earth  during  the  past 
few  years. 

In  cooperation  with  the  American  Institute  of  Metals  and  the 
chemical  department  of  Cornell  University,  the  Bureau  of  Mines 
has  studied  the  manufacture  of  brass  and  other  nonferrous  alloys, 
with  especial  reference  to  preventing  the  known  large  wastes  of 
metal  in  both  dros^s  and  fume,  that  amount  to  at  least  $2,000,000 
a  year.  Methods  of  reducing  this  loss  have  been  pointed  out  and  the 
development  of  an  efficient  type  of  electric  furnace  seems  assured. 

Probably  the  most  striking  of  the  mineral-technology  investi- 
gations has  been  that  dealing  with  radium.  Through  the  co-opera- 
tion of  the  National  Radium  Institute  a  plant  was  built  at  Denver 
for  producing  radium  from  the  carnotite  ores  of  Colorado.  This 
plant  has  been  in  successful  operation  for  nearly  three  years,  and 
has  produced  six  grams  of  radium,  which  has  not  been  sold  but  is 
to  be  used  in  the  treatment  of  cancer  and  malignant  tumors.  This 
work  has  shown  that  the  price  the  miners  formerly  received  for  their 
carnotite  was  entirely  out  of  proportion  to  the  value  of  the  mineral 
contained,  and  that  from  Government-owned  ore,  at  least,  radium 
can  be  supplied  to  the  hospitals  of  the  Army,  Navy,  and  Public 
Health  Service  at  a  cost  not  exceeding  $36,500  per  gram,  or  one- 
third  of  prices  that  had  been  asked  by  foreign  producers. 

Incident  to  this  work,  methods  for  determining  radium,  con- 
centrating the  low-grade  carnotite  ores,  and  extracting  uranium 
and  vanadium  from  carnotite  were  developed. 

The  metallurgical  investigations  of  the  bureau  have  been  con- 
fined chiefly  to  the  smelter  smoke  problem,  the  treatment  of  low- 
grade  and  complex  ores,  and  the  safety  and  health  of  employees 
at  blast  furnaces  and  steel  works. 

In  its  endeavor  to  find  ways  of  lessening  damage  to  vegetation 
and  to  animals  and  of  recovering  and  utilizing  substances  being 
wasted  in  smelter  smoke,  the  bureau  co-operated  with  the  Selby  and 
the  Anaconda  Smelter  Commissions.  The  report  of  the  Selby  com- 
mission, published  as  a  bulletin  by  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  has  re- 


348         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

ceived  much  attention,  and  the  methods  of  procedure  described  are 
being  followed  in  other  metallurgical-smoke  investigations  both  in 
this  country  and  abroad.  The  Anaconda  commission  is  continuing 
its  investigations.  Each  commission  has  been  entirely  independent 
of  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  but  the  Director  of  the  bureau  has  served 
as  a  member  of  each,  and  the  bureau  has  co-operated  in  the  inves- 
tigations, in  an  effort  to  obtain  results  of  the  widest  value.  Espe- 
cial attention  has  been  given  the  removal  of  sulphur  from  smelter 
gases. 

Investigations  of  methods  of  treating  the  low-grade  and  com- 
plex ores  of  Utah  and  adjacent  states  are  showing  what  new  meth- 
ods are  needed  or  how  old  methods  should  be  improved  in  order 
to  treat  millions  of  tons  of  ore  that  now  lie  unworked  because  of  the 
lack  of  efficient  and  profitable  methods  for  saving  the  contained 
metals. 

Summarized,  the  principal  results  of  this  work  have  been  as 
follows : 

The  development  of  a  brine-leaching  process  for  extracting  lead 
from  low-grade  and  complex  ores;  the  development  of  a  process 
for  the  recovery  of  lead  and  zinc  from  lead-zinc  sulphides ;  the  ap- 
plication of  the  floatation  process  to  the  recovery  of  the  lead  in 
carbonate  ores;  the  development  of  a  process  for  the  recovery  of 
zinc  from  low-grade  and  complex  ores  of  that  metal ;  and  the  devel- 
opment of  a  process  for  the  production  of  zinc  dust  from  solutions 
of  zinc. 

The  investigations  of  fuels  and  mining  equipment  have  thrown 
light  on  the  processes  of  combustion  in  furnaces  and  gas  producers, 
have  shown  how  heat  is  transformed  from  the  burning  fuel  to  the 
water  in  a  boiler,  and  have  led  to  the  design  of  more  efficient  boilers. 
Another  result  has  been  the  publication  of  many  thousand  analyses 
of  coal,  both  mine  samples  and  samples  from  coal  delivered  to  the 
Government,  thus  enabling  fuel  engineers  to  plan  boiler  equipment 
with  reference  to  the  quality  of  the  available  coal.  Still  other  re- 
sults have  been  the  extension  of  the  specification  system  of  pur- 
chasing coal,  the  development  of  an  improved  type  of  breathing 
apparatus  for  use  by  rescue  men  in  mines  after  explosions  or  fires, 
and  the  demonstration  of  the  precautions  that  should  attend  the  use 
of  gasoline  locomotives  in  mines. 

The  petroleum  investigations  have  already  yielded  results  wor- 
thy of  far  more  extended  notice  than  I  can  give  them.  They 
have  shown  that  the  enormous  wastes  of  natural  gas  and  petroleum 


FEDERAL  AID  TO  MINING  EFFICIENCY  349 

which  have  attended  the  development  of  gas  and  oil  fields  have  not 
been  confined  to  the  gas  that  escaped  into  the  air,  to  the  losses  by 
fires,  and  to  the  evaporation  of  oil  in  reservoirs  or  tanks.  The 
unseen  wastes  underground  through  improper  methods  of  drilling 
and  casing  wells,  by  which  gas  has  dissipated  into  porous  beds  from 
which  it  can  not  be  recovered,  or  water  has  drowned  out  oil  fields 
before  more  than  a  small  proportion  of  the  oil  has  been  obtained 
have  annually  resulted  in  decreasing  our  national  wealth  by  many 
millions  of  dollars. 

The  Bureau  of  Mines  has  shown  how  these  wastes  in  produc- 
tion can  be  largely  eliminated  by  improved  methods  of  drilling, 
especially  by  sealing  porous  beds  with  fluid  mud  and  by  making 
suitable  provision  for  the  control  of  high  gas  pressures.  Also,  the 
bureau  has  been  instrumental  in  increasing  efficient  utilization  of 
natural  gas  petroleum,  and  products  through  its  studies  of  the  re- 
covery of  gasoline  from  natural  gas,  and  the  attention  it  gave  to  the 
development  of  the  Rittman  "cracking"  process  for  obtaining  gaso- 
line, benzene,  and  toluene  from  petroleum.  In  addition,  it  has 
examined  and  tested  the  makes  of  gasoline  most  sold  throughout 
the  United  States,  has  indicated  their  merits  as  motor  fuel,  and  is 
now  preparing  specifications  for  the  purchase  of  gasoline  that  are 
expected  to  be  of  great  public  service. 

Mining  Laws  and  Regulations. 

In  the  endeavor  to  promote  both  safety  and  efficiency  in  mining 
by  aiding  state  legislatures  to  enact  more  effective  laws,  the  Bureau 
of  Mines  has  examined  all  Federal  and  state  statutes  relating  to 
mines  and  mineral  property,  and  all  decisions  of  courts  of  last 
resort  in  which  these  statutes  have  been  construed  or  interpreted. 
A  large  bulletin  recently  issued  embrace  all  the  United  States  mining 
statutes  and  is  annotated  by  references  to  all  important  decisions. 
Also,  the  bureau  is  publishing  at  regular  intervals  digests  of  deci- 
sions bearing  on  mining  that  have  been  handed  down  by  State  and 
United  States  courts  of  last  resort.  Still  another  work  has  been 
the  publishing  of  proposed  rules  and  regulations  for  metal  mines. 
A  proposed  code  of  rules  to  govern  the  installation  of  electrical 
equipment  in  mines  is  now  in  course  of  publication. 

Training  of  Chemists  and  Engineers. 

My  statement  of  the  work  the  Bureau  of  Mines  is  doing  for 
safety  and  efficiency  in  the  mineral  industries  would  be  incomplete 
if  I  did  not  call  attention  to  the  increasing  importance  of  the  bureau 


350         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

as  a  training  school  for  engineers  and  chemists.  The  services  of 
the  expert  chemist  and  engineer  are  probably  in  greater  demand 
today  than  ever  before.  This  fact  has  been  brought  home  to  me  by 
the  number  of  men  who  have  recently  left  the  bureau  to  engage  in 
private  work  at  salaries  far  larger  than  the  Government  now  pays. 
Although  their  going  has  hindered  work  on  investigations  under 
way  or  projected,  yet  I  have  not  felt  that  they  should  stay  in  Gov- 
ernment employ  when  they  can  do  so  much  for  national  advance- 
ment by  applying  in  outside  undertakings  the  knowledge  that  they 
have  already  gained. 

In  fact  it  seems  to  me  that,  in  considering  Federal  aid  to  min- 
ing efficiency,  we  should  endeavor  to  realize  the  profound  influence 
that  these  men  will  exert  in  making  our  industries  safer  and  more 
efficient. 

Federal  Appropriations  for  Bureau  of  Mines. 

For  the  present  fiscal  year  the  appropriations  for  the  bureau's 
work  are  more  than  100  per  cent  larger  than  for  the  fiscal  year 
1911,  the  first  year  of  the  bureau's  existence.  Still  larger  appro- 
priations were  virtually  promised  by  Congress  when  it  voted  early 
in  1915  to  establish  and  maintain  ten  new  mining  experiment  sta- 
tions and  seven  new  mine  safety  stations. 

The  specific  purpose  of  the  appropriations  made  has  been 
largely  influenced  by  the  earlier  investigations  dealing  largely  with 
mine  explosions. 

Thus,  in  1911,  60  per  cent  of  the  funds  appropriated  were  for 
investigating  mine  accidents,  20  per  cent  for  testing  fuels,  13  per 
cent  for  general  expenses,  and  7  per  cent  for  inspecting  mines  in  the 
territories  and  making  public  reports.  As  a  result,  most  of  the 
investigations  made  hitherto  have  been  incidental  to  mine-safety 
work  and  related  to  coal  mining  rather  than  to  metal  mining. 

The  appropriations  for  the  present  fiscal  year  provide  $100,000 
for  mineral  mining  investigations,  and  $70,000  for  investigations  of 
petroleum  and  natural  gas.  These  funds  will  enable  the  bureau  to 
extend  its  activities  in  fields  that  previously  have  received  only  inci- 
dental attention. 

Projected  Activities  of  Bureau  of  Mines. 

As  regards  the  ten  new  mining  experiment  stations  to  be  admin- 
istered by  the  Bureau  of  Mines  and  to  be  located  at  those  points 
in  the  different  mining  regions  of  the  country  where  work  can  be 
done  to  best  advantage,  plans  have  already  been  perfected  for  the 
immediate  establishment  of  the  first  three  of  these  stations — one 


FEDERAL  AID  TO  MINING  EFFICIENCY  351 

in  Alaska,  one  in  the  Pacific  northwest,  and  one  in  the  southwest. 

Also,  plans  have  been  prepared  for  developing  the  ten  stations 
into  individual  centers  of  research,  each  attacking  those  problems 
of  most  interest  to  the  locality  in  which  it  is  situated,  yet  having 
regard  to  the  needs  of  other  localities  throughout  the  United  States. 

One  of  the  great  needs  of  the  mining  industry  is  the  develop- 
ment of  electrometallurgical  processes  for  the  reduction  of  the  base 
metals.  In  certain  parts  of  the  country,  as  the  Pacific  northwest, 
vast  water  power  is  available  and  electricity  can  be  generated  at 
minimum  cost.  There  a  satisfactory  electrometallurgical  process 
would  make  commercially  profitable'  the  working  of  millions  of 
tons  of  mineral  deposits  that  can  not  now  be  worked  at  a  profit. 

Perhaps  none  of  the  projected  investigations  is  of  more  immedi- 
ate importance  than  the  study  of  ventilation  in  metal  mines,  for  the 
health  of  a  large  number  of  metal  miners  is  impaired  by  the  charac- 
ter of  the  air  that  they  breathe  in  deep  or  remote  mine  workings.  In 
many  respects  the  problem  has  been  unsolved  in  metal  mining  even 
by  the  operators  of  large  mines.  Preliminary  work  and  the  data 
obtained  in  related  investigations  have  shown  the  scope  and  char- 
acter of  investigation  needed  and  the  bureau  hopes  to  be  able  to 
resume  the  work  in  the  coming  fiscal  year. 

A  study  of  subsidence,  earth  pressures,  and  roof  supports  in 
mining,  promises  results  of  great  importance,  not  only  to  coal  min- 
ing, but  also  to  metal  mining  and  to  various  engineering  enterprises. 

In  tunneling  under  bodies  of  water  or  in  shaft  sinking  through 
water-bearing  ground  special  methods  are  required.  Many  cities 
are  driving  tunnels  under  bodies  of  water  for  transportation  pur- 
poses or  for  water  supply,  and  the'  bureau  has  been  asked  from 
time  to  time  to  give  advice,  more  especially  at  Milwaukee  and  Cleve- 
land, where  tunnel  disasters  have  occurred.  If  the  funds  are  made 
available  the  bureau  will  take  up  this  work,  and  also  study  methods 
of  insuring  better  ventilation  in  tunnels. 

In  investigations  relating  to  the  iron  and  steel  industry  the 
bureau  will  endeavor  to  develop  methods  of  producing  iron  and 
steel  with  a  smaller  consumption  of  fuel,  to  discover  and  make  avail- 
able materials  now  imported,  and  to  develop  processes  for  recover- 
ing useful  substances  from  waste  products.  Among  these  proposed 
studies  are:  An  investigation  of  blast-furnace  coke;  the  use  of  an 
oxygen-enriched  blast  at  furnaces;  the  feasibility  of  recovering 
manganese  and  other  ferro-alloys  from  the  wastes  of  the  metallur- 
gical industries ;  determination  of  the  amount  of  potash  and  phos- 


352         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

phorous  salts  available  theoretically  in  the  fumes,  gases,  and  slags 
of  the  industry,  and  the  practicability  of  recovering  them  on  a  com- 
mercial scale. 

Usage  of  Mining  Terms. 

In  any  proposal  recommended  as  a  basis  for  mining  laws  that 
seek  to  increase  safety  or  efficiency  it  is  absolutely  essential  that  the 
mining  terms  used  shall  be  such  as  are  known  to  be  precise  and 
to  have  more  than  a  local  use,  or  that  the  terms  be  carefully  defined 
in  the  act  itself.  The  confusion  and  uncertainty  caused  by  using 
terms  of  varying  significance  without  defining  them  is  well  illus- 
trated in  the  legal  decisions  construing  the  Federal  mining  land  law. 
Recognizing  the  need  of  a  comprehensive  glossary  that  shall  define 
mining  terms  with  particular  reference  to  their  usage  in  the  United 
States,  the  Bureau  of  Mines  is  now  preparing  a  glossary  that  will 
contain  all  available  terms  used  in  coal  and  metal  mining  quarrying, 
and  metallurgical  practice ;  geological  terms  as  related  to  mining ; 
names  and  definitions  of  the  commoner  useful  minerals ;  and  also 
terms  used  in  the  oil  and  gas  industry.  The  work  has  progressed 
to  such  an  extent  that  about  10,000  terms  have  been  arranged  alpha- 
betically, and  work  is  being  conducted  to  verify  terms  selected  from 
former  glossaries  and  to  add  new  terms. 

After  the  War. 

So  much  has  been  said  in  regard  to  probable  industrial  condi- 
tions in  this  country  after  the  war,  and  so  wide  are  the  differences 
of  opinion  among  those  who  have  given  the  matter  intensive  study 
that  I  shall  not  undertake  to  discuss  the  matter  at  length.  There 
are  a  few  points,  however,  to  which  I  call  your  attention. 

American  industries  have  met  and  overcome  foreign  competi- 
tion in  the  markets  of  the  world  by  reason  of  the  abundance  of  our 
natural  resources,  the  ingenuity  of  our  inventors,  and  the  use  of 
improved  machinery  by  which  higher  wages  paid  here  are  compen- 
sated by  the  greater  value  of  the  output  per  man.  Today  embattled 
Europe  is  being  forced  to  increase  the  per  capita  output  of  its  arti- 
sans, to  "hustle,"  to  use  labor  saving  machinery  on  an  unprece- 
dented scale,  and  to  make  a  larger  use  of  female  labor  in  many  occu- 
pations. After  the  war  many  of  the  millions  now  under  arms  or 
engaged  in  making  military  supplies  will  be  employed  in  the  indus- 
tries of  peace,  much  of  the  labor-saving  machinery  will  not  be 
scrapped  but  will  be  used  in  making  products  that  will  be  needed, 
and  the  increased  efficiency  developed  through  the  necessities  of 
war  may  be  expected  to  persist  for  an  indefinite  period. 


FEDERAL  AID  TO  MINING  EFFICIENCY  353 

In  the  readjustments  that  will  follow  the  coming  of  peace,  the 
American  producer  will  have  to  consider  not  only  the  mineral  indus- 
tries of  a  different  Europe,  but  also  the  effect  of  these  differences 
on  the  output  of  mines  and  works  in  Canada,  Mexico,  South  Amer- 
ica, Asia,  and  Africa. 

Clearly  some  of  our  old  standards  of  trade  are  liable  to  disap- 
pear; new  conditions  will  create  new  problems. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  chief  needs  of  the  United  States,  if  it 
is  to  meet  these  new  conditions  successfully,  are  a  wider  and  deeper 
co-operation  among  our  industries,  an  elimination  of  factionalism 
and  sectionalism,  and  the  growth  of  a  desire  to  work  together  for 
the  common  good. 

Inasmuch  as  no  plan  of  co-operation  can  be  most  effective 
unless  based  on  willingness  and  desire  rather  than  on  compulsion, 
and  as  everybody  can  aid  in  some  way,  I  ask  the  members  of  the 
American  Mining  Congress  to  endeavor  in  their  undertakings  to 
bring  about  the  substitution  of  what  has  been  termed  "co-operation 
in  competition"  for  that  intense  and  selfish  competition  which  has 
led  to  ruthless  waste  of  our  natural  resources  and  shocking  disre- 
gard of  human  life.  The  Bureau  of  Mines  has  sought  and  seeks 
your  co-operation  in  all  its  efforts  to  benefit  the  mineral  industries 
and  the  men  who  labor  in  them.  Nothing  has  given  me  greater 
pleasure  than  the  manner  in  which  the  American  Mining  Congress 
and  other  organizations,  as  well  as  mining  companies,  and  miners, 
engineers,  and  chemists  have  responded  to  that  appeal,  and  I  gladly 
take  this  opportunity  to  express  my  gratification. 

But,  after  all,  the  work  for  greater  national  efficiency  is  hardly 
more  than  started,  what  remains  to  be  done  is  far  larger  than 
what  has  been  accomplished,  and  for  this  reason  I  hope  that  you 
will  continue  to  aid  the  bureau  in  its  investigations,  offering  sug- 
gestions or  making  criticisms  as  you  see  fit,  and  adopting  such  of  its 
recommendations  as  you  find  practicable.  Federal  aid  to  efficiency 
can  not  accomplish  what  it  should  'unless  you  feel  that  the  Govern- 
ment is  endeavoring  to  help  you,  and  the  Department  of  the  Inte- 
rior and  the  Bureau  of  Mines  can  not  do  what  they  wish  to  do  unless 
you  perceive  that  behind  their  efforts  to  aid  efficiency  in  mining  is 
the  desire  to  advance  the  welfare  of  this  country  and  through  that 
to  contribute  to  the  betterment  of  all  mankind. 


DIFFICULTIES   I   HAVE   MET  IN   COAL  LITIGATION. 


Address  Delivered  at  Nineteenth  Annual  Convention  of  Ameri- 
can  Mining   Congress  by   R.  W.   Ropiequet, 
East  St.  Louis,  111. 

We  have  somewhat  wondered  whether  the  builders  of  this 
program,  perchance,  had  in  mind  that  historical  assembly  depicted 
in  the  oldest  book  in  the  world,  wherein  it  is  stated: 

"Now,  there  was  a  day  when  the  sons  of  God  came  to  present 
themselves  before  the  Lord,  and  Satan  came  also  among  them;" 
and  whether  this  induced  them  to  intersperse  the  program  with 
representatives  of  that  really  oldest  profession  in  the  world,  of 
which,  according  to  a  most  commonly  accepted  revised  version  of 
Scriptures,  his  Satanic  majesty  was  not  only  a  member,  but  the 
pogenitor  of  members. 

For  the  people  ("Vox  Popnli,  Vox  Dei")  have  almost  univer- 
sally accepted  the  old  darkey  preacher's  version : 

"The  devil  is  a  lawyer  and  the  father  of  lawyers." 

As  for  the  coal  man,  certainly  "these  are  they  who  have  passed 
through  great  tribulations,"  and  like  Lazarus  of  old,  have  needs 
been  content  "to  be  fed  with  the  crumbs  that  fell  from  the  rich 
man's  table,"  and  therefore  it  would  seem  logical,  should  come  under 
the  compensatory  provision  of  the  parable. 

Who  else,  since  the  days  of  Job,  has  borne  up  so  manfully 
under  "the  stings  of  outrageous  fortune,"  contended  with  boils  of 
economic  disasters,  withal  bidden  oft-times  "to  curse  God  and 
die,"  and  yet  throughout  it  all  maintained  his  integrity  as  has  the 
coal  man  ? 

In  view  of  the  generally  accepted  operation  of  the  legal  pro- 
fession echoing  the  "woe,  upon  you  lawyers,"  it  was  certainly  gra- 
cious and  charitable,  on  the  part  of  "the  powers  that  be"  to  grant 
unto  a  representative  of  our  profession  an  opportunity  of  presenting 
some  of  the  woes  to  which  the  profession  is  subjected. 

For  be  it  known  unto  you  all,  the  speaker  expressly  denied 
the  parentage  of  the  topic  under  consideration.  The  child  if  his, 
is  simply  so  by  adoption,  having  been  left,  a  foundling,  at  his"  door. 


DIFFICULTIES  I  MET  IN  COAL  LITIGATION  355 

Howbeit,  we  would  they  had  selected  another  for  this  presen- 
tation. No  pleasant  task  is  it,  indeed,  to  thus  dwell  and  recall 
difficulties  "the  memories  of  which  are  grievous  unto  us."  For  if 
there  be  any  truth  in  the  favored  commencement  motto  "ad  astra 
per  aspera,"  those  in  charge  of  coal  litigation  should  be  continu- 
ously traveling  the  milky  way  "where  the  morning  stars  stand 
together." 

Permit  us,  however,  to  change  the  "I"  to  "WE."  For  the 
same  innate  modesty  that  is  the  badge  of  our  profession,  like  unto 
that  which  of  old  led  the  mighty  Roman  to  iterate  and  reiterate 
"Caesar"  did  thus  and  so,  and  which  has  induced  the  great  modern 
Roman,  ex-leader  of  progressives  or  leader  of  ex-progressives,  the 
which,  time  alone  can  tell,  to  submit  to  such  remarkable  self- 
effacement — will  not  permit  the  speaker  to  personalize  this  presen- 
tation. 

The  impropriety  of  such  an  action  is  obvious;  for  this  is  not 
a  legal  class  or  experience  meeting.  Besides,  some  of  the  personal 
experiences  might  better  be  related  in  executive  session.  This  and 
the  danger  of  subjecting  ourselves  to  the  charge  of  violating  pro- 
fessional ethics,  not  to  speak  of  the  exercise  of  due  caution,  leads 
up  to  present  a  "composite,"  rather  than  a  personal  picture. 

If  in  this  composite  delineation  you  fail  to  find  eivdences  of 
your  own  individuality,  perchance,  you  may  be  able  to  see  that  of 
your  neighbor. 

Since  our  coal  litigation  has  been  largely  that  relating  to  rail- 
road rates,  we  will  confine  ourselves  thereto. 

Litigation  Defined. 

Litigation  may  be  freely  defined  as  the  procedure  of  presenting 
questions  of  right  or  wrong  to  tribunals  for  the  adjudication  thereof 
under  principles  of  law  applicable  thereto. 

"Law  is  the  perfection  of  reason."  For  this  we  have  no  less 
authority  than  Blackstone,  with  the  unanimous  endorsement  thereof 
by  the  myriads  of  his  followers  since  that  time. 

True  it  is  that  laymen  are  ofttimes  unable  to  appreciate  this 
truth ;  but  that  is  because  it  reaches  them  via  human  instrumentali- 
ties, through  which  it  must  percolate  or  ofttimes  triturate;  behold 
it,  as  it  were,  "through  a  glass  darkly." 

For  this  laymen  opinion  in  this  matter  there  may  be  an  excuse, 
Even  lawyers  at  times  fail  to  appreciate  it ;  especially  as  it  is  inter- 
preted in  litigation  in  which  they  are  interested,  by  human  instru- 
mentalities "clothed  with  a  little  brief  authority/' 


356         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

As  a  result,  the  lawyer  himself,  though  he  be  a  total  abstainer, 
may  find  himself  "too  full  for  utterance,"  silent  not  only  for  pre- 
cautionary reasons,  but  because  he  really  experiences  the  truth  of 
the  poet's  words: 

"I  would  that  my  tongue  could  utter 
The  thoughts  that  arise  in  me." 

Litigation  is  derived,  the  dictionary  tells  us,  from  two  words 
"lis"  and  "ago,"  to  wage  disputes. 

The  mispronunciation  of  the  first  derivative,  applying  thereto 
the  long  vowel  "i,"  making  "lies"  instead  of  "lis"  is  perhaps  respon- 
sible for  the  unfortunately  prevalent  misconception  of  the  true  ac- 
tivity of  the  lawyer. 

Litigation,  again,  is  the  presentation  of  facts,  and  the  applica- 
tion thereto  of  principles.  And  that  brings  us  to  the  second  diffi- 
culty. 

Lack  of  Basic  Principles. 

Law,  the  perfection  of  reason,  does  not  apparently  apply  to 
that  which  is  designated  as  rate  law.  This  latter  as  a  science,  might 
well  be  included  in  Paul's  admonition,  "beware  of  science  falsely 
so-called."  For  in  it  we  find  a  heterogeneous  growth  of  so-called 
principles  bearing  in  many  respects  the  birthmark  of  their  origin; 
for  they  were  conceived  in  sin  and  born  in  iniquity  in  the  good  old 
days  of  unrestrained  railroad  revelry. 

Shakespeare  says  that  "the  devil  can  quote  scripture  for  his 
purpose."  Lest  we  be  misunderstood,  our  own  leaning  thereto,  of 
which  we  have  been  accused  by  our  friends,  we  can  assure  you,  is 
not  the  result  of  intimate  acquaintance  with  that  mighty  personage. 

But  whether  the  "fallen  angel"  was  thus  rightly  changed  by 
the  Bard  of  Avon  or  no,  certain  it  is  that  the  carriers  (and  we 
intend  no  invidious  comparison)  can  quote  from  the  scripture  of 
rate  interpretation  principles  so-called,  to  meet  any  views  for  which 
they  may  be  contending,  with  such  a  degree  of  inconsistency  that 
under  the  Emersonian  theory  that  only  a  small  man  fears  to  be  in- 
consistent, they  are  certainly  entitled  to  the  crown  of  true  greatness. 

This  lack  of  scientific  consistency  in  the  principles  to  be  applied 
to  this  litigation  is  one  of  the  great  difficulties  with  which  we  must 
contend.  Why  this  continues  so  to  be,  we  do  not  know.  It  cannot  be 
because  both  in  its  presentation  and  application,  those  "learned  in 
the  law"  are  to  a  large  extent  ignored,  and  laymen,  without  creden- 


DIFFICULTIES  I  MET  IN  COAL  LITIGATION  357 

tials  either  as  to  moral  character  or  mental  acumen,  such  as  is  re- 
quired of  those  of  the  profession,  mingle  with  the  latter  upon  basis 
of  absolute  equality. 

Shades  of  Littleton  and  of  Blackstone,  of  Kent  and  of  Story. 
Here  is  a  difficulty  indeed:  To  battle  with  the  layman  who  knows 
not,  and  therefore  does  not  observe  the  laws  of  the  game  which  have 
been  recognized  for  a  period  of  "time  to  which  the  mind  of  man 
runneth  not  to  the  contrary."  For  how  can  you  meet  attacks  when 
you  cannot  even  guess  upon  principle  where  your  opponent  is  likely 
to  hit. 

The  remedy  is  obvious.  For  us,  however,  to  present  it,  might 
have  the  appearance  of  legal  selfishness,  and  we  therefore 'leave 
the  solution  to  the  broad-minded  laymen. 

The  lack  of  real  consistent  basic  principles  and  the  further 
absence  of  even  the  most  basic  rules  of  evidence  in  the  presentation 
of  the  facts,  both,  however,  present  real  difficulties  that  cannot  be 
ignored. 

Difficulties  In  Securing  Proper  Evidence. 

We  have  said  that  litigation  is  the  .presentation  of  facts  for 
adjudication  under  principles  of  law.  In  the  securing  of  such  facts 
for  presentation,  lies  our  greatest  difficulty. 

Opposed  by  a  unified  body  of  carriers  with  a  large  force  of 
experts  continually  in  their  employ,  fortified  by  the  addition  at  hear- 
ings of  the  best  of  experts  money  can  secure,  led  by  legal  special- 
ists, the  coal  representative  is  often  forced  into  litigation,  backed 
by  a  divided  constituency  without  the  evidentiary  basis  which  is 
essential  for  the  proper  presentation  of  his  own  case,  not  to  speak 
of  meeting  that  of  his  opponent ;  and  this  even  though  he  may  know 
that  this  important  evidence  is  actually  in  existence. 

The  average  coal  man  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  righteous- 
ness of  his  cause  is  content  to  trust  therein,  and  to  expect  his  rep- 
resentative some  way  to  secure  victories  to  which  his  client  is  en- 
titled, even  though  the  ammunition  needed  is  not  forthcoming,  for- 
getting that  while  "truth  crushed  to  earth  will  rise  again/'  the 
resurrection  morn  is  in  the  rather  uncertain  future. 

Facts  within  the  knowledge  of  his  clients,  this  representative 
is  unable  to  produce  because  of  their  not  being  readily  available 
and  the  unwillingness,  or  inability,  of  the  coal  men  to  compile  them 
from  the  records  at  hand  within  time  for  presentation  at  the 
hearing. 

So  that  in  many  cases,  the  coal  representative  in  this  litigation 
is  forced  to  depend  upon  the  evidence  of  the  carriers,  or  upon  com- 


358         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

pilations  hurriedly  deduced  from  public  documents,  and  largely 
partaking  of  the  nature  of  glittering  generalities,  or  even  upon  those 
compiled  by  the  carriers  for  their  own  purposes. 

Is  it  to  be  wondered  then  that  with  such  evidence  all  lacking 
the  force  of  primary  evidence,  it  is  difficult  for  the  coal  represen- 
tative to  establish  the  proof  necessary  to  win  the  victory? 

And  even  when  facts  are  available,  there  is  the  dearth  of  wit- 
nesses to  present  them.  The  prevailing  cry  of  those  who  state  they 
are  unready  and  unwilling  to  be  the  "goat,"  is,  (to  localize  the  mat- 
ter a  little  for  illustration),  "let  George"  or  perhaps  "Fred,"  or 
"Charles,"  do  it. 

It  is  evident  that  we  cannot  expect  to  meet  and  overcome  the 
enemy  with  its  efficient  organization  and  its  large  flotilla,  from  dread- 
naughts  to  submarines  and  torpedo  boats,  with  an  equipment  akm 
to  that  "tub-navy"  with  which  Jefferson  attempted  to  meet  the  pre- 
paredness cry  of  his  day,  or  by  the  Bryanesque  program  of  calling 
for  the  outpouring  of  volunteers  when  the  enemy  is  at  the  door; 
for  in  the  first  place,  the  outpouring  will  most  likely  be  but  in  drops, 
and  even  if  the  multitude  came,  'twould  be  a  mob  and  not  an  army. 

Our  experience  in  coal  litigation  reminds  us  somewhat  forcibly 
of  a  brief  personal  experience  under  Uncle  Sam  in  the  Spanish 
American  War,  when  under  the  patriotic  fervor  "Remember  the 
Maine,"  not  being  "ashamed  to  fight,"  we  enlisted  with. some  other 
Illinoisans,  and  spent  some  months  in  the  swamps  of  Florida,  wear- 
ing the  blue,  of  flannel  ill  adapted  to  the  tropical  clime  where  we 
sojourned,  and  supplied  with  Springfield  rifles  of,  perhaps,  the  vin- 
tage of  1861-65. 

And  there  comes  to  the  mind,  now,  an  incident,  which  fanciful 
as  it  may  appear,  is  true  in  substance  and  in  fact.  A  box  of  bacon 
sent  to  the  camp  displayed  such  evidence  of  the  life  abundant  that 
it  was  subjected  to  an  additional  examination  and  was  found  to  be 
inscribed  "U.  S.  A.  inspected  at  Tampa,  Fla.,  May  2nd,  1868."  The 
topsyturviness  of  the  third  number,  accidental  though  it  may  have 
been,  appeared  quite  in  harmony  with  the  provender  to  which  it 
applied. 

Lack  of  Preparedness. 

We  have  lately  passed  through  a  great  era  of  preparedness,  of 
great  parades  with  the  blare  of  trumpet  and  the  beating  of  drums : 
A  wonderful  opportunity  to  testify  to  patriotic  fervor  of  the 
multitude, 


DIFFICULTIES  I  MET  IN  COAL  LITIGATION  359 

"And  for  these  vile  germs  I  might  myself  have  been  himself 
a  soldier." 

Effervescent  in  quantity  even  so  it  was  in  quantity. 

For  when  the  boys  had  gone  to  the  front,  in  one  of  the  large 
cities  at  least,  an  appeal  for  aid  for  their  dependents  evoked  as  little 
response  as  that  of  the  average  coal  men's  committee  appeal  for  the 
wherewithal  necessary  to  meet  expenses  incurred  in  real  prepared- 
ness in  response  to  a  preceding  enthusiastic  rate  preparedness- 
parade  or  meeting  of  operators. 

The  evidence  offered  for  presentation  to  the  commission  for 
their  consumption  ofttimes  bears,  as  it  were,  the  inspiration  marks  of 
1886;  the  enthusiasm  of  the  initiatory  stages  of  contentions  wanes 
and  almost  disappears  before  the  days  of  the  real  conflict. 

Lack  of  Real  Co-Operation. 

Years  ago  the  speaker  saw  a  cartoon  that  would  seem  to  illus- 
trate another  difficulty  we  have  often  met. 

A  large  mastiff,  chained  inside  a  fence  to  his  kennel.  Within 
reach  of  his  massive  jaws  a  ball,  and  through  a  hole  in  the  fence 
Johnny  timorously  reaching  therefor,  whilst  Jimmy  on  the  outside 
encouragingly  cries  "Grab  the  ball,  Johnny,  I'll  stand  by  while 
you  do  it." 

This  fairly  represents  one  of  the  difficulties  we  have  met.  We 
were  Johnny,  the  mastiff  the  carrier,  the  ball  the  desired  rate,  while 
the  litigant.  Jimmy,  valorously  stood  by  encouraging  with  "Grab 
the  ball,  Johnny,  I'll  stand  by  while  you  do  it." 

Lack  of  Organization. 

These  difficulties  thus  confronting  us  are  chiefly  due  to  the 
inorganized  condition  of  the  industry  in  respect  to  traffic  matters. 

Here  and  there  may  be  organizations  partaking  of  the  nature 
of  militia;  but  in  none  of  the  real  essentials  of  rate  warfare  is  the 
organization  or  equipment  in  any  way  sufficient  to  meet  the  organ- 
ized regulars  of  the  opposition. 

"In  their  ragged  regimentals  stood  the  old  continentals  fearing 
not." 

But  ragged  regimentals  will  not  serve  the  present  conditions. 

But  "tempus  fugit."  I  saw  that  in  a  Latin  Beginner's  Book 
my  boy  was  studying  the  other  day.  And  why,  as  was  stated  by  a 
very  brilliant  brother  who  proposed  to  apply  logarithm  to  the  solu- 


360         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

tion  of  carriers'  rate  exhibits,  "Why  have  an  education  if  you  don't 
use  it  ?"    Tempus  fugit. 

We  must  hasten  to  the 

Remedies. 

A.  From  the  general  standpoint : 

First:  The  unification  of  rate-regulating  bodies,  centralization 
for  efficiency,  if  you  will,  but  with  sufficient  flexibility  to  assure 
accessibility  and  expedition. 

Second :  The  sifting  of  the  present  heterogeneous  mass,  yclept 
rate  law  and  the  settling  upon  principles  more  nearly  approximating 
some  uniform  basis  of  legality. 

Third:  The  application  of  at  least  the  basic  rules  of  evidence 
in  reference  to  materiality,  to  the  presentation  of  evidence  at  rate 
hearings. 

B.  On  the  part  of  the  coal  operators : 

First :  The  supplanting  of  the  "guerilla"  by  these  more  akin  to 
regular  army  methods — real  organization  for  real  war. 

Second:  Real  co-operation  and  the  elimination  of  the  "let 
George  do  it"  spirit. 

Third :  Perseverance — a  spirit  that  starts  well  but  also  continues 
well,  displaying  none  of  the  "yellow  of  the  quitter." 

Fourth :  Real  preparedness  including  the  maintenance  of  traffic 
bureaus  by  the  larger  territorial  units  upon  the  plan  similar  to 
those  elsewhere  suggested,  these  to  be  organized  and  maintained 
efficiently  for  all  traffic  purposes,  including  the  regular  gathering 
of  statistical  information  germane  to  issues  involved  in  rate  litiga- 
tion and  their  ready  compilation  and  presentation  to  the  commis- 
sion by  witnesses  familiar  therewith  and  able  to  support  them  and 
to  meet  the  experts  of  the  carriers. 

Such  intelligent  co-operation  in  organization  and  continuous 
preparedness  by  the  coal  operators  will  not  only  tend  to  remedy 
many  of  the  difficulties  we  have  met,  but  to  make  unnecessary  the 
disturbance  of  the  equanimity  and  harmony  of  the  self -approbation 
of  operators  in  gatherings  such  as  this,  by  the  injection  therein  by 
those  not  "of  the  faithful,"  of  their  views  conserving  the  weaknesses 
of  these  "sons  of  God." 


COMMISSION  PLAN  OF  PREPARING  MINING  LEGIS- 
LATION IN  THE  STATE  OF  ILLINOIS. 


Address   Delivered   at   the   Nineteenth   Annual   Convention   of 

American  Mining  Congress  by  A.  J.  Moorshead, 

Chicago,  Illinois. 


The  subject  for  discussion  before  the  Mining  Congress  on  the 
"Commission  Plan  of  Preparing  Mining  Legislation  in  Illinois" 
should  be  no  less  interesting  to  those  engaged  in  all  classes  of 
mining  than  it  is  to  the  coal  mine  operators  and  coal  mine  em- 
ployes of  Illinois,  who  will  try  to  make  it  a  permanent  institution. 

In  the  past  twenty  years  of  evolution  the  coal  mine  industry 
it  has  kept  well  apace  with  the  economic  advancement  made  by  all 
others  of  the  nation,  both  in  regard  to  the  electrical  as  well  as  me- 
chanical power  of  every  description,  and  not  only  are  the  more 
modern  mines  thoroughly  equipped  with  automatic  and  other  de- 
vices for  the  greatest  economy  in  production,  but  are  well  fitted  for 
conservation  of  life  and  property.  The  thoughtful  operators  (and 
there  are  many  of  them)  do  not  give  their  greatest  consideration 
to  the  subject  of  how  cheap  a  ton  of  coal  may  be  produced,  regard- 
less of  the  future  of  the  mine,  as  the  wrecks  of  many  coal  mines 
plainly  testify  was  too  often  practiced  in  the  past,  but  on  the  con- 
trary, plans  are  prepared  and  carried  out  that  will  bring  the  greatest 
total  income  on  the  investment.  Mines  so  conducted,  and  in  addi- 
tion, equipped  with  the  injury-preventing  and  life-saving  devices, 
not  only  lessen  the  anxieties  of  the  executive  officers  and  the  local 
supervising  officers,  but  create  the  greatest  reliable  security  for  the 
owners  of  the  property. 

It  is  altogether  too  true  that  the  best  of  rules  and  regulations 
have  had  to  be  forced  upon  operators  and  miners  alike,  and  there- 
fore it  is  not  at  all  surprising  that  in  legislative  matters,  both  the 
employers  and  employes  should  vigorously  oppose  any  legislation 
sought  independently  by  either  party,  and  the  operators  and  miners 
of  Illinois,  up  to  and  including  1909,  were  not  an  exception  to  the 
rule. 

If  we  had  a  single  government,  the  laws  of  which  affected  all 
alike,  there  would,  no  doubt,  have  been  less  contention  and  opposi- 


362         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

tion  to  many  measures  offered  for  enactment,  because  there  are  but 
few  new  bills  and  amendments  to  existing  laws  offered  that  do  not 
entail  additional  expense,  which  would  widen  the  operating  cost 
with  respect  to  other  states ;  consequently  many  beneficial  measures 
are  opposed  for  economic  reasons  only,  and  the  coal  mining  indus- 
try as  a  whole  suffers  in  consequence  of  our  government  by  states. 

No  better  illustration  of  this  condition  of  affairs  can  be  cited 
than  the  situation  of  the  Illinois  coal  mine  operators  in  1909.  At 
the  general  session  of  the  Legislature  in  that  year,  there  were 
presented  to  the  House  and  Senate  about  twenty-seven  bills  for 
amendments  and  additions  to  the  existing  mining  laws  and  they 
largely  covered  everything  vital  in  mining  and  would,  if  permitted 
to  pass,  have  very  materially  added  to  the  cost  of  production. 

To  promote  the  passage  of  the  bills,  the  miners  maintained  a 
large  and  extremely  active  lobby,  and  to  oppose  the  passage  of  them 
the  operators  maintained  an  equally  strong  and  aggressive  lobby, 
with  the  result  that  bitter  contention,occurred  at  every  meeting  oi 
the  committees  on  mining  of  both  the  House  and  Senate,  and  it  was 
not  until  the  end  of  three  months  of  spirited  campaigning,  that  the 
legislators  of  both  Houses  were  equally  as  relieved  as  the  operators 
and  miners,  when  the  operators  presented  a  bill  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  mixed  commission,  to  be  composed  of  miners,  operators, 
and  representatives  of  the  public  to  consider  the  bills  in  connection 
with  the  revision  of  the  mining  law,  for  enactment  at  the  general 
session  of  the  Legislature  in  1911,  and  the  Governor  appointed  the 
following : 

Dr.  J.  A.  Holmes,  Director,  Federal  Bureau  of  Mines. 
H.  H.  Stock,  Professor  of  Mining  Engineering. 
Dr.  Graham  Taylor,  Chicago,  111.,  University  of  Illinois. 
John  H.  Walker,  representing  the  miners. 
Chas.  Burch,  representing  the  miners. 
Bernard  Murphy,  representing  the  miners. 
Richard  Newsam,  President  of  the  Illinois  Mining  Board,  rep- 
senting  the  operators. 

Glenn  W.  Traer,  representing  the  operators. 
J.  W.  Miller,  representing  the  operators. 

The  work  of  this  commission  was  so  satisfactory  that  the 
miners  and  operators  joined  in  petition  to  the  Governor  for  its 
continuance  and  since  then  the  Legislature  has  made  reasonable 
appropriations  for  its  support. 


COMMISSION  PLAN  OF  MINING  LEGISLATION          363 

Among  the  important  changes  made  were : 

First — Reorganization  of  the  State  Mining  Board. 

Second — Established  a  standard  for  illuminating  oils. 

Third — For  more  efficient  work,  increased  the  number  of  state 
mine  inspectors  and  required  them  to  be  examined  periodically. 

Fourth — Made  the  law  with  reference  to  safety  lamps  more 
specific. 

Fifth — Standardized  the  quality  and  sizing  of  powder. 

Sixth — Provided  uniform  plan  for  sinking,  filling  and  operation 
of  gas  and  oil  wells  for  the  protection  of  the  mines. 

Seventh — Made  rules  for  the  establishment  and  operation  of 
underground  fire-fighting  apparatus. 

Innumerable  changes  were  made  affecting  ventilation,  storage 
of  oil,  maximum  electric  voltage  and  protection  of  live  wires,  to- 
gether with  more  specifically  defining  the  duties  of  the  mine  exam- 
iner, etc.,  and  these  additions  and  changes  were  adopted  as  the 
result  of  thorough  investigation  of  the  mining  laws,  not  only  of 
this  country  but  those  of  other  countries. 

The  work  of  the  commission  since  1909-1911  has  been  equally 
as  active  keeping  the  laws  well  up  to  the  necessities  of  the  changing 
order  of  affairs  among  which  are : 

Fire-fighting  and  rescue  stations. 

Amendment  to  the  shot  firers'  law. 

Amendment  to  the  law  regarding  the  miners'  qualifications. 

Gave  the  Mining  Bureau  full  control  of  the  state  mine 
inspectors. 

Provided  for  protection  at  shaft  landings  as  well  as  the  keeping 
of  passage  ways  leading  to  escape  ways  and  refuge  places  clear  of 
obstructions. 

Additional  precautions  regarding  the  handling  and  distribution 
of  explosives. 

Made  the  plan  of  examining  miners  more  thorough  and 
complete. 

Changed  rules  for  qualifications  of  mine  examiners. 

Made  provision  for  protection  of  abandoned  shafts,  and  many 
other  no  less  important  changes. 

The  present  Mining  Investigation  Commission  is  composed  of 
nine  members : 

H.  H.  Stock,  Urbana,  111. ;  J.  G.  Grossburg,  Chicago,  111. ;  J.  E. 
Williams,  Streator,  111.,  representing  the  public. 


364         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

John  A.  Tuttle,  Harrisburg,  111. ;  William  Hall,  Springfield,  111. ; 
R.  J.  Wilson,  Marissa,  111.,  Secretary  of  Commission,  representing 
the  miners. 

Thos.  Jeremiah,  Willisville,  111.,  Chairman  of  Commission; 
W.  D.  Obcamp,  Lincoln,  111. ;  Rice  Miller,  Hillsboro,  111.,  represent- 
ing the  operators. 

In  the  evolution  of  coal  mining  practices  in  Illinois,  nothing 
is  more  creditable  to  the  operators  and  miners  alike  than  the 
establishment  of  the  commission  plan  of  changing  old  laws  and 
making  new  ones  for  an  industry,  which  from  tipple  head  to  the 
face  of  the  workings,  is  so  surrounded  with  danger,  and  how  much 
more  sane  and  businesslike  it  is  to  submit  such  important  matters  to 
a  competent  tribunal  than  to  fight  them  out  before  a  legislative  body, 
which,  with  rare  exceptions,  is  totally  incompetent  to  pass  upon  the 
subject  even  if  it  had  the  time  necessary  to  devote  to  it. 

It  is  now,  I  believe,  very  generally  the  feeling  among  those 
who  have  given  the  subject  study,  that  no  one  thing  could  add  to 
coal  mining  efficiency  and  protection  of  all  those  interested  in  the 
industry,  more  than  the  establishment  of  a  similar  commission  in 
every  mining  state  and  coupled  with  it,  the  organization  of  an 
interstate  mining  investigation  body  to  take  up  the  subject  of 
unifying  the  laws  as  far  as  practicable,  and  this  step  in  itself  would 
place  the  industry  on  a  higher  scientific  mining  scale  and  help  to 
dignify  it  among  the  industries  of  the  nation,  as  it  deserves  to  be. 


PRESENT  STATUS  OF  THE  OIL  FLOTATION  PROCESS. 

Address  Delivered  at  19th  Annual  Meeting  of  American  Mining 
Congress  by  D.  A.  Lyon*  and  O.  C.  Ralston.f 

As  is  well  known  to  all  those  interested  in  mining  of  the  non- 
ferrous  metals,  no  milling  process  in  recent  times  has  so  revolution- 
ized ore-dressing  practice  as  has  the  introduction  of  the  flotation 
process.  Due  to  the  fact  that  the  technical  press  during  the  past  two 
years  has  been  full  of  discussion  on  this  subject,  and  as  many  papers 
have  been  presented  before  technical  societies  dealing  with  the 
theory  and  practice  of  the  process,  the  authors  will  not  attempt 
in  this  brief  paper  to  do  more  than  to  outline  the  present  status 
of  the  process. 

Definition  of  Process. 

Flotation  as  practiced  today  is  a  method  of  causing  one  mineral 
or  another  to  stay  on  the  surface  of  water  or  other  liquid  or  to  be 
entrained  in  the  froth  lying  on  the  surface  of  water  or  other  liquid. 
Only  certain  minerals  will  so  float  and  the  remainder  of  the  finely 
ground  ore  sinks.  Flotation  finds  its  present  application  in  the 
recovery  of  sulphide  minerals  or  of  native  metals  from  a  finely 
ground  pulp.  Such  a  finely  ground  pulp  has  for  many  years  been 
known  as  slimes  and  has  often  been  a  source  of  much  trouble  and 
loss  due  to  its  finely  divided  condition. 

Previous  to  the  development  of  flotation  no  process  for  success- 
fully extracting  slimed  values  from  low-grade  ores  existed.  Flota- 
tion is  needed  as  a  process  for  treating  such  material.  Now  that 
it  has  been  developed,  its  principal  applications  are  to  the  following 
materials. 

(a)  Accumulations  of  old  tailings  containing  minerals  which 
were  not  recovered  at  the  time  the  ore  was  treated  by  ordinary 
gravity  concentration  methods. 

(b)  Tailings  from  ores  now  being  treated  by  ordinary  gravity 
concentration  processes,  for  the  recovery  of  the  value  not  recovered 
by  the  gravity  concentrating  machines. 

*Metallurgist,  U.   S.   Bureau  of  Mines. 
fAssistant  Metallurgist,  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Mines. 
Published  by  permission  of  the  Director  of  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Mines. 


366        PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

^c)  Ores  containing  valuable  minerals  in  such  small  crystals 
as  to  necessitate  very  fine  grinding  in  order  to  permit  of  the  valuable 
particles  of  the  ore  being  separated  from  the  gangue.  It  is,  of 
course,  understood  that  this  applies  to  only  sulphides  or  metallic 
minerals. 

Outline  of  Process. 

Several  different  kinds  of  flotation  have  been  proposed  and 
used,  such  as  film  flotation,  bulk  oil  flotation,  and  frothing  flotation, 
This  last  type  of  flotation  is  the  one  largely  responsible  for  the  great 
metallurgical  advances  which  have  recently  been  made  in  the  treat- 
ment of  non-ferrous  ores  and  is  now  practically  the  only  commer- 
cially important  method  of  flotation.  A  frothing  agent,  usually  an 
oil,  or  a  substance  closely  relative  to  an  oil,  is  used  in  order  to 
make  the  water  of  the  pulp  froth  easily,  In  addition,  the  substance 
added  must  be  such  that  the  valuable  minerals  will  adhere  to  air 
bubbles  introduced  into  the  pulp.  These  air  bubbles  in  rising  to  the 
surface  must  carry  only  the  valuable  minerals  and  the  froth  formed 
on  the  surface  can  be  allowed  to  overflow  or  to  be  raked  off  in  some 
manner,  separating  the  valuable  minerals  from  the  gangue.  Hence, 
the  first  operation  in  flotation  after  the  ore  has  been  finely  ground 
in  readiness  for  the  application  of  the  process  is  the  mixing  in  of 
the  "oil"  and  other  addition  agents.  Whether  rightly  or  wrongly, 
flotation  men  have  come  to  call  this  operation,  emulsifying  of  the  oil. 
Whether  it  is  emulsion  or  not,  the  oil  is  distributed  throughout  the 
ore  very  thoroughly  by  mechanical  or  pneumatic  methods  of  stirring. 
A  soluble  frothing  agent  can,  of  course,  be  very  easily  mixed  in  with 
the  pulp,  but  when  an  insoluble  frothing  agent  is  used,  the  pulp 
usually  needs  considerable  mechanical  beating.  The  fact  that  very 
often  only  one  pound  of  oil,  such  as  wood  creosote,  or  coal  creosote, 
is  used  for  every  ton  of  ore,  which  is  suspended,  say  in  four  tons  of 
water,  makes  considerable  stirring  necessary  in  order  to  divide  up 
this  oil  equally  throughout  the  pulp.  Just  exactly  what  function  the 
oil  performs  is  still  obscure. 

Oils  have  been  classified  as  frothers  and  collectors,  because 
some  oils  make  abundant  froth  but  collect  very  little  mineral  into 
the  froth,  while  others  seem  to  have  the  property  of  collecting  plenty 
of  mineral,  but  do  not  tend  to  froth  well.  The  presence  of  both 
properties  in  an  oil,  or  the  use  of  an  oil  having  each  of  these  prop- 
erties, seems  to  be  necessary.  Occasionally  an  acid  or  an  alkali  or 
various  metallic  salts,  are  added.  There  is  a  serious  question  as  to 
the  feasibility  of  flotation  in  perfectly  pure  water.  Many  instances 


PRESENT  STATUS  OF  OIL  FLOTATION  PROCESS       367 

are  known  where  the  addition  of  an  electrolyte  of  one  type  or 
another  has  improved  the  flotation  work,  but  the  reason  is  not 
clear.  It  is  possible  that  acid  helps  clean  off  the  surface  of  the 
particles  of  sulphides  in  case  they  are  partially  oxidized,  and  when 
a  better  recovery  is  effected  by  the  addition  of  an  alkali,  something 
takes  place,  but  at  the  present  time  nobody  knows  what  it  is. 

Kinds  of  Machines. 

The  operations  of  mixing  in  the  oil  and  introducing  small  air 
bubbles  to  form  a  froth,  and  finally  separating  the  froth,  are  per- 
formed in  machines  of  two  broad  classes,  namely,  mechanical  and 
pneumatic. 

In  the  mechanical  machines,  the  mixing  of  the  oil  and  the 
introduction  of  air  bubbles  takes  place  usually  simultaneously.  This 
is  generally  effected  by  a  rotating  member  of  one  type  or  another,  so 
arranged  that  in  its  rotation  air  bubbles  are  beaten  into  the  pulp.  As 
examples  of  the  most  successful  machines  performing  this  operation 
are  those  of  the  Minerals  Separation  Company,  the  Janney  machine, 
and  the  Krout  &  Kohlberg  machines.  After  beating  the  air  into  the 
pulp  in  such  machines  the  pulp  is  allowed  to  pass  into  a  Spitzkasten  • 
where  the  froth  is  allowed  to  rise  to  the  surface  and  be  removed. 

There  are  likewise  three  general  types  of  pneumatic  flotation 
machines,  namely,  the  Callow,  the  Inspiration  and  the  Cole-Bergman 
machines.  In  all  of  these  the  oil  must  be  previously  mixed  with  the 
ore  by  any  method,  while  air  is  introduced  through  any  kind  of  a 
porous  medium,  such  as  a  canvas  blanket,  on  the  bottom  of  the 
machine. 

The  present  status  of  the  mechanical  side  of  flotation  is  the 
designing  of  new  machines  along  two  general  lines,  namely,  those 
which  will  consume  less  power,  or  less  oil,  than  the  earlier  types  of 
machines.  In  other  words,  one  of  the  greatest  advances  now  being 
made  in  flotation  is  in  the  designing  of  machinery. 

Handling  of  Concentrates. 

After  the  froth  is  carried  off,  or  flows  off  from  a  flotation 
machine,  it  must  be  broken  down  and  dewatered,  leaving  a  concen- 
trate to  be  sent  to  the  smelter,  or  otherwise  metallurgically  treated. 
At  first,  considerable  difficulty  was  met  in  the  breaking  down  of 
froths,  but  it  is  believed  that  there  are  now  appliances  developed 
which  will  break  down  almost  any  froth.  The  use  of  oils  which  will 
give  an  easily  handled  froth  is  one  thing  which  is  to  be  considered. 
A  finely  divided  jet  of  water  issuing  from  various  patented  nozzles, 


368         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

such  as  garden  spray  nozzles,  has  been  found  to  be  a  very  efficient 
breaker  of  froth.  Passing  the  froth  through  a  bucket  elevator  has 
been  known  to  be  a  good  method  of  breaking  it  up.  Almost  uni- 
versally the  pulp  resulting  from  breaking  down  and  concentrating 
the  froth  is  dewatered  in  such  apparatus  as  the  Dorr  thickener,  to  a 
consistency  which  can  be  filtered.  Vacuum  filters  have  become 
very  popular  in  the  filtering  of  flotation  concentrate  especially 
the  filters  of  the  continuous  type,  such  as  the  Oliver  and  the  Port- 
land. However,  they  do  not  give  concentrates  with  as  low  a  per- 
centage of  moisture  as  do  the  pressure  filters,  where  high  pressure 
can  be  used  in  blowing  out  the  water  from  the  filter  cake.  In  some 
cases  it  will  probably  pay  to  even  dry  out  the  moisture  in  filter  cakes 
in  order  to  save  freight  when  shipping  the  concentrate  to  the  smelter. 
As  the  material  is  very  finely  divided,  tight  railroad  cars  are  neces- 
sary for  its  shipment. 

Effect  on  Smelter  Practice. 

The  effect  of  flotation  on  smelter  practice  has  been  considerable 
in  copper  metallurgy  and  promises  to  cause  extensive  changes  in 
zinc  and  lead  smelting  practice.  The  finely  divided  flotation  con- 
centrates are  not  adapted  to  smelting  in  a  blast  furnace  because  of 
the  formation  of  too  much  flue  dust.  In  copper  metallurgy  the  trend 
had  been  toward  reverberatory  furnaces  before  flotation  was  devel- 
oped on  a  large  scale,  and  the  effect  of  the  sudden  devlopment  of 
flotation  was  the  almost  complete  change  to  the  reverberatory  fur- 
nace. The  reverberatory  furnace  smelts  flotation  concentrates  with 
very  little  previous  preparation.  The  most  serious  problems  in  the 
treatment  of  any  flotation  concentrates  are  the  roasting  problems. 
In  lead  metallurgy  it  is  possible  to  pass  this  material  over  a  Dwight- 
Lloyd,  or  other  centering  machine,  and  obtain  a  product  adapted  to 
blast  furnace  smelting.  It  is  possible  that  this  could  be  done  in 
copper  metallurgy  if  the  sulphur  content  of  the  material  were  not 
too  high.  In  the  case  of  zinc  sulphide  concentrate,  the  case  is  not 
quite  so  easily  handled.  The  fine  subdivision  of  the  zinc  sulphide 
should  lead  to  new  methods  of  roasting  and  smelting  zinc  in  order 
to  prevent  the  dusting  losses  during  roasting.  In  the  field  of  gold 
and  silver  it  has  been  found  that  flotation  is  a  more  economical 
process  than  cyaniding  for  many  ores  and  the  effect  will  be  the 
sending  of  flotation  concentrate  to  the  lead  and  copper  smelters  for 
the  extraction  of  the  silver  and  gold  contained  in  them.  It  would 
seem  that  the  present  state  of  the  art  is  such  that  further  important 
developments  in  smelting  practice  are  liable  to  take  place  in  the 


PRESENT  STATUS  OF  OIL  FLOTATION  PROCESS       369 

effort  to  meet  the  difficulties  encountered  in  treating  flotation  con- 
centrate. 

Present  Scope  of  the  Process. 

As  intimated  above,  the  flotation  process  at  the  present  applies 
mostly  to  sulphide  ores,  notably  of  zinc,  lead  and  copper,  although 
the  process  seems  to  be  well  adapted  to  the  concentration  of  silver 
sulphide  ores  and  considerable  success  has  been  had  in  concentrating 
gold  ores  with  or  without  the  presence  of  pyrite. 

Notable  installations  where  zinc  sulphide  is  being  floated  are  the 
Butte  and  Superior  at  Butte,  the  Mascot  in  Tennessee,  and  the 
Interstate-Callahan  in  Idaho.  Galena  is  being  successfully  floated 
in  the  southeast  Missouri  district  and  in  the  Coeur  de  Alene  district 
of  Idaho.  Copper  sulphide  ores  are  being  most  successfully  treated 
at  Anaconda,  Inspiration,  Chino,  etc.  Silver  and  gold  ores  are  being 
treated  with  success  throughout  Colorado  and  Nevada.* 

In  the  copper  country  they  are  finding  that  the  finely  divided 
native  copper  is  also  amenable  to  flotation.  During  the  past  year 
considerable  experimental  work  has  been  done  in  flotation  of  car- 
bonate ores  of  lead  and  of  copper  with  the  promise  of  considerable 
success.  This  flotation  has  been  accomplished  by  first  treating  the 
ore  with  the  solution  of  a  soluble  sulphide  such  as  sodium  or  hydro- 
gen sulphides.  The  flotation  of  the  artificial  sulphides  so  formed 
seems  to  be  a  comparatively  simple  process.  While  the  present  state 
of  the  art  has  not  seen  the  successful  commercial  accomplishment 
of  this  method  it  is  probable  that  the  immediate  future  will  see 
flotation  of  carbonate  ores  of  both  lead  and  copper.  All  attempts 
at  the  flotation  of  carbonate  ores  of  zinc  have  thus  far  failed. 

We  are  informed  that  important  developments  are  on  foot 
making  possible  the  concentration  of  iron  oxides  such  as  magnetite 


*Those  desiring  further  information  on  the  subject  of  flotation  will  doubtless 
find  the  following  references  of  assistance: 

Bibliography.— Concentrating  Ores  by  Flotation.— Bulletin  of  School  of  Mines 
and  Metallurgy,  University  of  Missouri,  Holla,  Mo.,  1916.  This  bibliography 
gives  a  very  complete  list  of  references  up  to  January  1,  1916,  on  concentrating 
ores  by  flotation." 

Bibliography  on  Flotation,  January  1  to  July  1,  1916.— U.  S.  Bureau  of  Mines 
Technical  Paper,  now  in  press.  Contains  a  complete  list  of  references  on  the 
subiect  of  flotation  from  January  1  to  July  1,  1916,  and  likewise  a  complete 
list  of  patents  that  were  taken  out  in  the  United  States  during  those  months. 
It  also  includes  references  to  some  foreign  patents.  It  is  the  intention  of  the 
bureau  to  publish  a  bibliography  on  this  subject  twice  a  year,  and  in  addition 
to  issue  each  month  a  list  of  references  to  the  articles  which  have  appeared 
in  the  technical  press  during  the  preceding  month  on  the  subject,  and  also  t«- 
give  a  list  of  the  patents  granted.  Those  desiring  the  above  U.  S.  Bureau  of 
Mines  bibliographies  or  the  list  of  references  as  they  are  issued  by  the  bureau, 
may  obtain  the  same  by  applying  to  the  Director  of  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Mines, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

The  bureau  has  also  issued  the  following  preliminary  papers,  in  mimeo- 
graph form,  on  the  subject  of  flotation,  which  may  also  be  had  on  application: 

Flotation  processes  for  concentrating  ores. 

Statement  on  flotation  oils. 

Flotation  of  oxidized  ores. 


370         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

and  scheelite  and  fluorite,  and  such  related  minerals  which  break 
up  with  marked  clevage  planes. 

What  We  Do  Not  Know. 

Very  little  is  known  as  to  the  "why"  of  flotation.  We  only 
know  "how."  During  the  past  year  some  very  important  theoretical 
papers  have  appeared,  but  the  discussion  of  the  underlying  principles 
involved  in  flotation  has  only  begun.  We  do  not  know  enough  of  the 
properties  of  the  various  oils  used  and  we  do  not  know  what  be- 
comes of  them  during  flotation.  We  do  know  why  certain  minerals 
will  stick  to  air  bubbles  in  water  contaminated  with  such  oils  and 
it  is  probable  that  there  are  too  many  things  involved  for  a  very 
immediate  complete  scientific  explanation  of  the  process. 

Predictions. 

In  spite  of  lack  of  knowledge  as  to  the  underlying  principles, 
its  scope  is  being  rapidly  widened  and  it  seems  safe  to  predict  the 
commercial  success  of  the  extension  of  the  process  to  flotation  of 
lead  carbonates,  and  of  copper  carbonates  during  the  coming  year. 
The  solution  of  the  problem  of  the  mixed  sulphide  and  oxidized 
copper  ores,  so  common  in  Arizona,  also  seems  to  be  nearly  in 
sight.  The  extension  of  the  process  to  the  flotation  of  non-sulphide 
minerals  of  a  valuable  nature  seems  to  be  a  more  remote  possibility, 
but  there  are  reasons  for  thinking  that  a  better  understanding  of  the 
theory  of  flotation  will  finally  result  in  the  development  of  methods 
which  will  allow  the  flotation  of  any  kind  of  mineral.  Differential 
flotation  of  two  flotative  minerals  in  the  same  ore  is  at  present  only 
mildly  successful  and  we  feel  justified  in  predicting  important  de- 
velopments along  these  lines  as  well.  The  art  is  still  in  the  stage  of 
development.  It  is  experiencing  a  vigorous  youth  and  its  full 
growth  has  by  no  means  been  obtained. 


THE     POSITION     OF     ENGINEERS     TOWARDS     THE 
QUESTION  OF  WATER  POWER  DEVEL- 
OPMENT  IN  THE  WEST. 

A  Paper  Presented  at  the  Nineteenth  Annual  Convention  of  the 
American    Mining    Congress,    by    Henry    Sturgis 
Drinker,  LL,  D.,  President  of  Lehigh  Uni- 
versity, South  Bethlehem,  Pa. 

Essentially  the  position  taken  by  engineers  in  the  matter  of 
the  conservation  of  our  natural  resources  is  one  founded  on 
reason  and  experience,  on  expert  knowledge  and  engineering  good 
judgment,  hot  on  emotional  deductions  born  of  a  faddish  conception 
that  conservation  of  our  natural  resources  means  locking  them  up 
for  the  needs  of  an  indefinite  future  when  other  agencies  may  have 
been  found  to  take  their  place.  The  real  question  is, — does  the 
present  generation  need  these  resources ;  if  it  needs  them,  the  need 
is  exactly  that  which  would  be  supplied  were  they  held  for  the,  use 
of  future  generations.  Conservation  was  well  denned  by  Dr.  C.  W. 
Hayes  when  Chief  Geologist  of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  as 
"Utilization  with  a  maximum  efficiency  and  a  minimum  waste." 
That  is  the  purpose  and  should  be  the  effect,  of  conservation.  The 
mining  profession  may  well  take  pride  in  the  fact,  not  generally 
known  or  appreciated,  that  this  matter  of  the  need  of  conservation 
of  our  natural  resources,  particularly  of  our  mining  and  timber 
resources,  to  which  the  public,  and  our  statesmen  have  only  recently 
awakened,  has  been  the  subject  of  careful  study  and  outspoken 
warning  by  our  engineers  for  years.  At  the  first  meeting  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers,  at  Wilkes-Barre,  Penn- 
sylvania, in  May,  1871,  at  which,  as  a  young  mining  engineer,  I  had 
the  privilege  of  being  present,  a  committee  was  appointed  "To  con- 
sider the  report  on  the  waste  in  coal  mining,"  and  from  that  time 
to  the  present,  mining  engineers  have  followed  up  the  study  of 
conservation,  and  no  discussion  of  the  subject  has  been  more 
thorough  and  exhaustive  than  that  by  the  engineering  profession  at 
large,  when  in  March,  1909,  the  four  great  engineering  societies — 
The  American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  The  American  Institute 
of  Mining  Engineers,  The  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engi- 
neers, and  The  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  met  in 


372         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

New  York  to  consider  the  matter  of  the  conservation  of  our  natural 
resources. 

In  view  of  the  superficial  utterances  constantly  put  forth  on 
conservation,  it  is  the  duty  of  engineers  to  keep  in  close  touch  with 
this  matter,  and  to  do  their  share  towards  shaping  the  policy  of  the 
nation  to  a  course  based  on  reason  and  technical  knowledge,  rather 
than  on  sentimental  diatribe.  A  greater  danger  today  to  the  public 
interests  is  threatened  by  the  untrained,  spasmodic,  emotional,  semi- 
political,  and  careless  presentation  and  handling  of  these  matters 
before  the  public,  by  men  (and  by  women),  on  whom  their  impor- 
tance has  suddenly  dawned,  than  even  by  the  continuance  of  the 
wasteful  methods  of  the  past. 

It  is  folly  for  a  man  untrained  in  engineering  to  venture 
opinions  on  questions  like  the  conservation,  development  and  eco- 
nomic utilization  of  our  minerals  and  our  water  powers  which 
require  the  judgment  and  experience  of  engineers.  The  trouble  with 
many  of  the  plans  for  coal  and  water  power  conservation  proposed 
by  men  untrained  and  inexperienced  in  engineering  and  in  business 
methods,  is,  that  their  plans  are  ideal  rather  than  real,  their  dicta 
negative  rather  than  positive,  and  their  remedies  theoretical  rather 
than  practical.  You  have  doubtless  observed  that  the  fear  that  is 
uppermost  with  such  men  is  often  rather  that  our  public  resources 
will  pass  into  the  control  of  what  they  term  the  "monopolistic 
interests  of  the  few,"  than  the  crucial  question  of  what  is  the  best 
plan  or  system  for  the  economic  winning  of  our  natural  resources 
in  the  interest  of  the  public.  What  engineers  should  urge  and 
impress  upon  the  public  mind  is  the  importance  of  looking  at  these 
industrial  questions  in  a  wholly  cold-blooded,  business  way, — with- 
out any  obsession  or  oppression  of  undefined  hysterical  fear  of  the 
results  or  dangers  of  a  so-called  corporate  monopoly  that  are  often 
as  visionary  as  the  nursery  tales  of  bogies  to  frighten  children  into 
being  good.  Corporations,  as  we  know,  are,  as  a  rule,  only  aggrega- 
tions of  capital  to  promote  some  useful  industrial  or  transportation 
purpose ;  they  are,  like  other  agencies  of  the  day,  capable  of  use 
and  of  abuse. 

The  difficulty,  and  the  probable  error,  in  criticising  all  large 
development  enterprises  as  being  so-called  monopolies  is  that  the 
superficial  critic  is  apt  to  consider  and  discuss  the  situation  on  one 
side  only.  The  conservation, — the  careful  mining, — of  our  minerals, 
and  the  economic  development  of  our  latent  water  powers,  for 
instance,  can  only  be  managed  properly  by  the  investment  of  large 
capital,  and  this  can  today  be  supplied  only  by  the  association  of 


WATER  POWER  DEVELOPMENT  IN  WEST  373 

many  individuals  having  capital  to  invest,  into  large  corporations 
controlling  such  aggregate  capital,  or  by  the  Utopian  plan  of  state 
or  Federal  ownership  and  the  use  of  the  public  funds  in  an  industrial 
enterprise.  As  to  corporations,  the  stronger  they  are  the  more 
surely  are  they  in  a  position  to  handle  mining  and  water-power 
problems  conservatively  and  economically.  The  economic  mining  of 
minerals — the  proper  development  of  a  water  power  site,  involve 
purely  expert  questions,  but  it  takes  capital  to  command  the  best 
expert  talent  and  the  investment  of  large  capital  to  economically 
develop  and  erect  a  plant  to  produce  economical  results.  Any  other 
course  raises  the  cost  of  production,  and  the  consumer  ultimately 
pays.  As  a  rule,  operations  on  a  large  scale,  lawfully  exercised  and 
regulated  (and  with  the  public  service  commissions  of  today  they 
are  surely  abundantly  regulated) — result  in  conserving  our  resources 
for  the  benefit  and  service  of  the  consumer  and  save  their  waste 
by  the  producer.  When  we  talk  of  large  aggregations  of  capital  it  is 
well  to  consider  the  good  they  have  done,  and  can  do,  with  the 
apprehended  evil.  It  will  not  do  to  assume  broadly  that  what  is 
mistermed  the  "monopolizing"  of  our  mineral  and  water-power 
interests,  for  instance,  results  in  waste  of  our  natural  resources  and 
in  injustice  to  the  public,  and  those  who  preach  this  doctrine  are  but 
the  blind  (or  the  unscrupulous),  leading  the  blind.  Mr.  J.  F.  Call- 
breath's  paper,  presented  at  the  second  Pan  American  Scientific 
Congress,  held  in  Washington  in  January  last,  relative  to  Govern- 
ment control  O'f  minerals  on  the  public  lands,  fully  and  exhaus- 
tively treats  of  the  paralysis  in  mining  development  on  government- 
held  lands  resulting  from  our  present  system,  and  of  the  need  of 
broader  and  more  liberal  Congressional  action.  It  is  the  object  of 
this  paper  to  present  succinctly  the  present  aspect  of  the  struggle 
our  western  states  have  been  making,  and  are  making,  for  more 
liberal  and  equitable  treatment  of  the  development  of  their  latent 
water-powers  so  needed  for  the  benefit  of  their  mining,  industrial, 
and  transportation  interests,  the  lagging  condition  of  which,  pro- 
moted by  so-called  conservationists,  is  working  so  deterrent  an 
influence  on  the  development  and  prosperity  of  the  west.  In  his 
paper  Mr.  Callbreath  quotes  the  principle  as  to  our  public  lands  laid 
down  by  Abraham  Lincoln,  "The  public  lands  are  an  impermanent 
national  possession  held  in  trust  for  the  maturing  states." 

The  National  Conservation  Congress  composed  of  delegates 
from  all  sections  of  the  country,  at  its  meeting  in  Washington  in 
November  1913  unanimously  adopted  resolutions  supporting  a 
policy  in  respect  to  the  unappropriated  public  lands  of  the  nation 


374         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

"intended  to  encourage  and  promote  the  settlement  and  development 
thereof,"  and  asserting  "that  any  act  of  Congress,  or  any  adminis- 
trative construction  thereof,  which  is  not  in  harmony  with  this 
policy,  does  an  injustice  to  the  new  states  by  placing  them  on  an 
unequal  footing  with  the  original  states,  and  by  discouraging  and 
preventing  the  settlement  of  such  new  states  and  the  development  of 
their  resources." 

These  resolutions  on  unappropriated  public  lands,  which  are 
very  full  and  emphatic,  were  reasserted  and  adopted  again  by  the 
conference  of  the  National  Conservation  Congress  which  met  in 
Washington  in  May  last,  and  they  represent  a  broad,  liberal  view  that 
should  be  supported  and  prevail. 

The  Conservation  Congress  of  1913,  and  again  the  conference 
of  the  Congress  in  1916,  considered  very  fully  the  question  of 
water  power  development.  In  the  Congress  of  1913  the  question 
had  been  given  for  study  to  a  committee  of  able,  representative  men, 
with  Dr.  George  F.  Swain,  head  of  the  Department  of  Civil  Engi- 
neering at  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  as  chairman. 
This  committee  made  majority  and  minority  reports.  In  the 
majority  report  it  was  said : 

"It  is  perfectly  clear  that  in  order  to  induce  the  investment  of 
private  capital  in  water  power  enterprises,  three  things  are  essential : 

"i.     Definiteness  in  the  contract  entered  into. 

"2.  The  prospect  of  a  sufficiently  attractive  return,  commen- 
surate with  the  risk  involved. 

"3.     The  protection  of  the  courts  in  case  of  dispute. 

"Without  these  three  things  the  utilization  of  water  powers  by 
private  capital  cannot  be  brought  about." 

Commenting  on  the  existing  legislation  controlling  the  develop- 
ment of  water  powers  on  government  lands  at  the  west  this  report 
said: 

"Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  electricity  is  playing  every  day 
a  more  important  part  in  our  social  and  industrial  economy,  and 
the  fact  that  the  development  of  hydro-electric  properties  should  be 
proceeding  rapidly,  there  seems  no  doubt  that  present  Federal  laws, 
and  the  permits  hitherto  issued  under  them,  have  brought  about  a 
condition  of  relatively  slow  development  of  water  power.  These 
laws  constitute  in  many  cases  a  practically  insuperable  obstacle,  and 
while  many  developments  have  been  made  under  these  laws,  many 
more  possible  developments  have  been  postponed.  Several  Secretaries 
of  the  Interior  have  called  attention  to  these  facts,  and  to  the  urgent 
need  of  a  revision  of  the  laws  regulating  the  use  of  water  power. 


WATER  POWER  DEVELOPMENT  IN  WEST  375 

"One  of  the  most  serious  obstacles  to  the  development  of  water 
powers  under  Government  permits  is  that  these  are  by  law, 
revocable,  at  any  time,  at  the  pleasure  of  a  member  of  the  Cabinet. 
Under  present  laws  the  only  way  by  which  water  power  can  be 
developed  on  the  public  lands  is  under  revocable  permits  prescribed 
by  the  Act  of  February  15,  1901." 

The  majority  report  closed  with  the  following  words: 

"Finally,  we  repeat  that  for  the  conservation  of  our  water 
powers  it  is  essential  that  capital  shall  be  attracted  to  these  enter- 
prises, and  while  we  must,  of  course,  fully  protect'  the  interests  of 
the  public,  both  present  and  future,  we  are  not  conservationists  if  we 
advocate  the  imposition  of  terms  which  restrict  rather  than  encour- 
age development.  We  must  also  remember  that  under  present  condi- 
tions water  power  investments  are  not  especially  attractive,  and  that 
steam  power  is  a  more  desirable  form  of  power,  since  it  can  be 
located  wherever  needed,  and  the  supply  regulated  according  to 
demand.  Water  power  is  more  variable  and  furthermore,  it  requires, 
in  general,  a  very  much  larger  investment  per  horsepower  than 
steam,  though  its  running  expenses  are  less.  Because  of  the  large 
first  cost  of  water  power  developments  the  risk  of  loss  in  case  of 
failure  of  the  enterprise  is  correspondingly  large.  Capital,  there- 
fore, does  not  need  water  power  enterprises,  and  it  will  not  take 
them  up  to  any  considerable  degree,  unless  fully  protected. 

"It  is  from  a  point  of  view  of  pure  conservation  that  the  devel- 
opment of  water  power  is  most  important. 

"It  has  been  estimated  that  we  use  annually  over  four  hundred 
and  eighty  million  tons  of  coal,  worth  nearly  a  billion  dollars,  in 
addition  to  many  million  dollars'  worth  of  other  fuels;  and  that 
some  two  hundred  million  dollars'  worth  of  this  fuel  annually  might 
perhaps  be  saved  by  the  utilization  of  water  powers.  When  we  con- 
sider also  that  the  development  of  water  power  'not  only  conserves 
fuel,  but  directly  serves  to  promote  the  navigability  of  rivers,  we 
should  be  very  careful  how  we  discourage  this  triple  conservation 
in  order  to  secure  other  results  which  we  may  consider  desirable.  If 
we  do  discourage  it  we  may  be  anti-monopolists,  or  something  else, 
but  we  are  certainly  not  conservationists." 

A  minority  report  on  the  water  power  question  was  also  sub- 
mitted,, and  a  third  report  embodying  conclusions  in  which  all  the 
members  of  the  committee  agreed, — and  among  the  resolutions 
finally  adopted  by  the  Congress  were  the  following: 

"We  recognize  the  firm  and  effective  public  control  of  water 


376        PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

power  corporations  as  a  pressing  and  immediate  necessity  urgently 
required  in  the  public  interest. 

"We  recognize  that  there  is  no  restraint  so  complete,  effective, 
and  permanent  as  that  which  comes  from  firmly  retained  public 
ownership  of  the  power  site. 

"It  is  therefore  the  solemn  judgment  of  the  Fifth  National 
Conservation  Congress  that  hereafter  no  water  power  now  owned  or 
controlled  by  the  public  should  be  sold,  granted  or  given  away  in 
perpetuity,  or  in  any  manner  removed  from  the  public  ownership, 
which  alone  can  give  sound  basis  of  assured  and  permanent  control 
in  the  interest  of  the  people." 

These  resolutions  were  unfortunately  preceded  by  a  rather 
sensational  and  irrational  preamble,  on  behalf  of  the  ultra  con- 
servative element  in  the  Congress,  attacking  so-called  monopolistic 
control  of  water  power. 

The  resolutions  themselves  are  simply  the  statement  of  plati- 
tudes,— of  truisms,  to  which  the  Shields  bill,  passed  by  the  Senate 
at  its  last  session,  and  the  Myers  bill,  now  pending  in  the  Senate, 
practically  conform.  These  bills,  which  have  been  unjustly  at- 
tacked as  too  liberal  in  their  provisions,  contemplate  time  leases, 
but  of  sufficient  duration  to  warrant  the  investment  of  capital. 

At  the  conference  of  the  Conservation  Congress  ,in  May  last  a 
committee  with  B.  M.  Hall  of  Atlanta  (who  had  been  a  member  of 
the  same  committee  in  1913),  reported  on  the  question  of  water 
power  after  a  further  study  of  the  question,  and  again  majority  and 
minority  reports  were  presented, — the  majority  report,  which  was 
adopted  by  a  large  majority  of  the  conference  when  presented,  dis- 
cussed fully  the  present  condition  of  the  water  power  question  in 
our  forty-six  states,  and  particularly  characterized  "the  efforts  and 
the  sentiments  which  act  merely  to  block  early  development  of  water 
power  and  postpone  benefits  until  a  distant  future,"  as  improvident, 
unworthy,  and  as  not  constituting  real  conservation.  The  report 
commented  on  the  fact  that  "for  a  period  of  years  the  greater  part 
of  our  water  power  development  must  be  accomplished  by  private 
capital."  That  such  being  the  case,  "such  development  must  be 
voluntary  on  the  part  of  private  investors  and  must  be  induced  by  a 
promise  of  reasonable  reward  and  an  assurance  of  the  safety  of  the 
principal  invested."  *  *  * 

"Therefore,  the  public  must,  if  it  would  derive  immediate 
advantages  from  the  water  power  resources,  extend  reasonable 
assurances  to  investors,  and  at  the  same  time  hold  fast  to  the  control 
of  rates,  service  and  conduct,  provide  for  a  fair  deal  for  all  con- 


WATER  POWER  DEVELOPMENT  IN  WEST  377 

cerned,  and  reserve  the  right  to  recapture  the  properties  on  payment 
of  the  fair  value  thereof  at  the  end  of  a  stated  period." 

Commenting  on  the  water  bills  pending  in  Congress,  and  which 
had  been  developed  as  the  outcome  of  exhaustive  and  •  prolonged 
hearings  before  committees  of  the  Senate  and  House  extending  over 
two  years,  the  report  concluded  with  these  recommendations : 

"Summing  up  the  whole  matter  and  having  due  regard  for  the 
present  vital  needs  for  power  development  as  related  to  national 
defense,  the  cost  of  food  and  our  comfort  and  convenience  in  all 
departments  of  life,  we  believe  that  our  duty  will  not  be  completed 
unless  we  make  definite  and  concrete  recommendations  as  to  the 
future.  This  course  does  not  necessarily  involve  participation  in 
political  issues  or  any  unwarranted  interference  with  legislative 
procedure.  There  are  before  Congress  two  water  power  bills  which 
comprise  the  best  thought  of  the  day  and  represent  a  reasonable 
common  ground  upon  which  all  may  safely  stand  for  the  present  at 
least. 

"In  view  of  the  acute  necessities  of  the  present,  we  urge  such 
action  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  as  will  result  in  imme- 
diate water  power  development,  and  inasmuch  as  H.  R.  408  as 
reported  by  Mr.  Myers,  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Public  Lands 
of  the  United  States  Senate,  with  amendments,  on  March  14,  1916, 
rendering  available  water  powers  on  public  lands,  and  S.  3331,  as 
passed  by  the  United  States  Senate  on  March  8,  1916  (commonly 
known  as  the  'Shields'  Bill),  relating  to  navigable  streams,  contain 
provisions  adequately  safeguarding  the  interests  of  the  public  and 
the  rights  of  the  investors,  we  hereby  endorse  both  of  these  measures 
in  principle  and  express  the  hope  that  they  may  be  speedily  enacted 
into  law." 

This  may  be  taken  to  be  the  last  word  on  the  subject. 

The  Myers  and  Shields  bills  represent  conclusions  reached  on 
the  basis  of  opinions  submitted  by  experts  and  after  full  opportunity 
had  been  given  by  legislative  committees  for  the  presentation  of  the 
views  of  those  favoring  or  opposing  the  bills,  and  the  action  of  the 
conference  of  the  National  Conservation  Congress  in  approving  the 
majority  report  and  thus  endorsing  in  principle  these  bills,  repre- 
sents the  judgment  of  a  large  body  of  men  attending  the  confer- 
ence as  delegates  from  all  sections  of  the  country, — covering 
some  thirty-six  states  and  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  appointed, 
as  the  constitution  of  the  Congress  provides,  by  the  governors  of 
the  states  and  territories  of  the  Union,  by  mayors  of  cities,  by 
universities  and  colleges,  and  by  other  responsible  organizations, — 


378         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

a  typically  fair  representative  body  of  intelligent  American  citizens, 
well  fitted  to  pass  on  questions  of  such  importance. 

This  action  in  May  last  of  the  conference  of  the  Conservation 
Congress  was  followed  by  the  adoption  on  June  16  of  the  following 
important  resolution  by  the  Joint  Conference  Committee  of  the 
National  Engineering  Societies,  copy  of  which  was  sent  to  President 
Wilson : 

"The  Joint  Conference  Committee  of  National  Engineering 
Societies  believes  that  the  development  of  the  country's  undeveloped 
water  powers  will  increase  national  prosperity  ;  that  private  enterprise 
should  be  encouraged  and  stimulated  to  expedite  such  development ; 
that  unnecessary  legal  burdens  should  be  removed  and  existing 
doubts  as  to  the  safety  of  investment  eliminated.  It  commends  to  the 
support  of  engineers  all  efforts  made  to  secure  the  fullest  publicity 
as  to  the  underlying  facts  regarding  this  subject." 

The  actual  issue  as  to  the  legislation  now  required  to  relieve 
the  present  lamentable  state  of  affairs  was  well  presented  in  a  paper 
by  H.  W.  Buck,  president  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers,  and  published  in  the  Electrical  World  of  May  20,  1916, 
entitled  "Factors  that  have  hindered  the  building  of  water  power 
plants  and  how  such  obstacles  can  and  should  be  eliminated,"  in 
which  Mr.  Buck  said : 

"There  is  probably  no  branch  of  engineering  quite  so  confused 
and  misunderstood  at  present  by  the  general  public,  and  even  by 
technical  men  as  that  connected  with  the  development  of  water 
powers.  The  mental  chaos  existing  has  brought  this  important  in- 
dustry to  a  standstill,  with  great  economic  loss  to  this  country.  The 
advocates  of  the  steam  turbine  plant  proclaim  loudly  that  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  steam  turbine  has  put  the  water  power  permanently  out 
of  business.  On  the  other  hand,  the  ill-informed  and  over-zealous 
legislators  and  so-called  conservationists  preach  that  water  power 
plants  hold  such  a  monopoly  of  the  power  supply  of  the  country 
that  this  economic  grip  must  be  broken  by  force.  Between  these 
two  adverse  influences  the  legitimate  development  of  water  power  is 
being  crushed."  *  *  *  "In  spite  of  the  active  competition  between 
steam  and  water  power,  which  is,  in  many  instances,  unquestionably 
in  favor  of  the  steam  plant,  there  are  still  a  number  of  situations 
where  a  water  power  development  can  be  legitimately  and  profitably 
made.  Furthermore,  many  new  water  power  developments  will  be 
made  if  rational  legislation  is  passed  by  Congress  which  will  give 
such  enterprises  the  required  security.  Public  opinion  is  apparently 
swinging  around  toward  a  more  sensible  point  of  view  with  respect 
to  water  powers,  and  the  recent  action  by  the  Conservation  Con- 


WATER  POWER  DEVELOPMENT  IN  WEST  379 

gress  in  Washington,  in  which  extreme  hostile  views  in  the  matter 
were  repudiated,  confirms  this  belief." 

Now  what  are  the  actual  conditions  in  our  great  west  from 
which  the  urgent  appeal  for  legislative  relief  comes.  One  of  the  very 
clearest  and  best  presentations  of  the  subject  is  given  in  Dr.  George 
F.  Swain's  work  on  "The  Conservation  of  Water  by  Storage,"  being 
a  collection  of  studies  by  this  eminent  engineer,  fitting  one  into 
another  so  as  to  present  a  harmonious  whole,  based  on  addresses 
delivered  by  him  in  the  Chester  S.  Lyman  lecture  series,  in  1914, 
before  the  senior  class  of  the  Sheffield  Scientific  School  of  Yale 
University. 

The  author  luminously  weighs  the  important  questions  sur- 
rounding governmental  control,  and  well  says : 

"Indeed  the  conservation  movement  in  the  past,  particularly  as 
regards  water  powers,  has  been  too  much  dominated  by  the  idea 
of  enforcing  the  arbitrary  powers  of  the  Federal  and  state  govern- 
ments, and  extending  regulation  a*nd  restriction  to  their  utmost 
limits." 

And  Dr.  Swain  quotes  the  remark  of  a  well  known  Senator 
who  said : 

"That  is  the  trouble  with  the  present  craze  for  restriction  and 
regulation  of  private  investment  in  these  enterprises.  You  regulate 
and  restrict  to  the  extent  that  you  have  nothing  to  regulate." 

To  show  the  serious  economic  question  presented  by  the  Gov- 
ernment's continued  ownership  of  lands,  in  our  western  states, 
Dr.  Swain  quotes  from  testimony  given  in  the  hearings  of  the 
63rd  Congress,  the  following  table  showing  approximately  the 
"Percentage  of  the  Area  of  far  Western  States  owned  by  the 

Federal  Government":  Total  Acreage   Percentage 

owned  by  of 

State.  United  States.        Total. 

Arizona 67,097,293        92.00 

California    53,276,547  52.58 

Colorado 37,702,033  56.67 

Idaho    45,218,919  83.80 

Montana  61,049,263  65.80 

Nevada  62,219,423  87.82 

New  Mexico 49,315,409  62.83 

Oregon    32,229,745  51.90 

Utah    43,564,645  80.18 

Washington    17,684,198  40.00 

Wyoming   42,613,499  68.00 


380         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 


These  percentages  are  lessened  in  a  table  given  in  a  recent 
article  on  "Western  Public  Lands  and  National  Forests"  in  the 
October,  1916,  issue  of  American  Forestry,  as  follows: 

Per  Cent  of  the  Total  Area  of  Each  of  Eleven  Western  States, 
Owned  by  the  United  States,  and  Status  of  the  Lands  so  Held. 


g  ^ 


How  divided. 


sS 


Division  of  land    §5  ja*  c 

reserved  for       %  0  £ 

public  purposes.  ~  *i  £ 


c  c  c  o 
ID  rt^S  ^ 


« 


8|'5ti 

l_    ™    W    1> 

£5»f 


Arizona  .... 
California  .. 

Colorado  . . .  49.6  -j 

Idaho 65.5 

Montana  . . .  43.4 

Nevada  ....  89.8  j  79'C 
f  38.4 


50.7       ....  17.2 

....       19.5  .... 

2I.O         ....  2O.4 

....         23.1  .... 

20.2 

21. 1  .... 

....  33-2 

34-9  •••• 


;; }  - 
« }  * 


79-o      ....        7-5 
10.8. . 


New  Mexico  49.8 


II>O 


•;} 


16.2 


z 


Washington.  30.8 


9.0 


4'3      ^"       23'°       "' 

Wyoming...  68.2  {5°;S       ^       |3;5      ^}    9.8 

Whether  these  figures,  or  those  cited  above  from  the  testimony 
before  the  Senate  Committee,  are  the  more  correct,  the  sixth  column 
in  the  table  last  above  cited  is  of  great  interest  as  indicating  the  small 


WATER  POWER  DEVELOPMENT  IN  WEST  381 

percentage  of  land  within  their  respective  areas  granted  by  the 
national  Government  to  these  western  states,  when  we  contrast  it 
with  the  fact  that  in  the  eastern  and  middle  states,  the  entire  state 
area  is  in  citizen  ownership  and  subject  to  state  taxation.  Surely  a 
curious  anomaly  in  a  land  of  "free  and  equal"  people.  This  large 
retention  by  the  Government  of  lands  originally  in  the  public 
domain,  and  retained  in  the  several  states  when  given  statehood 
rights,  constitutes,  on  the  part  of  the  national  Government  an 
"Imperium  in  imperio"  in  the  sovereign  states  of  the  west,  appa- 
rently opposed  to  true  American  principles  of  government,  and  in- 
volving complicated  questions  of  control  and  ownership  by  the 
Government  in  such  lands,  and  of  exemption  of  immense  areas  from 
state  taxation,  wholly  different  from  any  presented  in  the  eastern 
and  middle  states. 

Of  this  situation  Governor  Ammons  of  Colorado  in  his  testi- 
mony before  the  Senate  Committee  on  Public  Lands  (December  22, 
1914),  said,  "Nineteen-twentieths  of  the  taxes  of  our  state  come  off 
of  about  one-eleventh  of  the  territory,  and  only  a  small  fraction  over 
thirty-two  per  cent  of  the  territory  of  our  state  is  now  on  the  tax 
roll.  More  than  half  of  that  is  cheap  pasture  land;  and  yet  we  are 
attempting  to  maintain  all  those  institutions  out  there  that  other 
states  are  maintaining."  (He  is  referring  here  to  their  public 
institutions — their  irrigation  school,  school  of  mines,  bureau  of 
mines,  forestry  school,  agricultural  college,  etc.,  etc.) 

Governor  Spry  of  Utah  testified  to  the  same  general  effect  as 
to  Utah.  Senator  Shields  of  Tennessee  in  speaking  in  the  Senate 
(February  9  and  n,  1916),  in  support  of  his  bill  (Senate  3331, 
endorsed,  as  above  noted,  in  May  last  by  the  conference  of  the 
National  Conservation  Congress),  said  (commenting  on  the  lack 
of  adequate  development  of  our  great  latent  water  powers)  : 

"I  will  undertake  to  show  that  this  is  not  the  fault  of  our  great 
civil,  hydraulic  and  electrical  engineers,  nor  of  those  who  have  ever 
been  willing  to  invest  capital  in  the  development  of  the  resources 
of  their  country  when  a  reasonable  return  upon  the  investment  and 
protection  of  their  property  is  afforded,  but  that  it  is  caused  entirely 
by  a  false  policy  of  conservation  which  for  a  while  exerted  some 
influence  in  the  Congress,  and  succeeded  in  placing  upon  our  statute 
books  certain  impracticable,  restrictive,  and  confiscatory  laws  which 
have  absolutely  throttled  and  prohibited  water  power  development  in 
the  United  States,  notwithstanding  the  great  beneficial  results  that 
are  known  to  have  followed  the  utilization  of  that  power  by  other 
countries  of  the  world." 


382         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

After  quoting  expressions  of  opinion  from  President  Wilson, 
Secretary  of  War  Garrison,  and  Secretary  of  the  Interior  Lane,  in 
favor  of  legislation  promoting  the  use  of  our  latent  water  powers 
and  commenting  on  the  defects  of  the  existing  legislation  which 
discourages  such  development,  Senator  Shields  further  said,  and 
said  well  and  to  the  point. 

"The  same  persons  who  are  said  to  have  inspired  this  pro- 
hibitory legislation  are  now  actively  and  officiously  endeavoring  to 
prevent  the  enactment  of  laws  which  will  unshackle  this  valuable 
natural  resource  and  permit  its  utilization  by  the  present  generation, 
for  fear,  as  they  say,  it  will  fall  into  the  hands  of  a  trust,  evidently 
upon  the  assumption  that  Congress  has  not  the  intelligence  to  prop- 
erly and  honestly  discharge  its  duties  in  the  premises.  They  seem 
to  think  that  conservation  means  tying  up  and  preventing  the  use  of 
natural  resources  instead  of  opening  them  up  for  beneficent  com- 
mercial and  manufacturing  purposes.  This  is  a  false  and  unsound 
policy,  for  true  conservation  consists  in  making  the  greatest  use  of 
these  resources  for  the  benefit  of  the  people." 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  in  all  fairness  to  the  great  west  and  in 
the  interest  of  our  national  development  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
Congress  will,  at  its  next  session,  deal  promptly,  vigorously,  and 
liberally  with  this  matter.  It  has  been  so  fully  discussed, — the  facts 
— and  the  law — have  been  so  fully  presented  in  the  exhaustive  testi- 
mony taken  by  the  House  and  Senate  committees,  that  "he  who  runs 
may  read"  the  obvious  deduction.  Those  who  wish  to  see  the  whole 
matter  summed  up  and  balanced  in  its  latest  phases  of  discussion 
should  study  the  excellent  summary  given  in  that  admirable  little 
book,  "Looking  Squarely  at  the  Water  Power  Problem,"  published 
recently  by  Henry  J.  Pierce  of  Seattle. 

In  urging  action  by  Congress  Mr.  Pierce  well  presents  the  situa- 
tion in  these  homely  words  from  the  far  northwest: 

"Confidence  in  water  power  investments  cannot  be  restored  by 
mudslinging  speeches  and  writings.  We  cannot  hasten  the  day  of 
water  power  development  by  calling  each  other  fools  or  rogues,  or 
by  inciting  class  against  class  or  by  promoting  prejudices.  The  man 
who  is  skillful  enough  to  build  and  operate  a  water  power,  and  the 
man  who  is  brave  enough  to  finance  it,  are  surely  deserving  of 
reward,  and  they  are  not,  by  such  acts,  necessarily  made  over  into 
thieves  and  oppressors,  as  some  would  have  us  believe.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  man  who  stands  fast  for  a  fair  and  righteous  deal 
to  the  public  is  not  a  charlatan  and  a  seeker  for  cheap  notoriety,  as 
others  would  have  us  believe. 


WATER  POWER  DEVELOPMENT  IN  WEST  383 

"As  has  already  been  remarked,  all  parties  are  very  close  to- 
gether. Some  of  the  remaining  differences  are  mere  matters  of 
terminology.  Instead  of  'bawling  out'  a  proposal  merely  because  it 
is  advanced  by  a  water  power  man,  would  it  not  be  better  to  get 
beneath  the  surface  and  judge  it  upon  its  merits?  Instead  of  scoffing 
at  another  proposal  merely  because  a  'conservationist'  without  water 
power  experience,  expresses  it,  let  us  see  whether  it  does  not  have 
that  estimable  advantage  of  perspective.  We  want  water  power 
development  as  soon  as  possible,  and  it  makes  not  a  shade  of  dif- 
ference who,  in  the  controversy  of  the  past  eight  years  has  been 
right  and  who  has  been  wrong.  The  cause  is  bigger  than  any  man 
or  group  of  men.  Let  us  forget  the  past  and  start  new." 


THE  REVISION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  LAND  LAWS 
AS  THEY  AFFECT  MINERAL  LOCATIONS. 


Delivered  at  Nineteenth  Annual  Convention  of  American  Mining 
Congress,  by  F.  F.  Sharpless  of  New  York  City. 

"General,  our  shells  are  not  heavy  enough ;  they  hit  the  mark 
constantly  but  do  not  more  than  scratch  it,  shall  we  discontinue  the 
bombardment  ?" 

"No!  If  you  can  dint  the  wall  often  enough  in  the  same  place, 
you  will  make  a  breech  sufficiently  wide  to  permit  of  entering." 

The  quotation,  the  verbiage  of  which  is  not  vouched  for,  is, 
nevertheless,  applicable  to  the  work  done  by  your  Committee  on 
Mining  Law  Revision,  supported,  as  it  has  been,  by  similar  commit- 
tees from  other  mining  organizations. 

Repeated  attacks  have  been  made  upon  the  old  laws  in  their 
strongly  fortified 'positions.  From  a  distance  it  would  appear  that 
little  impression  has  been  made.  Closer  observation  reveals  the  fact, 
however,  that  a  very  material  impression  has  resulted  from  the  fre- 
quent bombardment.  The  generals  know  this  and  they  know  that 
by  eternally  keeping  up  the  fire,  the  walls  of  this  fortification  will 
fall  sooner  or  later. 

Carrying  this  simile  a  little  further — the  guns  inside,  the  laws 
referred  to,  were  good  but  are  now  old  fashioned — new  guns,  new 
conditions  on  the  outside  are  coming  on  and  are  bound,  in  time,  to 
break  through. 

Some  of  you  may  be  discouraged,  may  be  tired  of  the  fight, 
and  pointing  to  your  committee  of  seven  years'  standing  ask  what 
it  has  accomplished — if  anything. 

Not  having  gained  its  ultimate  purpose  in  all  of  these  years, 
those  who  have  not  been  in  the  thick  of  the  fight  may  well  ask  of 
what  use  it  has  been. 

Your  committee,  however,  your  commanding  officers  in  this 
campaign,  would,  if  I  mistake  not,  be  reticent  to  quit  at  this  point. 
They  have  seen  a  slow  awakening,  by  a  vast  number  of  operators, 
to  the  injustice  and  inadequacy  of  our  existing  laws;  they  have 
heard  the  prospector  complaining  of  the  growing  scarcity  of  ground 
where  he  can  prospect;  they  have  seen  vast  areas  of  mineral  land 


REVISION  OF  UNITED  STATES  LAND  LAWS  385 

taken  from  the  public  domain,  taken  away  from  the  prospector,  and 
now  lying  idle,  lacking  capital  or  energy  for  its  development ;  they 
have  seen,  in  many  instances,  a  growing  harmony  in  the  realization 
of  what  was  the  matter  with  these  laws,  and  what  particular  points 
needed  alteration  and  how.  They  have  seen  at  first  no  interest, 
then  a  little,  and  finally  a  great  deal  of  interest  taken  in  the  subject 
at  Washington,  culminating  in  very  nearly  obtaining  from  the  last 
two  sessions  of  Congress  the  desired  first  steps  for  a  revision. 

Far  from  being  discouraged,  your  committee  and  the  other 
committees  having  this  matter  in  hand,  have  been  continuing  their 
work  steadily  since  their  failure  to  get  action  at  the  last  session  of 
Congress. 

Many  of  those  who  have  been  most  intimately  connected  with 
this  work  and  most  deeply  interested  in  the  outcome,  have  felt  that 
the  whole  matter  was  so  complicated  that  the  only  way  in  which  to 
get  satisfactory  results  was  through  the  appointment  of  a  commis- 
sion to  take  evidence  and  report  its  findings  to  Congress  with  sug- 
gestions as  to  needed  legislation.  Last  winter  the  strongest  kind 
of  efforts  were  made  in  this  direction,  practically  all  mining  organ- 
izations in  the  country  co-operating. 

As  a  result  of  representations  made  at  that  time,  and  on  pre- 
vious occasions,  the  necessity  of  alterations  was  recognized  by  a 
number  of  our  legislators. 

The  Senate  Committee  on  Mines  and  Mining  was  favorably 
disposed  toward  granting  the  request  of  the  miners  and  there  is 
no  prospect  of  any  change  in  this  sentiment  at  the  next  session  of 
Congress. 

The  House  Committee  on  Mines  and  Mining  felt  some  hesi- 
tancy in  approving  of  the  appointment  of  a  commission.  Its  mem- 
bers, however,  gave  the  miners  a  number  of  hearings.  They  were 
obviously  impressed  with  the  fact  that  many  changes  should  be 
made  and  would  have  undoubtedly  reported  a  bill  favoring  a  com- 
mission had  it  not  been  for  the  fact  that  one  of  its  own  members, 
totally  disregarding  the  desires  and  interests  of  his  constituents, 
spent  two  days  in  explaining  to  his  co-committeemen  that  the  de- 
mand for  alterations  came  only  from  the  "moneyed  interests  of 
lower  Broadway." 

Influenced  by  this  misstatement  the  House  Committee  failed 
to  approve  of  the  commission  plan  but  in  lieu  thereof  said,  in 
substance : 

"You  fellows  get  together,  decide  on  exactly  what  you  want 


386         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

changed  and  how  you  want  it  changed,  put  it  down  in  black  and 
white  and  if  it  seems  right  we  will  enact  it  into  laws." 

Recognizing  the  necessity  of  certain  changes  but  failing  to  com- 
prehend the  intracacies  of  the  subject  or  how  radical  and  compre- 
hensive the  alterations  should  be,  several  bills  were  prepared  by 
Congressmen  proposing  a  few  specific  modifications. 

These  bills  showed  upon  their  face  that  they  were  prepared  by 
persons  unacquainted  with  our  requirements,  and,  naturally,  failed 
to  gain  the  approval  of  those  whom  they  were  intended  to  benefit, 
and,  likewise,  failed  of  passage. 

In  view  of  the  experience  at  the  last  two  sessions  of  Congress, 
it  is  now  no  time  in  which  to  abandon  our  efforts  but  a  most  proper 
time  for  renewing  and  increasing  them. 

The  Mining  and  Metallurgical  Society  of  America,  which  or- 
ganization took  the  lead  in  the  activities  at  Washington  last  winter, 
acting  upon  the  suggestion  made  by  a  number  of  Congressmen,  is 
now  at  work  on  the  subject  and  by  a  systematic  canvass  is  endeavor- 
ing to  secure  and  tabulate  the  views  of  the  largest  possible  number 
of  mining  organizations  and  individuals  upon  many  of  those  points 
which  must  be  considered  in  a  revision. 

Other  associations  are  giving  consideration  to  still  other  fea- 
tures which  appeal  to  them  as  of  gr°at  or  greater  importance. 

When  all  this  work  is  done  the  representatives  of  our  various 
mining  societies  will  be  able  to  say  to  Congress :  "Upon  these  points 
we  are  all  in  practical  agreement,  and  upon  these  points  there  are 
important  differences  of  opinion,  which  are  here  noted,  while  as  to 
this  third  set  of  propositions  we  are  dissatisfied  with  existing  condi- 
tions but  are  unable  to  suggest  satisfactory  solutions." 

This  much  an  organization,  or  a  committee  of  an  organization 
can  dp,  but  there  will  remain  work  to  be  done  by  every  member  and 
by  every  man  interested  in  mining. 

Changes  will  be  made,  if  any  are  made,  by  Congress,  and  they 
will  not  be  made  at  the  behest  of  any  small  committee  no  matter  how 
representative. 

We  can  rely  upon  many  of  our  Congressmen  and  Senators  from 
the  mining  states  to  do  their  duty,  but  all  the  Congressmen  from 
those  states  together  do  not  equal  New  York's  representation  in 
that  body. 

Many  Congressmen  from  eastern  states  have  no  knowledge 
or  interest  in  the  subject  and  do  not  even  know  that  they  possess 
constituents  with  such  interests. 


REVISION  OF  UNITED  STATES  LAND  LAWS  387 

The  committees  of  our  various  mining  organizations  may  be 
able  to  lay  the  matter  before  the  House  Committee  in  such  form  as 
to  receive  favorable  consideration,  but  it  remains  for  you,  individ- 
ually, the  eastern  operator,  perhaps  more  than  the  man  whose  home 
is  in  the  west,  to  urge  upon  your  Congressmen  the  importance  of 
the  subject,  the  urgency  of  the  demand  for  the  changes.  We  can- 
not get  these  changes  without  votes;  three-quarters  of  our  Con- 
gressmen know  nothing  about  the  subject  and  perhaps  not  one- 
tenth  of  them  feel  any  personal  interest  in  mining  laws. 

Congressmen  are  in  Washington  to  do  your  bidding,  but  unless 
you  inform  them  of  your  views  and  that,  too,  in  no  unmistakable 
language,  they  are  not  to  be  blamed  for  failing  to  act  in  your 
interest. 

Before  closing,  permit  me  to  remind  you  of  one  point  upon 
which  your  committee  has  had  some  e^erience :  One  loud  talking, 
incompetent  or  unscrupulous  advocate,  of  the  "let-well-enough-alone 
doctrine"  can  do  more  to  prevent  alteration  of  laws  than  can  the 
most  careful,  painstaking  and  conscientious  committee  can  do 
toward  changing  them. 

One  individual  honestly  opposed  to  alterations  will  be  more 
seriously  heard  than  many  honestly  favoring  them. 

Therefore,  once  again  I  say,  it  is  the  duty  of  every  one  of  you 
who  feels  that  the  mining  industry  can  be  benefited  by  alterations 
in  our  existing  laws  to  do  your  utmost  with  the  one  or  more  men 
in  Washington  whom  you  have  a  right  to  approach  and  make  such 
representatives  feel  that  you  are  asking  no  favor  for  yourselves 
but  pointing  out  a  duty  that  he  should  perform. 


CO-OPERATION  THE  BASIS  OF  SAFETY,  EFFICIENCY 

AND  CONSERVATION  IN  THE  USE  OF  THE 

NATIONAL  MINERAL  RESOURCES. 


Address   Delivered  by   Carl  Scholz  of   Chicago  at  Nineteenth 
Annual  Convention  of  the  American  Mining  Congress. 

Recently  the  Nation's  industrial,  social,  and  political  affairs 
have  undergone  most  radical  changes  from  that  which  was.  These 
changes  are  now  an  established  fact,  yet  it  cannot  be  said  that  we 
sought  to  procure  them  or  even  desired  them.  They  were  forced 
upon  us  being  the  resultant*  here,  of  forces  operating  wholly  out- 
side our  geographical  boundaries.  While  in  no  vital  sense  respon- 
sible for  the  new  order  of  things  in  our  own  house,  we  must  make 
the  best  of  it  and  out  of  it. 

To  understand  how  greatly  our  most  important  relations  in 
life  have  been  subject  to  revolution,  a  study  in  contrasts  is  necessary. 

Less  than  two  years  ago  the  whole  mining  industry  was  in  dis- 
tress. In  the  metalliferous  districts  many  mines  were  closed  down 
and  indeed  only  those  properties  which  were  strong  financially  were 
producing.  Many  of  them  did  so  at  a  loss.  Hope  of  a  profitable 
market  price  was  abandoned  and  effort  to  obtain  better  returns  on 
investment  were  directed  toward  milling  and  smelting  processes. 
This  was  a  commendable  course  no  matter  what  its  origin  but  the 
financial  status  of  many  companies  made  this  far  less  than  a  gen- 
eral remedy.  Indeed,  it  required  a  courageous  man  to  send  good 
money  into  a  metal  mine  seeing  the  limited  chances  it  had  of  re- 
turning  and  bringing  the  other  money  out  with  it. 

Then  the  European  war  came.  For  a  moment  business  was  par- 
alyzed by  the  shock.  But  so  soon  as  it  became  known  the  war  was  to 
be  confined  mainly  to  land,  shipping  became  confident  and  ventured. 
Then  the  products  of  our  factories  and  mills  sprang  into  a  com- 
manding position  in  the  world  markets.  We  began  to  enjoy  a  pros- 
perity, which,  wrhile  sectional  and  slow  growing  at  first,  produced 
a  collateral  effect  which  enveloped  the  entire  country.  That  is  to 
say,  wages  in  the  munition  factories  were  advanced  to  spur  the 
workers  to  larger  efforts.  And  other  factories  planted  side  by  side 
with  the  makers  of  war  munitions  had  to  pay  equal  rates  or  lose 
their  employes.  This  stirred  them  to  seek  business  vigorously. 


CO-OPERATION  THE  BASIS  OF  SAFETY  389 

Thus  furnaces  and  mills  long  idle  were  started  and  of  course  the 
idle  mines  were  reopened. 

The  coal  mining  division  of  the  mining  industry  recovered 
last  in  the  list.  Perhaps  it  is  more  exact  to  say  that  because  of  the 
large  surplus  productive  capacity  it  felt  the  growth  last.  But  in 
the  last  two  months  it  has  undergone  a  great  change.  Its  supposed 
excess  capacity  has  been  swallowed  over  night  and  prices  have  risen 
at  an  astounding  rate.  While  these  prices,  so  far,  apply  on  only  a 
small  percentage  of  the  output,  the  larger  profit  is  a  boon  to  those 
who  have  been  struggling  under  an  ever-increasing  financial  load 
with  no  relief  in  sight. 

Our  rough  and  our  semi-precious  metals  and  our  coal,  both  as 
raw  material  and  in  combination,  as  finished  material  came  to  be 
in  demand  abroad.  Thanks  to  the  skill  of  our  manufacturers  and 
to  the  ingenuity  of  our  bankers  not  only  these  things  but  our  food- 
stuffs found  ready  sale  abroad  and  this  country  was  placed  in  the 
very  enviable  position  where  for  the  first  time  Europe  wanted  our 
money  as  well. 

The  outstanding  fact  is  that  this  fundamental  change  in  our 
position  was  not  due  to  any  superhuman  efforts  of  our  own  people 
but  springs  from  the  grave  misfortune  of  many  others. 

It  is  even  true  that  we  were  but  little  better  prepared  to  meet 
the  emergency  which  came  upon  us  than  we  were  to  force 
America  into  the  position  it  now  occupies.  Indeed,  we  were  in  such 
a  position  industrially  that  it  is  a  grave  question  where  we  would 
be  today  if  this  war  had  not  come.  Since  we  have  not  improved 
our  form  of  organization  vitally,  we  must  ask  ourselves  in  all  seri- 
ousness what  will  we  do  when  it  ends.  When  we  seek  relief,  we 
realize  that  political  differences  have  contracted  to  such  narrow  lim- 
its we  can  hope  for  little  by  any  party  changes.  And  both  parties 
are  alike  in  that  they  studiously  contrive  to  enact  class  legislation 
while  calling  it  by  another  name. 

If  we  despair  of  getting  a  change  of  business  organization  by 
legislative  consent  and  hope  to  solve  our  problems  in  selling  our 
stuffs  abroad,  we  still  face  defeat.  Our  foodstuffs  are  no  longer 
a  necessity  to  Europe  in  the  old  sense.  Germany  has  been  able  to 
subsist,  no  doubt  with  privations,  without  food  imports.  England 
and  France  will  do  better  in  future  but,  most  of  all,  Russia  has 
been  aroused  at  last.  It  is  unreasonable  to  expect  that  we  will,  after 
the  war,  sell  as  much  and  at  high  prices  to  a  nation  like  Germany 
which  has  existed  without  any  imports  and  which,  as  the  result  of 


390         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

the  war  costs,  will  not  have  much  money  to  spend  with  foreign 
countries.    This  must  be  equally  true  of  the  other  nations. 

We  are  thus  left  with  the  naked  truth  that  we  have  become  a 
manufacturing  nation  forbidden  at  home  to  regulate  output  to  need 
and,  by  commercial  treaties  abroad,  stripped  of  an  overseas  market 
for  our  factory  output.  As  a  nation,  then  we  have  work  to  do  in 
setting  our  own  house  in  order.  What  are  we  to  do  when  our  totter- 
ing business  cannot  lean  upon  war  orders? 

This  Congress,  which  represents  the  mining  industry,  cannot 
evade  the  responsibilities  ahead  of  it.  Much  harder  work  must  be 
done  than  ever  before  to  secure  merely  a  continuance  of  conditions, 
however  trying  they  were,  which  prevailed  before  the  war.  The 
metal  trades  must  feel  especially  the  new  conditions  because  those 
who  are  now  our  best  customers  will,  when  war  is  over,  become  our 
competitors.  They  will  compete  being  seasoned  by  war  experience 
in  handling  metals  and  will  have  acquired  that  efficiency  which  is 
born  of  hardships.  They  will  practice  economy  taught  by  poverty 
and  will  display  endurance  and  courage  which  comes  from  years 
of  struggle  with  death  as  the  adversary.  Meanwhile,  America  has 
had  the  opposite  of  these  experiences  being  satisfied  by  ease  and 
luxury.  How  can  we  face  the  future  unless  we  pass  through  some 
such  great  change  as  was  suggested  by  Bishop  DuMolin  when  he 
said :  "You  must  be  born  again."  Maybe  we  must  say  that  to  our 
industries. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  in  suggesting  we  seize  upon  the  only 
remedy  at  hand,  I  must  use  a  word  which  has  come  to  be  popular 
under  another  and  an  impossible  meaning.  Men  cannot  co-operate 
successfully  if  the  sole  aim  is  the  satisfaction  of  selfishness.  The 
line  between  proper  co-operation  and  restraint  of  trade  is  as  clearly 
defined  as  is  that  between  community  action  to  reduce  waste  and 
monopoly.  That  cleavage  must  be  maintained,  even  as  we  must 
differentiate  between  socialism  and  democracy  which  are  in  no 
sense  synonymous. 

In  this  larger  and  better  sense,  the  Congress  stands  for  co- 
operation. It  construes  it  to  be  a  form  of  community  action  partici- 
pated in  equally  by  the  Government,  the  employer  and  worker.  It 
must  be  literally  a  case  of  all  for  one  and  one  for  all  with  the  com- 
mon aim  of  mutual  helpfulness.  To  give  my  meaning  of  the  word 
a  simple  every-day  setting :  The  miner  says : 

"I'll  load  another  car  before  I  set  the  props." 


CO-OPERATION  THE  BASIS  OF  SAFETY  391 

But  he  never  sets  those  props  because  he  is  buried  beneath  the 
rock  fall,  imposing  a  financial  burden  on  the  employer  and  hence 
upon  the  public. 

Or  the  foreman  says : 

"Time  is  too  valuable  to  change  that  rope  now.  I  will  wait 
until  Sunday." 

But  on  Saturday  the  cage  falls.  Thus  working  days  instead 
of  hours  are  lost  and  life  sacrificed,  imposing  a  burden  upon  the 
workers  and  the  public.  Or,  again,  the  public  says : 

"We  want  this,  that,  or  the  other.  The  cost  is  high.  The  thing 
is,  not  necessary.  Still  we  want  it._  Let  us  buy  it  and  make  the 
miners  pay.  They  are  rich." 

But  the  money  that  goes  to  pay  the  tax  was  set  aside  to  buy 
something  to  make  the  mine  more  safe.  That  thing  isn't  bought 
and  the  mine  explodes.  This  is  a  burden  upon  everyone. 

As  you  see,  co-operation  and  self  seeking  move  in  opposite 
directions.  How  futile  and  how  foolish  it  is  to  speak  of  them  as 
being  one  and  the  same  thing.  The  kind  of  co-operation  I  have  in 
mind  was  that  which  was  the  animating  spirit  of  the  guilds  of  other 
days.  In  them  the  employers  and  the  workers  of  one  industry  stood 
together  to  protect  self  interest  but  did  it  by  improving  craftsman- 
ship on  both  sides.  I  can  see  no  obstacle  to  such  a  spirit  among 
the  mine  operators  and  the  mine  workers  who  will  study  to  produce 
the  best  in  the  mining  industry. 

To  indicate  that  this  is  no  new  doctrine  on  the  part  of  this 
organization,  I  call  your  attention  to  the  fact,  the  American  Mining 
Congress  was  active  in  advocating  the  establishment  of  the  Bureau 
of  Mines.  Through  that  we  get  a  centralized  effort  to  control  mine 
disasters  by  carefulness  of  the  miner.  We  get  the  effort  of  the  oper- 
ator to  improve  coal  preparation.  We  get  the  effort  of  the  public 
to  use  coal  economically.  Thus  through  correct  and  three  cornered 
co-operation,  we  get  practical  conservation. 

This  Congress  is  seeking  similar  results  elsewhere  by  advocat- 
ing prescribed  limits  in  which  shall  be  found  the  solution  of  the 
public  land  question,  the  proper  and  hence  harmless  expansion  of 
the  authority  of  the  Federal  Trade  Commission,  and  the  opening 
of  the  Alaskan  mineral  deposits. 

In  the  coal  industry  in  particular  there  is  need  for  co-operative 
work  done  in  the  right  spirit  and  the  right  way.  That  is  to  say, 
co-operative  selling  methods  are  essential  if  the  waste  in  that  direc- 
tion is  to  be  stopped.  Also,  co-operative  work  among  producing 
interests  alone  can  solve  such  problems  as  how  to  coke  the  western 


392         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

coals  that  the  buyer  may  have  a  smokeless  and  efficient  fuel  while 
valuable  by-products,  such  as  benzol,  ammonia,  and  a  thousand 
other  products  may  be  reclaimed  to  meet  known  national  needs. 

There  can  be  no  greater  need  for  proper  co-operation  than  in 
such  matters  as  those  which  came  to  a  focus  in  the  recent  railway 
legislation.  On  the  one  side  we  had  an  example  of  a  democracy 
which  had  gone  over  to  socialism.  On  the  other  side,  we  had  a 
union  which  had  construed  co-operation  to  mean  monopoly.  In 
between,  there  was  a  breakdown  of  everything  which  makes  for  the 
dignity  and  the  sacredness  of  our  government.  From  this  warping 
of  things  which  in  themselves  are  good,  we  must  be  redeemed.  The 
only  way  out  is  a  newer  and  better  meaning  of  co-operation. 

The  Mining  Congress  has  concerned  itself  for  years  with  a 
discussion  of  this  very  important  matter.  It  will  continue  to  dis- 
cuss it  until  the  better  basis  for  understanding  can  be  found.  In 
the  immediate  future  the  members  of  this  Congress  for  the  reasons 
I  have  given  will  be  much  preoccupied  by  the  demands  of  their  busi- 
ness. They  will  not  have  time  for  either  work  or  thought  on  public 
matters.  Even  so,  I  want  to  close  my  address  as  Washington  closed 
his  career  by  admonishing  that  "in  time  of  peace,  prepare  for  war." 
Only,  the  burden  of  my  present  thought  is  the  reverse,  namely,  "in 
this  time  of  war  prepare  for  peace  and  for  continuous  peace."  In 
this  time,  I  can  think  of  no  greater  need  we  have  as  citizens,  as 
workers,  and  as  employers,  than  that  which  is  to  work  out  a  plan 
by  which  we  can  co-operate  without  harm  to  anyone  but  with  good 
for  all  and  to  be  as  considerate  of  those  who  are  to  follow  as  we 
are  to  those  now  here. 


THE  NATIONAL  NEED  OF  NAVAL  PETROLEUM 

RESERVES. 
Hon.  Franklin  D.  Roosevelt,  Washington,  D.  C. 

It  seems  a  pity  that  the  issues  of  petroleum  reserves  for  the 
United  States  Navy  has,  to  a  certain  extent,  been  clouded  by  legal 
or  other  claims  which  do  not  in  any  way  affect  the  broad  proposi- 
tion. The  chief  consideration  must  be  that  of  the  good  of  the 
country  from  the  point  of  view  of  its  national  defense. 

The  very  life  and  future  existence  of  the  United  States  Navy 
is  at  stake.  This  may  be  easily  proved  by  the  following  simple 
statement : 

First.  Oil-burning  naval  vessels  possess  great  advantages 
over  coal-burning  vessels.  The  following  may  be  quoted  as  some 
of  the  reasons : 

(a)  Large  excess  of  speed. 

(b)  Absolute  control   over   the   emission   of   smoke   so   that 
advantage  may  be  taken  of  the  ability  to  utilize  smoke  screens. 

(c)  Greater  radius  of  action. 

(d)  Reduction  in  fire  room  force  of  about  fifty-five  per  cent. 

(e)  Ability  to  refuel  at  sea,  thereby  increasing  the  effective- 
ness of  the  fleet  by  at  least  twenty-five  per  cent,  as  that  percentage 
of  coal  burners  would  be  absent  from  their  station  for  refueling. 

(f)  Ability  to  maintain  maximum  speed  for  as  long  as  the 
fuel  lasts,  because  fires  do  not  foul  and  fire  room  force  does  not 
become  exhausted. 

(g)  Flexibility  in  regard  to  increases  and  decreases  of  speed 
without  loss  of  fuel,  water  and  time. 

(h)  Greater  safety  of  the  vessel  from  submarine  attack 
because  of  greater  permissible  subdivision  of  ship. 

Added  to  those  advantages  is  the  consideration  that  the  scouts, 
destroyers,  and  battle  cruisers  authorized  by  the  last  naval  appro- 
priation could  not  be  built  if  coal  were  used  as  fuel.  As  a  result 
of  these  and  other  reasons  the  Navy  Department  some  time  ago 
definitely  adopted  the  policy  of  building  exclusively  oil-burning 
vessels.  It  may  be  set  down  as  a  definite  conclusion  that  the  navy 


394         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

cannot  revert  to   coal-burning  vessels   without   enormous  loss   of 
efficiency,  and,  furthermore,  that  the  navy  will  not  so  revert. 

Secondly.  In  regard  to  the  amount  of  oil  necessary  for  the 
future  of  the  naval  reserve,  the  subject  must  be  considered  under 
three  heads: 

1.  A  reserve  supply  in  tankage  away   from  the  immediate 
coast  line  for  reserve  in  time  of  war. 

2.  A  current  supply  in  tankage  at  fueling  ports. 

3.  A  natural  underground  protected  reserve  to  insure  supply 
for  the  future  of  oil-burning  ships. 

Little  need  be  said  about  the  reserve  tankage  supply  for  use 
in  time  of  war.  It  is  estimated  that  the  navy  should  have  on  hand 
in  time  of  peace  storage  tanks  capable  of  holding  enough  oil  for 
a  full  two  years'  supply  to  the  fleet  for  war  time.  This  system  of 
tankage  should  be  begun  immediately  and  expand  as  the  number 
of  oil-burning  ships  in  the  navy  increased  from  year  to  year.  For 
our  present  needs  we  should  have  probably  2,000,000  barrels  so 
stored.  Ten  years  hence  we  ought  to  have  20,000,000  barrels. 

In  regard  to  the  current  supply  in  tankage  at  fueling  ports, 
this  is  being  gradually  provided  by  the  navy.  An  important  factor 
of  this  is  the  construction  of  additional  fuel  ships,  so  that  the  navy 
may  be  in  a  position  to  obtain  its  oil  from  all  the  markets  of  the 
world  to  its  best  advantage.  Suggestion  has  even  been  made  that 
it  would  be  the  wiser  policy  to  take  care  of  the  navy's  current 
needs  in  time  of  peace  from  oil  fields  outside  of  the  United  States, 
thus  causing  less  depletion  of  our  own  petroleum  fields. 

In  regard  to  the  last  and  by  far  most  important  form  of 
supply — the  natural  underground  protected  reserve — we  have  but 
to  look  certain  well-known  facts  frankly  in  the  face.  We  must 
admit  that  the  total  amount  of  oil  within  our  continental  limits 
is  growing  less  from  year  to  year  and  the  number  of  available 
sources  of  new  supply  is  necessarily  diminishing.  We  already 
know  the  general  figures  in  regard,  for  instance,  to  the  Appalachian 
oil  field,  and  we  know  also  that  the  peak  of  supply  has  been,  or 
will  soon  be,  reached  in  other  fields,  and  that  there  is  not  much 
probability  of  discovering  new  fields  of  the  same  magnitude  as 
those  already  opened.  Add  to  this  the  known  fact  that  commercial 
consumption  of  oil  is  increasing  and  one  must  reach  the  inevitable 
conclusion  that  there  must  be  soon  either  importations  from  for- 
eign fields  or  a  serious  shortage  in  this  country.  Oil  men  are 
much  inclined  to  ridicule  the  idea  that  there  can  ever  be  a  shortage 


NEED  OF  PETROLEUM  RESERVES  395 

of  oil  for  naval  purposes.  They  base  this  perhaps  on  a  lack  of 
knowledge  of  what  our  future  needs  are  to  be,  and  the  following 
figures  may  be  perhaps  a  surprise  to  people  who  have  not  gone 
into  this  question  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  future.  The  Navy 
burns  today  in  time  of  peace  about  842,000  barrels  of  oil.  The 
construction  of  new  ships  during  the  next  few  years,  already 
authorized  by  Congress,  will  call  for  approximately  the  following 
annual  consumption: 

Fiscal  year  1917,  1,475,000  barrels 

"         "      1918,  1,942,000  barrels 

"        "      1919,  2,845,000  barrels 

"        "      1920,  4,175,000  barrels 

"        "      1921,  5,854,000  barrels 

"      1922,  6,574,000  barrels 

"      1923,  6,721,000  barrels 

Further,  if  the  General  Board  recommendation  for  the  replace- 
ment of  battleships  after  they  have  been  in  service  twenty  years 
is  carried  out  by  Congress,  the  total  consumption  of  oil  in  the 
fiscal  year  1927,  or  ten  years  hence,  will  reach  the  enormous  total 
of  10,237,000  barrels !  You  will  not  blame  me  if  I  wonder  whether 
the  engineers  of  this  country  have  carefully  weighed  the  naval 
needs  for  the  next  ten  years  in  the  light  of  these  startling  figures. 

From  the  military  point  of  view,  in  fact  from  the  broadest 
point  of  view  of  national  defense,  it  is  absolutely  vital  that  we 
should  be  able  to  obtain  within  our  own  borders  this  amount  of 
oil  of  our  navy  is  to  be  kept  at  the  highest  point  of  efficiency.  It 
is  perhaps  not  strange  that  the  Navy  Department  has,  therefore 
made  strenuous  efforts  to  obtain  oil  lands  sufficient  for  the  navy's 
needs,  I  do  not  want  to  take  up  any  controversy  relating  to  the 
rights  of  any  individual  or  of  any  private  company  to  certain 
specific  lands.  I  take  it  for  granted  that  the  government  of  the 
United  States  ought  not  to  and  will  not  deprive  any  citizen  of  his 
legal  property  without  adequate  compensation.  There  is  no  reason 
why  such  protection  cannot  be  given  either  by  the  courts  or  by  a 
specially  created  tribunal  created  to  adjudicate  all  matters  in 
dispute. 

The  important  matter  is  that  the  government  has  the  right  to 
and  must  set  aside  reserve  oil  lands  and  prevent  absolutely  the' 
taking  of  oil  from  these  lands  for  private  purposes.  If  private 
individuals  have  valid  claims  on  these  lands  they  must  be  ade- 
quately compensated  for  these  claims,  but  they  must  cease  to 


396         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

remove  oil  from  these  lands.  It  would  be  the  height  of  the  ridicu- 
lous for  the  government  to  set  aside  certain  oil  bearing  properties 
and  allow  private  concerns  to  take  out  oil  from  any  portion  inside 
of  the  outer  limits  of  such  a  reserve.  Any  child  knows  that  oil 
flows  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  over  large  areas  underground,  and 
government  oil  lands  must  be  absolutely  and  definitely  protected 
against  tapping  from  other  sources. 

There  is  in  the  first  place  no  question  that  the  government  has 
the  right  to  create  such  reserves ;  there  is  in  the  second  place  no 
question  of  the  military  necessity  for  creating  such  reserves,  and 
there  is  in  the  third  place  no  question  that  the  government,  backed 
by  the  people  of  the  United  States,  is  going  to  get  these  reserves. 
What  is  needed  now  is  not  a  fight  by  those  who  see  the  possibility 
perhaps  of  personal  exploitation  and  possibly  large  gains;  what  is 
needed  is  the  co-operation  for  the  sake  of  the  nation  as  a  whole 
on  the  part  of  the  hundreds  of  patriotic  Americans  who  have  today 
interests  in  the  production  of  oil.  There  is  no  question  that  a 
fair  method  can  be  worked  out  by  which  the  rights  of  the  indi- 
vidual will  be  wholly  protected  and  the  defense  of  the  country  in 
this  vital  respect  thoroughly  safeguarded. 


LEAD  AND  ZINC  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED 

STATES. 
By  C.  E.  Siebenthal,  Washington,  D.  C. 

The  lead  and  zinc  producing  districts  of  the  United  States 
have  responded  well  to  the  extraordinary  demands  made  upon  them 
since  the  beginning  of  the  war.  The  lead  content  of  ore  mined 
rose  from  500,000  tons  in  1913  to  523,000  tons  in  1914  and  562,000 
tons  in  1915.  The  recoverable  zinc  content  of  ores  mined  was 
406,000  tons  in  1913,  407,000  tons  in  1914,  and  606,000  tons  in  1915. 
Both  the  lead  and  the  zinc  industries  have  been  speeding  up  in 
1916,  and  there  will  doubtless  be  notable  increases  in  the  output 
of  each  metal,  especially  in  zinc.  Zinc  increases  are  to  be  expected 
in  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Virginia,  Tennessee,  the  upper  Missis- 
sippi Valley  region,  the  Joplin  region,  New  Mexico,  Montana,  Idaho, 
and  California.  When  the  Downtown  district  of  Leadville  is 
drained,  and  work  has  begun  in  the  mines  there,  the  zinc  output 
of  that  district  will  be  increased,  but  that  will  not  happen  until 
1917. 

The  following  table  shows  the  production  of  lead  and  zinc  by 
the  different  States  in  1914  and  1915: 

Mine  production  of  lead  and  zinc  in  the  United  States,  1914-1915, 

in  short  tons. 

Recoverable  zinc  content 

Lead  content  of  ores.  of  ores. 

State                        1914.             1915.  1914.  1915. 

Alaska 437  ....  .... 

Arizona    7,502           10,869  4,896  9,  no 

Arkansas    41                 63  608  3,209 

California    2,126            2,290  195  6,547 

Colorado    37>io6          34,4<>5  48,387  52>297 

Idaho    174,263         173,000  21,006  35,077 

Illinois    717                954  4,81 1  5,534 

Kansas    , 1,409            1,212  11,284  14,365 

Kentucky    16               251  230  764 

Missouri   192,612        210,440  105,994  136,300 

Montana 4,828            6,878  55.79°  93,573 


398         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

Nevada  6,405  8,319  6,490  12,188 

New  Hampshire *9  6  24 

New  Jersey 74,253  136,042 

New  Mexico  882      •      2,271  9,202  12,702 

New  York ....  ....  2,455 

Oklahoma    7,556  7,306  13,992  I4,3H 

Oregon   8  31              

South  Dakota  2  2             

Tennessee i  10,425  16,461 

Texas   75  no  108  15 

Utah   85,662  99,984  7,995  12,146 

Virginia    127  339  174  1,267 

Washington 33  148  ....  122 

Wisconsin 1,494  2,322  3I,II3  41,403 

Totals 522,864        561,641         406,959        605,915 

Eastern  States. 

Zinc  and  lead  were  produced  in  the  Eastern  or  Atlantic  States 
at  an  early  date,  but  the  only  states  making  long-continued  produc- 
tion of  either  metal  were  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Virginia. 

In  northern  New  York,  at  Edwards,  a  zinc  mine  has  been  under 
development  for  several  years.  The  main  difficulty  encountered 
was  the  separation  of  zinc  blende  from  pyrite  and  barite,  which 
after  much  experimentation  was  finally  accomplished  by  a  wet 
magnetic  table  devised  at  this  mine.  The  output  of  the  mine  for 
1915  was  5,618  tons  of  concentrates,  containing  2,455  tons  °f  re" 
coverable  zinc.  The  mine  is  at  present  producing  at  the  rate  of  900 
tons  of  concentrates  a  month,  and  the  output  for  1916  will  be 
about  5,000  tons  of  recoverable  zinc.  The  mineralized  area  is  in 
a  belt  of  dolomitic  limestone  about  2  miles  wide  by  15  miles  long, 
and  it  is  known  to  contain  ore  at  several  places,  notably  at  the  old 
Balmat  mine.  Other  areas  in  this  belt  are  being  prospected,  and 
a  zinc  mine  is  also  being  opened  near  Summitville,  in  Sullivan 
county. 

New  Jersey  was  an  early  producer  of  zinc  ore,  and  the  output 
has  been  continuous  and  large.  The  Franklin  Furnace  mines  are 
famous  for  the  long  time  that  they  have  been  producing,  for  the 
quality  and  quantity  of  their  zinc,  and  for  their  unique  assemblage 
of  zinc  minerals — zincite,  willemite,  and  franklinite.  According  to 

*Includes  small  quantity  of  lead  from  Pennsylvania. 


LEAD  AND  ZINC  RESOURCES  OF  THE  U.  S.  399 

J.  D.  Whitney,  the  only  zinc  produced  in  this  country  in  1853  and 
1854  was  recovered  in  the  form  of  zinc  oxide  from  New  Jersey 
ore.  About  this  time  the  method  of  manufacturing  zinc  oxide  was 
greatly  improved,  and  thereafter  considerable  Franklin  Furnace 
ore  was  used  for  making  zinc  oxide.  Spelter  from  refuse  zinc 
oxide  from  New  Jersey  ores  was  first  manufactured  about  1865. 
Afterward  it  was  learned  that  if  anthracite  is  mixed  with  frank- 
linite  ore  and  highly  heated,  the  zinc  is  driven  off  and  immediately 
condenses  as  zinc  oxide,  and  the  manganiferous  iron  residues  are 
suitable  for  making  spiegeleisen,  which  is  used  in  the  Bessemer 
process  of  making  steel.  Therefore  the  franklinite  concentrates  are 
used  for  making  zinc  oxide  and  the  willemite  and  zincite  concen- 
trates for  making  spelter.  The  spelter  made  from  these  ores  is 
free  from  cadmium  and  lead,  ranks  as  "high  grade"  spelter,  and 
commands  a  premium.  The  great  demand  for  spelter  of  this  quality 
during  the  war  has  resulted  in  a  notable  increase  in  the  zinc  output 
of  the  Franklin  Furnace  mines.  The  output  almost  doubled,  from 
74,253  tons  of  recoverable  zinc  in  1914  to  136,042  tons  in  1915. 
New  shafts  were  sunk  at  the  Franklin  and  Sterling  mines  and  a 
new  mill  was  built  at  the  Sterling  mine. 

The  Friedensville  mines,  in  the  Saucon  Valley  of  Lehigh 
County,  Pa.,  were  large  producers  of  the  zinc  ore  in  the  early 
days  of  the  zinc  industry,  but  no  ore  has  been  mined  there  for  30 
years.  It  is  reported  that  all  the  land  in  the  vicinity  of  the  old 
mines  has  been  acquired  by  the  New  Jersey  Zinc  Co.,  which  prose- 
cuted a  campaign  of  drilling  a  year  or  so  ago.  As  this  paper  is 
being  written  a  trade  journal  carries  the  item  that  the  company 
is  preparing  plans  to  reopen  the  mines  very  soon.  The  mines  gave 
no  evidence  of  exhaustion  when  they  were  closed,  but  they  could 
not  be  operated  in  competition  with  the  much  more  cheaply  mined 
Franklin  Furnace  ores. 

Prior  to  1876  zinc  had  not  been  mined  in  Virginia,  but  lead 
mines  were  first  worked  there  in  1621.  The  lead  output,  though 
never  large,  amounting  to  25  or  30  tons  yearly  about  1787,  was 
sufficient  for  pioneer  needs.  In  1879  tne  Bertha  zinc  mines  were 
opened  and  the  smelter  built.  The  Bertha  spelter  had  a  splendid 
reputation  for  excellence.  Considerable  prospecting  is  being  done, 
and  there  is  a  possibility  of  opening  other  productive  mines  in  the 
limestones  of  the  Great  Valley  region,  but  apparently  the  most 
promising  field  for  increased  zinc  production  is  in  the  pyrite  belt 
of  Louisa  and  Spotsylvania  counties.  The  pyrite  mines  have 


400         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

always  "contained  a  little  lead  and  zinc  ore,  but  only  very  small 
shipments  have  been  made.  The  ore  of  the  Allah  Cooper  and  Hol- 
laday  mines  contains  more  lead  and  zinc,  and  the  latter  mine  es- 
pecially is  being  actively  developed  as  a  zinc  mine.  The  vein  has 
been  opened  by  several  shafts  and  drifts,  which  are  reported  by  the 
company  to  have  proved  50,000  tons  of  mixed  sulphide  ore  of 
practically  shipping  grade. 

Tennessee  has  become  a  considerable  zinc  producer  in  the 
last  few  years,  owing  largely  to  the  operation  of  two  mines.  The 
American  Zinc  Co.'s  mine  at  Mascot  is  equipped  with  two  con- 
centrating mills  and  a  flotation  plant  that  will  treat  nearly  3,000 
tons  of  ore  a  day.  The  last  annual  report  of  the  company  credits 
the  mine  with  ore  reserves  of  5,000,000  or  6,000,000  tons.  The 
Embreeville  mine  is  an  old  iron  mine  in  which  were  recently  dis- 
covered extensive  deposits  of  oxidized  zinc  ores.  During  1915 
both  these  mines,  as  well  as  some  smaller  ones,  made  a  gain  of 
more  than  50  per  cent  in  output  over  the  preceding  year.  The  zinc 
output  of  the  State  during  1916  will  be  larger  still,  because  the 
Mascot  mines  are  increasing  in  production  and  because  a  new  mill 
equipped  with  flotation  machines  has  been  operating  all  the  year 
at  the  New  Prospect  mine,  in  the  old  Lead  Mine  Bend  district. 

The  recoverable  zinc  content  of  ores  produced  in  the  East- 
ern States  in  1915  was  about  156,000  tons,  compared  with  85,000 
tons  in  1914,  an  increase  of  over  80  per  cent.  The  zinc  produced 
in  the  Eastern  States  constituted  over  25  per  cent  of  the  output  of 
the  United  States,  compared  with  27  per  cent  produced  by  the 
Joplin  region.  The  lead  output  was  practically  limited  to  the  few 
hundred  tons  produced  by  Virginia. 

Central  States. 

The  lead  and  zinc  ores  of  the  Kentucky-Illinois  region  are 
associated  at  many  places  with  deposits  of  fluorspar,  and  lead  con- 
centrates often  form  a  by-product  in  the  preparation  of  the  fluor- 
spar for  market.  Processes  recently  developed  have  successfully 
separated  sphalerite  from  fluorspar,  and  the  production  of  some 
zinc  concentrates  as  a  by-product  of  fluorspar  concentration  is  also 
to  be  expected.  There  are  some  deposits  of  zinc  and  lead,  how- 
ever, which  are  free  from  fluorspar,  and  the  mines  working  these 
deposits  made  a  larger  production  in  1915  than  for  many  years 
previously.  The  productive  area  includes  Caldwell,  Livingston, 


LEAt)  AND  ZINC  RESOURCES  OF  THE  U.  S.  401 

and  Crittenden  counties  in  Kentucky  and  extends  northward  into 
Pope  and  Hardin  counties,  Illinois. 

The  upper  Mississippi  Valley  region  produced  some  lead  as 
early  as  1690  and  has  yielded  considerable  lead  ever  since  colonial 
days.  In  1860  a  zinc  smelter  was  established  at  La  Salle,  Illinois, 
and  the  region  became  for  that  period  an  important  zinc  producer 
also.  The  total  output  of  lead  in  this  region  from  1821  to  1915, 
inclusive,  is  estimated  at  650,000  short  tons,  and  the  output  of  zinc 
from  1860  to  1915  at  more  than  600,000  tons.  The  district  made  a 
good  gain  in  1915.  The  lead  and  zinc  ores  are  found  in. Grant, 
Iowa,  and  Lafayette  counties,  in  southwestern  Wisconsin;  in  Jo 
Daviess  county,  in  northwestern  Illinois ;  and  in  Dubuque,  Clayton, 
and  Allamakee  counties,  in  northeastern  Iowa.  There  has  been 
no  output  of  lead  or  zinc  from  Iowa  for  several  years.  Illinois 
maintains  its  output  from  the  mines  near  Galena,  where  one  of  the 
largest  producers  in  1915  is  one  of  the  oldest  mines  in  the  region, 
the  Black  Jack-Marsden  mine. 

Most  of  the  lead  and  zinc  produced  in  the  region  is  mined 
in  Wisconsin.  The  ore  bodies  are  found  in  "openings,"  "crevices," 
"flats,"  and  "pitches,"  which  may  extend  for  a  considerable  distance 
in  a  straight  line  and  form  a  "range."  In  some  of  the  mining  areas 
smithsonite  is  plentiful,  and  it  is  mostly  made  into  zinc  oxide  at 
Mineral  Point.  Most  of  the  deposits  of  zinc  blende  contain  so 
much  pyrite  that  it  has  to  be  removed  before  the  blende  is  salable. 
This  is  accomplished  by  roasting  and  magnetic  separation.  There 
were  10  districts  or  camps  which  produced  ore  in  1915,  of  which 
Benton  yielded  nearly  half  the  state  output.  Under  the  stimulus 
of  great  demand  and  high  prices  developments  were  directed  toward 
larger  size  of  plants  and  greater  output,  better  equipment,  and 
higher  recovery. 

The  southeastern  Missouri  "disseminated"  lead  deposits,  on  the 
northern  and  eastern  flanks  of  the  St.  Francis  Mountains,  have  been 
known  and  worked  for  about  200  years.  Each  of  the  eight  com- 
panies now  operating  has  large  holdings  either  owned  in  fee  or 
under  lease.  These  tracts  have  been  core-drilled,  and  large  ore 
reserves  are  known  to  have  been  developed.  The  ore  occurs  in 
dolomitic  limestone,  so  that  the  diamond  drill  is  available  for  pros- 
pecting, both  for  vertical  drilling  in  new  territory  and  for  horizontal 
drilling  in  the  mine  headings  to  assist  in  following  the  ore.  One 
of  the  older  and  larger  companies  is  reported  to  have  claimed  a 
few  years  ago  that  it  had  reserves  sufficient  to  keep  up  production 


402         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

at  its  rate  at  that  time  for  70  years,  and  the  other  companies  have 
doubtless  commensurate  reserves.  The  limits  of  the  productive 
territory  have  not  been  sharply  defined,  and  there  are  indications 
that  it  may  be  extended  somewhat  both  northwestward  and  south- 
eastward. The  lead  content  of  ore  produced  in  southeastern  Mis- 
souri since  1720,  including  1915,  totals  over  2,400,000  tons.  The 
lead  produced  in  1915  amounted  to  184,000  tons,  compared  with  an 
average  of  150,000  tons  during  the  preceding  years,  and  this  figure 
will  no  doubt  be  exceeded  in  1916  owing  to  more  active  operations 
consequent  upon  the  higher  price  of  lead  during  the  current  year. 
The  output  for  1915  was  one-third  of  the  total  production  of  the 
United  States  and  was  considerably  in  excess  of  the  output  of  the 
Cceur  d'Alene  district  of  Idaho,  the  district  having  the  next  largest 
production.  The  immense  ore  bodies  in  the  southeastern  Missouri 
district  insure  long  continuance  of  operations,  and  as  a  result  the 
concentrating  equipment  is  most  modern  and  complete.  All  the 
milling  plants  are  large,  most  of  them  are  comparatively  new,  and 
each  has  recently  been  equipped  with  a  flotation  section.  The  Fed- 
eral Lead  Co.  will  soon  complete  a  2,5OO-ton  mill  at  Flat  River. 

The  Joplin  region,  in  southwestern  Missouri,  southeastern 
Kansas,  and  northeastern  Oklahoma,  has  for  many  years  been  the 
main  dependence  of  the  United  States  for  zinc,  and  it  also  produces 
a  considerable  quantity  of  lead.  The  output  of  zinc  in  1915  was 
about  165,000  tons,  or  27  per  cent  of  the  total  output  of  the  United 
States,  compared  with  I3i.,ooo  tons  in  1914.  The  production  for 

1914,  however,  was  below  normal  for  the  region,  which  for  several 
years  preceding  has  averaged  150,000  tons  of  zinc  annually.    On  the 
basis  of  43  weeks'  reported  production,  the  output  in    1916  will 
not  differ  materially  from  that  in  1915.    Owing  to  the  fact  that  the 
Joplin  ores  are  used  to  make  spelter  almost  exclusively,  while  ores 
from  other  regions  are  used  partly  to  make  zinc  oxide,  the  spelter 
made  from  Joplin  ores  constitutes  36  per  cent  of  the  total  output. 
The  total  output  of  zinc  by  the  Joplin  region  to  and  including 
1915   is   estimated   at  3,300,000  tons,   and  the  output  of   lead   at 
950,000  tons. 

Ordinarily  less  than  half  the  ore  produced  in  the  Joplin  region 
is  derived  from  the  deposits  known  as  "sheet  ground,"  but  in 

1915,  owing  to  high  prices,  leaner  sheet  ground  could  be  worked, 
and  as  a  result  much  more  than  half  the  output  came  from  the  sheet 
ground.    The  average  metal  content  of  these  ores  in  1915  was  1.38 
per  cent,  compared  with  1.65  per  cent  in  1914.    The  average  metal 


LEAD  AND  ZINC  RESOURCES  OF  THE  U.  S.  403 

content  of  soft  ground  ores  was  2.26  per  cent  in  1915,  compared 
with  2.64  per  cent  in  1914.  In  the  "sheet  ground"  the  ore  bodies 
are  in  chert  and  have  a  flat,  tubular  shape  and  a  thickness  of  8  to 
25  feet.  These  ore  bodies  may  be  worked  out  as  in  a  coal  mine  by 
leaving  regular  pillars.  Owing  to  the  low  prices  for  zinc  ore 
prevailing  two  or  three  years  ago,  many  of  the  sheet-ground  mines 
could  not  be  profitably  worked.  Under  the  stimulus  of  the  high 
prices  in  the  second  quarter  of  1915,  these  mines  began  to  be  un- 
watered  and  new  mills  were  erected  where  old  plants  had  been 
moved  away  or  upon  new  deposits.  The  increase  in  production 
came  in  time  to  bring  the  output  for  the  year  considerably  above 
the  average.  There  will  be  a  larger  production  during  1916  from 
the  southwestern  part  of  the  region,  lying  in  Oklahoma,  where 
several  very  rich  mines  have  been  recently  opened.  These  mines 
are  in  the  northward  extension  of  the  Miami  district,  in  which 
development  has  progressed  northward  to  the  Kansas  line.  Just 
at  present  the  most  actively  prospected  section  in  the  Joplin  dis- 
trict is  an  area  in  Kansas  2^2  miles  wide  and  reaching  from  Baxter 
Springs  8  miles  westward,  adjacent  to  the  Oklahoma  State  line. 
In  this  area  four  shafts  are  being  sunk  and  33  drill  rigs  are  in 
operation.  The  ore  is  encountered  at  depths  of  165  to  315  feet. 

In  Arkansas  lead  was  known  in  1819  and  present  development 
dates  from  1899,  but  until  1915  the  State  had  not  made  any  notable 
output  of  either  lead  or  zinc.  The  high  price  of  ore  during  1915 
furnished  the  needed  incentive  to  thorough  prospecting  and  ex- 
ploitation, and  there  was  more  mining  activity  in  Arkansas  in  that 
year  than  ever  before,  and  the  activity  still  continues.  The  output 
of  zinc  concentrates  in  1915  was  606  tons  of  blende  and  7,925  tons 
of  carbonate  and  silicate.  The  output  for  1916  will  be  not  less 
than  25,000  tons. 

The  ores  produced  in  the  Central  States  in  1915  contained 
222,548  tons  of  lead,  or  40  per  cent  of  the  mine  production  of  lead 
for  the  whole  country,  and  215,889  tons  of  recoverable  zinc,  or 
36  per  cent  of  the  whole  production. 

Western  States. 

Colorado,  since  the  early  days  of  Leadville,  has  been  a  con- 
siderable lead  producer.  When  the  silver-lead  carbonate  ore  gave 
place  in  depth  to  mixed  sulphide  ores  the  state  became  also  a  large 
zinc  producer,  and  the  output  of  zinc  was  further  increased  by  the 
discovery  of  zinc  carbonate  deposits  at  Leadville  in  1910.  The 


404         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

production  of  zinc  carbonate  ore  at  Leadville  in  1912  was  143,000 
tons,  containing  29  per  cent  zinc,  and  in  1915  it  was  83,000  tons, 
containing  22  per  cent  zinc.  The  draining  of  the  Downtown  dis- 
trict of  Leadville,  which  is  now  about  complete,  will  reopen  a  great 
many  old  mines  and  make  available  additional  lead  and  zinc  ores. 
The  sulphate  belt,  reaching  from  Boulder  County  to  the  San  Juan 
region,  in  which  Leadville  is  at  about  the  center,  contains  many 
districts  yielding  lead  and  zinc  ores.  The  numerous  mills  newly 
equipped  with  flotation  and  electrostatic  separation  machinery  in 
these  districts  will  considerably  augment  the  state  output  of  these 
metals  in  1916. 

Montana  in  1915  continued  the  spectacular  gain  in  zinc  pro- 
duction which  was  begun  a  few  years  ago  when  the  Butte  and 
Superior  mine  started  on  its  present  career.  The  output  of  this 
mine  in  1915  was  over  72,000  tons  of  recoverable  zinc,  and  on  the 
basis  of  9  months  reported  production  will  be  well  over  80,000 
tons  for  the  current  year.  The  Butte  and  Superior  and  Timber 
Butte  flotation  and  concentration  plants  contributed  most  of  the 
zinc  output  of  Montana  in  1915.  In  1915  the  Anaconda  Copper  Co. 
developed  a  successful  electrolytic  process  for  reducing  zinc  ores  in 
order  to  be  able  to  handle  zinciferous  ores  from  the  copper  mines. 
The  company  will  operate  several  large  zinc  mines  and  a  large 
flotation  plant  as  well  as  smaller  flotation  plants  to  treat  the  large 
zincky  tailing  piles  left  by  the  older  wet  concentrating  plants.  The 
old  Ophir  mill  has  been  rebuilt  and  equipped  with  flotation  ma- 
chinery and  will  treat  the  output  of  the  Butte-Detroit  mine  and,  for 
the  present,  the  output  of  the  Butte  Copper  &  Zinc  Co.'s  mine.  The 
zinc  output  of  Montana  in  1916  will  undoubtedly  show  a  large  gain 
over  that  of  1915,  but  will  hardly  exceed  the  zinc  production  of 
the  Joplin  or  Franklin  Furnace  districts.  From  present  indications 
it  seems  possible  that  Montana  may  take  first  rank  in  zinc  pro- 
duction in  1917.  The  gain  in  lead  production  made  by  Montana  in 
1916  was  mostly  due  to  the  lead  concentrates  recovered  in  treating 
zinc  ores. 

The  Cceur  d'Alene  district  of  Idaho  is  the  second  district  in 
the  United  States  in  the  production  of  lead,  being  exceeded  only 
by  the  southeastern  Missouri  district.  The  zinc  occurring  with 
the  lead  ore  was  for  years  a  nuisance  and  was  disposed  of  as 
zincky  middlings.  The  advancing  price  of  zinc  and  the  more  gen- 
eral occurrence  of  zinc  with  the  lead  as  well  as  in  considerable 
deposits  by  itself  induced  the  operators  to  make  provision  for  its 


LEAD  AND  ZINC  RESOURCES  OF  THE  U.  S.  405 

separate  recovery.  The  general  adoption  of  flotation  in  this  district 
and  the  high  price  of  zinc  in  1915  resulted  in  nearly  doubling  the 
production  of  zinc.  The  Interstate  Callahan  mine  is  the  third 
largest  zinc  mine  in  the  United  States,  being  exceeded  only  by  the 
Franklin  Furnace  mine  in  New  Jersey  and  the  Butte  and  Superior 
mine  in  Montana.  In  1915  it  produced  zinc  ore  and  concentrates 
containing  23,000  tons  of  recoverable  zinc,  but  its  output  during 
the  last  quarter  of  the  year  was  at  the  rate  of  about  35,000  tons 
of  zinc  annually.  Idaho  produced  35,000  tons  of  zinc  in  1915,  and 
this  output  will  undoubtedly  be  greatly  exceeded  in  1916. 

Utah  is  one  of  the  large  lead-producing  states,  the  output 
coming  principally  from  the  Bingham,  Park  City,  and  Tintic  dis- 
tricts and  amounting  in  1915  to  100,000  tons,  about  one-third  of 
which  was  yielded  by  oxidized  ores.  The  zinc  ores  of  the  state 
are  associated  with  the  lead  ores,  and  in  consequence  of  the  increase 
in  lead  production  as  well  as  of  the  higher  prices  for  zinc,  there 
was  a  larger  output  of  zinc,  which  came  largely  from  the  same 
districts  but  included  some  from  several  other  districts,  particularly 
from  the  newly  discovered  zinc  district  on  Promontory  Point,  where 
there  was  much  activity  and  a  considerable  production.  Flotation 
machinery  has  been  extensively  installed  in  the  concentration  plants 
of  the  Bingham  and  Park  City  districts,  and  an  electrolytic  zinc 
plant  is  building  at  Park  City,  all  of  which  will  tend  to  greatly  in- 
crease the  zinc  output  of  the  state. 

The  mines  of  the  famous  Magdalena  district  of  New  Mexico 
have  produced  lead  and  zinc  for  many  years.  Zinc  carbonate  ore 
is  mined  in  the  Tres  Hermanas,  Hanover,  Cook's  Peak,  and  other 
districts  of  this  State,  and  new  developments  and  additional  con- 
centrating mills  in  the  Hanover  and  Pinos  Altos  districts  promise 
a  greatly  increased  output  of  zinc  sulphide. 

Under  the  stimulus  of  high  prices  for  zinc,  Arizona  nearly 
doubled  her  output,  largely  from  mines  in  the  Union  Pass  and 
Chloride  districts  in  the  Cerbat  Mountains  of  Mohave  County. 
Nevada  also  doubled  in  zinc  production,  mostly  from  the  Yellow 
Pine  district  of  Clark  County,  but  some  came  from  the  Pioche  dis- 
trict of  Lincoln  County. 

California  made  her  greatest  zinc  output  in  1915,  nearly  two- 
thirds  coming  from  the  Mammoth  and  Bully  Hill  copper  mines  in 
Shasta  County  and  practically  all  of  the  remainder  from  the  Cerro 
Gordo  mine  in  Inyo  County.  The  copper  ores  of  Shasta  County 
contain  so  much  zinc  that  some  of  the  mines  were  compelled  to 


406         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

shut  down  on  account  of  the  penalties  assessed  against  the  zinc. 
At  the  Mammoth  smelter,  at  Kennett,  large  quantities  of  zinciferous 
bag-house  dust  have  accumulated  as  a  result  of  fume  neutraliza- 
tion. The  high  price  of  zinc  and  copper  has  led  to  much  effort  to 
separate  and  use  the  zinc  ore.  That  produced  in  Shasta  County  in 
1915  was  obtained  by  hand  sorting.  At  both  the  Mammoth  and 
Bully  Hill  mines  processes  have  been  developed  for  reducing  zinc 
ores  by  leaching  and  electrolytic  precipitation  of  the  zinc.  These 
processes  will  also  be  applicable  to  the  bag-house  dust,  and  will 
doubtless  operate  to  greatly  increase  the  output  of  zinc  by  1917. 

The  lead  output  of  the  Western  States  was  339,000  tons  in 
1915,  compared  with  319,000  tons  in  1914.  The  output  of  recover- 
able zinc  was  234,000  tons,  against  154,000  tons  in  1914.  The  lead 
constituted  60  per  cent  and  the  zinc  about  40  per  cent  of  the  total 
output  of  these  metals  by  the  whole  country. 


PRACTICAL  PHASES  OF  THE  STANDARD  OIL. 

Dissolution  and  the  Necessity  of  Combinations  Among  Inde- 
pendent Producers  to  Meet  Unfair  Competition, 

R.  L.  Welch,  Chicago,  111. 

The  oil  business  is  the  best  and  the  worst  organized  business  in 
the  world. 

The  Standard  Oil  Company  is  the  most  efficient  and  the  best 
organized  business  on  earth.  The  Independents,  on  the  other  hand, 
are  almost  completely  unorganized  and  in  some  respects  inefficient. 

The  Sherman  law  has  been  applied  to  the  Standard  Oil  Com- 
pany and  the  application  universally  has  been  conceded  to  be  a 
failure.  That  organization  had  gone  too  far  toward  unity  for  the 
application  to  be  successful.  On  the  other  hand,  the  same  law 
stands  in  the  way  of  the  producer,  the  refiner  and  the  jobber  mak- 
ing such  trade  agreements  as  would  seem  to  be  logical  and  proper 
if  the  vast  power  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company  is  to  be  unassailed 
by  government  action. 

If  more  than  sixty  per  cent  of  the  oil  business  is  to  be  done 
by  one  concern,  it  seems  difficult  to  understand  why  there  would 
be  anything  inimical  to  the  public  interest  in  permitting  the  com- 
mon competitors  to  join  together  in  any  co-operative  agreement 
which  would  enable  them  to  present  a  united  front  in  competition 
with  an  industrial  giant. 

If  one  organization  is  to  name  the  price  at  which  it  is  willing 
to  purchase  crude,  and  that  price  automatically  becomes  the  market 
price,  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  why  an  agreement  among  producers 
which  would  give  them  a  fair  opportunity  to  contest  on  an  equal 
footing  the  question  whether  the  price  offered  was  reasonable, 
should  not  be  lawful.  If  there  is  to  remain  vested  in  one  concern 
the  power  which  under  present  conditions  results  in  its  paying 
one  price  for  crude,  and  the  independents  paying  another,  there 
would  seem  to  be  nothing  harmful  in  permitting  producers  and 
refiners  to  combine  to  force  a  uniform  price  policy  on  the  part  of 
producers. 


408        PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

Again,  if  there  is  to  remain  vested  in  one  concern  the  power 
and  right  to  restrict  a  prospective  overproduction  of  crude  by 
producers,  by  reducing  the  price  to  stop  drilling,  then  by  the  same 
token  ought  it  not  be  possible  for  those  same  producers  by  agree- 
ment to  accomplish  the  same  result?  In  both  instances  is  not  the 
question  the  same?  Is  it  not  a  question  whether  power  has  been 
abused  rather  than  the  methods  of  its  exercise?  Yet,  do  we  not 
know  that  if  the  producers  in  any  field  were  to  combine  to  restrict 
production,  they  would  promptly  be  haled  into  court,  and  be  taught 
the  vast  difference  between  tweedle  dum,  which  is  lawful,  and 
tweedle  dee,  which  is  unlawful. 

If  this  remarkable  condition  exists  concerning  the  Sherman 
law  and  its  application  to  the  oil  industry,  there  can  be  no  escape 
from  the  conclusion  either  that  the  law  is  not  in  harmony  with 
modern  industrial  conditions,  or  that  the  law  has  failed  because  of 
its  defective  application  to  the  Standard  Oil  Company.  It  makes 
no  difference  which  horn  of  the  dilemma  you  choose  to  take, — for 
one  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Government  has  done  too  much 
and  that  it  should  retrace  its  steps,  and  the  other  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  Government  has  not  gone  far  enough,  and  that  it  should 
go  further. 

That  there  should  be  in  the  self  same  business  such  an  enor- 
mous organization  which  is  immune  from  the  law,  with  its  com- 
petitors unorganized  and  incoherent,  is  an  anomaly  in  industrial  life 
which  challenges  attention  and  invites  inquiry. 

The  foundation  of  industrial  liberty  is  supposed  to  be  freedom 
of  commerce.  M6dern  industrialism  found  the  world  emerging 
from  a  period  of  fierce  individualism,  of  savage  competition.  This 
individualism,  this  competition,  this  cruel  commercial  warfare,  this 
freedom  from  all  restraint  except  the  freedom  to  give  and  to 
take  blows,  was  supposed  to  bring  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest 
number. 

Commerce,  it  was  thought,  flowed  freely  like  the  seas,  and  any 
combination,  any  agreement  which  restrained  that  natural  flow  was 
artificial,  contrary  to  nature,  and  therefore  wrong.  And  it  was 
to  preserve  the  supposed  natural  order  in  industry  that  the  Sher- 
man law  was  passed. 

What  more  natural,  therefore,  than  to  try  the  law  upon  what 
was  popularly  supposed  to  be  the  most  conspicuous  violator  of  it — 
the  Standard  Oil  Company.  The  facts  concerning  this  great  dis- 
solution suit  are  very  simple  and  easily  understood.  The  Standard 


PRACTICAL  PHASES  OF  THE  STANDARD  OIL  409 

Oil  Company  of  New  Jersey  was  a  holding  company  which  owned 
the  subsidiary  companies.  Each  of  the  subsidiary  companies  so 
owned  occupied  distinct  and  apparently  arbitrary  geographical  lines. 
The  effect  of  the  entire  structure  was  a  national  incorporation  of 
the  immense  business  of  the  company.  It  was  the  theory  of  the 
government  that  these  subsidiary  companies  were  naturally  com- 
peting, and  that  if  the  artificial  structure,  namely,  the  holding  of 
the  stocks  of  the  subsidiary  companies  by  the  Standard  of  New 
Jersey,  were  destroyed,  the  subsidiary  companies  in  response  to 
natural  law  would  compete.  Attorney  General  Wickersham  ex- 
pressed the  opinion  that  if  the  Standard  Oil  Company  and  similar 
concerns  were  broken  up  into  five  or  six  or  seven  parts,  the 
tendency  toward  competition  would  be  irresistible;  in  other  words, 
natural  law  would  be  free  to  operate,  if  artificial  restraint  were 
removed.  If  the  Government  were  right,  and  successful  in  its 
litigation,  free  competition  between  the  subsidiary  companies  would 
follow ;  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  Government  were  wrong,  no  such 
competition  would  follow.  The  Government  succeeded  in  its  law 
suit.  The  holding  capacity  of  the  Standard  of  New  Jersey  was 
destroyed.  Each  subsidiary  was  given  a  territory  of  its  own,  and 
the  alleged  great  and  natural  law  of  competition  was  given  its 
opportunity.  For  five  years  we  have  waited  for  the  subsidiary 
companies  to  rush  at  each  others'  throats,  and  last  June  when 
asked  why  they  did  not  do  so,  the  frank  answer  was  that  it  was 
not  profitable  to  do  so.  And,  gentlemen,  this  is  simply  another  way 
of  saying  that  those  companies  have  found  co-operation  (I  do  not 
mean  co-operation  in  an  illegal  sense  necessarily,  but  co-operation 
in  the  sense  of  a  failure  to  compete  which  is  just  as  strong  as 
though  founded  on  an  illegal  agreement)  is  more  natural  under 
the  circumstances  than  competition.  The  predicted  inevitable 
tendency  toward  competition  has  not  developed,  and  the  practical 
situation  remains  precisely  as  it  was  prior  to  the  decree.  The 
geographical  lines  which  marked  the  division  of  the  United  States 
into  districts  occupied  by  the  subsidiary  companies  remain  the 
same.  The  device,  the  holding  company,  was  destroyed.  And  yet, 
all  the  substance  remains.  The  old  questions  of  power,  of  control 
of  the  market,  remain.  The  same  enormous  ability  is  still  in 
existence.  And  most  remarkable  of  all,  yesterday  the  enormous 
power  was  unlawful  and  wrong  because  of  the  mere  method  of  its 
exercise,  and  today  the  same  power  used  for  the  same  purposes 
and  ends  and  having  the  same  results,  having  the  sanction  of  the 


410         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN   MINING    CONGRESS 

Government,  is  lawful  and  right.  I  ask  you,  gentlemen,  whether 
the  results  do  not  require  that  we  should  ask  ourselves  whether  the 
law  itself  is  in  harmony  with  modern  industrial  life,  whether  after 
all  under  modern  conditons,  decrees  of  courts  will  force  men  to 
compete. 

Ought  we  not  also  to  ask  ourselves  not  whether  the  method 
of  the  exercise  of  power  is  legal  or  illegal,  but  rather  whether 
power,  great  or  small,  and  irrespective  of  the  method  of  its  exer- 
cise, is  being  used  to  the  public  detriment  ?  Ought  not  this  question 
to  be  answered  in  the  light  of  the  actual  conditions  and  not  accord- 
ing to  any  theoretical  rule  of  thumb?  For  example,  suppose  there 
were  no  such  organization  as  the  Prairie  Oil  and  Gas  Company  and 
suppose  further  that  each  of  the  stockholders  of  that  great  company 
was  a  purchaser  of  crude  oil,  and  that  for  the  purpose  of  supply- 
ing the  Standard  refining  companies  they  should  combine  together 
to  purchase  crude  oil  as  a  unit  and  to  avoid  competition  among 
themselves  and  to  get  crude  oil  as  cheaply  as  possible  through 
the  tremendous  power  that  arises  from  purchase  in  enormous  quan- 
tities. Does  anyone  imagine  that  such  a  purchasing  combination 
would  withstand  attack  in  the  federal  courts?  And,  on  the  other 
hand,  does  anyone  question  the  legality  of  the  present  organization 
of  the  Prairie  Oil  and  Gas  Company?  Are  we,  therefore,  being 
honest  with  ourselves  when  we  condemn  merely  methods  and  not 
results  ? 

On  the  other  hand,  if,  say,  60  per  cent  of  the  producers,  for 
instance,  in  the  mid-continent  field  were  welded  together  in  a  cor- 
poration, does  anyone  question  the  right  and  the  power  of  that 
corporation  to  say  that  it  would  enforce  as  to  Standard  and  inde- 
pendents alike  a  uniform  policy  as  to  price,  and  that  it,  too,  as  well 
as  the  seller,  would  stop  prospective  overproduction  by  not  drilling 
wells?  Yet  if  60  per  cent  of  the  producers  of  the  mid-continent 
field  were  to  join  in  a  contract  to  accomplish  the  same  result,  would 
surrender  their  liberty  of  action,  would  the  ink  be  dry  on  the  con- 
tract before  the  Department  of  Justice  would  be  after  them  ?  Does 
not  such  a  conception  of  law  rest  upon  artificial  and  unnatural 
reasons?  What  is  a  modern  industrial  corporaton  except  a  com- 
bination of  stockholders  who  but  for  their  joint  ownership  of  the 
corporation  might  well  be  individuals  competing  with  each  other 
in  the  same  line  of  business.  The  village  smithy  at  one  time  stood 
under  the  spreading  chestnut  tree  of  ten  thousand  villages.  Today 
ten  thousand  smithies  are  stockholders  in  the  steel  corporation  arid 


PRACTICAL  PHASES  OF  THE  STANDARD  OIL  411 

eat  chestnuts  hauled  from  place  to  place  by  the  stockholders  of 
giant  railroads  who  in  the  olden  days  would  have  been  driving 
stage  coaches  or  holding  them  up  on  ten  thousand  highways.  Have 
we  not  reached  the  place  where  we  may  well  ask  ourselves,  what 
is  the  natural  law  of  our  day.  We  do  not  in  transportation,  today, 
ask  ourselves  what  was  the  law  a  century  ago.  We  do  not  in  com- 
munication ask  ourselves  what  was  the  law  before  electricity  was 
discovered.  We  do  not  in  lighting  ask  ourselves  what  was  the  law 
of  lighting  when  a  spluttering  wick  and  some  grease  lighted  an 
acre  lot.  When  we  wish  to  telephone  we  do  not  ask  what  was  the 
law  of  conversation  at  a  distance  a  century  ago.  We  do  not  cling 
to  the  old  in  these  things.  The  people  who  didn't  want  railroads 
because  they  scared  horses  occupy  choice  spots  in  the  cemeteries, 
and  those  who  would  not  ride  in  them  because  they  were  dangerous 
are  now  gracing  aeroplanes.  Gentlemen,  in  an  age  when  even  war 
cannot  be  carried  on  between  a  few  nations,  but  when  the  whole 
world  is  so  unified  that  nation  after  nation  falls  headlong  into  the 
war  because  the  whole  world  is  combined ;  when  a  French  general 
can  sit  in  Paris  and  a  German  general  in  Berlin  and  know  before 
the  shells  fall  how  many  are  screaming  through  the  air,  is  it  not 
time  for  us  to  ask  whether  these  giant  forces  which  have  made  the 
whole  world  flow  together  as  though  it  were  a  fluid  have  not  created 
a  new  and  natural  law — a  law  which  legislatures  and  congresses 
and  courts  and  decrees  can  only  hinder  but  not  destroy  ?  Is  not  the 
law  of  modern  life,  whether  we  wish  it  or  not,  the  law  of  combina- 
tion and  concentration?  And  therefore  should  not  our  statutory 
law  reflect  that  fact?  And  should  not  this  Government  which  must 
compete  with  Germany  and  other  countries  where  the  individual 
has  been  swallowed  up  by  the  State,  where  producers,  manufactur- 
ers, farmers  and  distributors  are  allied  in  great  producing,  manu- 
facturing and  distributing  groups,  ask  itself  not  how  it  can  break 
up  business,  but  rather  how  it  can  unify  business;  ask  itself  not 
how  can  we  make  American  business  men  fight  each  other,  but 
rather  how  can  we  unify  American  business  and  make  American 
business  men  fight  for  world  supremacy? 

In  the  oil  business,  gentlemen,  the  Government  should  go  in 
one  of  two  directions.  It  should  either  push  its  disorganizing 
tendencies  against  the  Standard  Oil  Company  to  the  point  where  it 
has  wrecked  that  great  organization,  or  it  should  freely,  frankly, 
and  sincerely  co-operate  with  the  jarring,  warring,  disunited  inde- 
pendents to  enable  them  to  present  to  their  common  enemy  a  front 


412         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

which  will  mean  competition — not  competition  of  a  hundred  years 
ago,  but  the  competition  of  today,  which  strives  not  merely  for  low 
prices,  but  which  also  strives  for  quality,  for  service,  for  stability 
and  contentment. 

In  which  direction,  gentlemen,  should  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  go? 


RECORD  OF  MINE-SAFETY  WORK. 
By  Albert  H.  Fay,  Washington,  D.  C. 

The  enactment  of  mine  inspection  laws  in  each  state  may  be 
taken  as  the  first  public  recognition  of  the  need  of  safety  methods 
in  and  about  the  mines.  In  many  cases  the  inauguration  of  mine 
inspection  was  preceded  by  some  disastrous  mine  explosion  or  other 
catastrophe,  as  for  example  the  Pennsylvania  inspection  service 
was  preceded  by  the  Avondale  fire  in  which  179  men  were  killed. 
The  inspection  law  of  Oklahoma  was  likewise  preceded  by  one 
explosion  in  which  100  men  were  killed;  Arkansas,  by  a  mine 
accident  in  which  14  were  killed ;  Iowa,  by  a  disaster  in  which  8 
were  killed;  Missouri,  by  an  explosion  killing  24  men;  Wyoming, 
after  two  disasters  in  which  51  men  were  killed;  and  Virginia  with 
two  disasters  within  two  years  of  the  appointment  of  the  first 
inspector,  in  which  46  men  were  killed.  Wyoming  also  had  a 
number  of  other  disasters,  but  these  were  not  immediately  preced- 
ing the  enactment  of  inspection  laws.  Virginia,  during  its  pre- 
inspection  period,  had  9  disasters  in  which  329  men  were  killed. 
The  establishment  of  the  Federal  Bureau  of  Mines  was  also  largely 
brought  about  by  a  series  of  18  disasters  in  1907  in  which  918 
men  were  killed.  Three  of  these  disasters  alone  killed  684. 
Reduction  in  Fatality  Rates  and  the  Growth  of  Mine  Inspection 

Service  Compared. 

The  relation  between  mine  inspection  service  and  fatality  rates 
at  coal  mines  from  1870  to  date  is  shown  in  figure  I.  The  upper 
curve  represents  the  actual  percentage  of  coal  produced  under 
inspection  service  to  the  close  of  1909.  The  coal  produced  in  the 
non-inspection  States  is  less  than  o.i  per  cent  of  the  total,  so  that 
the  curve  from  1910  to  1915  may  be  accepted  as  representing  the 
inspection  service.  Pennsylvania  was  the  first  State  to  establish 
a  mine  inspection  .system,  the  law  becoming  effective  for  the  anthra- 
cite mines  in  1870.  From  1870  to  1873  the  curve  shown  represents 
the  anthracite  field  only.  The  fatality  rate  in  1870  in  the  anthracite 
mines  was  5.93  per  1,000  men  employed,  whereas  the  number  of 
fatalities  per  million  tons  mined  was  13.47.  Corresponding  figures 
for  1915  for  the  Pennsylvania  anthracite  field  are  3.32  fatalities 


414         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 


RECORD  OF  MINE  SAFETY  WORK  415 

per  1,000  men  employed,  and  6.58  fatalities  per  million  tons  mined. 
There  are  no  records  to  show  what  the  fatality  rate  in  anthracite 
mines  was  for  years  previous  to  1870.  It  was,  however,  high  in 
1869,  on  account  of  the  Avondale  disaster.  The  year  1870  was 
apparently  normal  as  shown  by  the  actual  number  of  men  killed  in 
the  anthracite  field  during  the  next  few  years,  so  that  the  number 
of  fatalities  in  1869  must  have  been  more  than  350,  with  not  to 
exceed  35,000  men  employed. 

The  next  State  to  appoint  a  mine  inspector  was  Ohio,  in  1874, 
and  the  first  complete  inspection  year  for  the  Pennsylvania  bitu- 
minous mines  was  in  1878,  so  that  after  1874  other  States  have 
been  added  to  the  inspection  list. 

During  the  first  10  years  of  mine  inspection  the  fatality  rate 
per  1,000  men  employed  and  the  number  of  fatalities  per  million 
tons  of  coal  mined  declined  rapidly.  From  1880  to  1897  the  fatality 
rate  per  1,000  men  employed  remained  practically  stationary,  while 
the  number  of  fatalities  per  million  tons  mined  showed  a  slight 
reduction.  From  1897  to  19°7  tne  number  killed  per  1,000 
employed  increased  considerably,  reaching  the  highest  point  in  1907. 
Since  that  year  there  has  been  a  marked  decline. 

The  increase  in  the  fatality  rate  from  1897  to  1907  is  not 
necessarily  due  to  less  efficient  mine  inspection.  The  ever  widen- 
ing range  of  operation,  the  constantly  expending  magnitude  of  the 
mining  industry,  and  the  increasing  complexity  of  machinery  and 
methods  are  daily  bringing  about  new  conditions  which  must  be 
met  by  the  safety  engineer.  The  conditions  under  which  mines 
are  operated  today  are  much  different  from  what  they  were  thirty 
years  ago.  The  mines  are  growing  deeper;  there  are  more  aban- 
doned workings  for  accumulation  of  gas  and  dust;  and  more  men 
are  employed  in  the  individual  mines  than  in  former  years;  so 
that  in  case  of  a  gas  or  dust  explosion,  the  likelihood  of  trapping 
more  men  is  greater  by  reason  of  a  larger  number  of  men  being 
employed.  During  recent  years  there  has  been  an  influx  of  for- 
eign laborers,  many  of  whom  come  from  the  agricultural  districts 
of  southeastern  Europe.  They  have  had  no  experience  in  mining, 
do  not  know  the  English  language,  and  hence  are  not  capable  of 
understanding  and  carrying  out  orders  that  are  given  in  a  tongue 
foreign  to  them.  Every  new  machine  or  appliance  in  the  mines 
introduces  a  new  hazard  which  requires  special  measures  for  acci- 
dent prevention ;  and  last,  but  not  least,  accident  reports  are  more 
complete  than  in  earlier  years.  Although  the  inspection  service 


416         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

has  been  increasing  in  efficiency  from  year  to  year,  the  various 
hazards,  for  the  reasons  mentioned,  are  also  increasing. 

The  increasing  fatality  rate  due  to  mine  disasters,  from  1897 
and  culminating  with  1907,  has  been  the  means  of  the  passage  of 
more  stringent  laws  concerning  the  operation  of  coal  mines.  Every 
disaster  is  thoroughly  investigated  by  state  and  Federal  authori- 
ties, as  well  as  by  the  local  engineers  of  the  operating  company, 
to  determine  the  exact  cause,  so  that  similar  disasters  may  be  pre- 
vented in  the  future.  States  are  establishing  rescue  and  first-aid 
stations,  and  nearly  every  large  mining  company  has  its  safety 
engineer  and  safety-first  committees  with  the  necessary  rescue  and 
first-aid  equipment.  An  educational  campaign  on  mine-accident 
prevention  has  been  conducted  since  1907  with  the  result  that  there 
is  much  closer  co-operation  of  miner,  foreman,  operator,  and 
inspector  than  in  former  years.  Permissible  explosives  and 
improved  types  of  safety  lamps  have  been  introduced  into  many 
'of  the  mines.  Explosibility  of  coal  dust  has  been  studied  and  pre- 
cautions adopted  to  render  it  inert.  The  work  of  these  various 
agencies  has  resulted  in  a  gradual  decline  in  the  fatality  rate  from 
4.81  in  1907  to  3.09  in  1915.  This  is  the  lowest  rate  since  1898, 
when  the  number  killed  per  1,000  men  employed  was  2.71.  The 
amount  of  coal  produced  in  1915  per  fatality  was  234,297  tons,  the 
largest  in  the  history  of  the  United  States.  The  average  produc- 
tion per  fatality  in  Great  Britain  for  10  years,  1901  to  1910,  was 
227,000  tons;  Belgium,  180,000;  Germany,  133,000;  Japan,  44,000; 
New  South  Wales,  297,000;  Austria,  198,000,  and  France,  128,000. 

Figure  2  shows  the  fatality  rate  in  recent  years,  with  various 
groups  of  the  mining  industry  compared  on  the  basis  of  the 
number  of  300  day  workers. 

Prevention  of  Mine  Accidents. 

In  a  brief  paper  it  is  impossible  to  give  details  of  the  various 
means  of  accident  prevention.  As  a  general  statement,  it  may  be 
said  that  there  should  be  more  stringent  laws  concerning  the  oper- 
ation of  mines;  rigid  rules  and  regulations  on  the  part  of  the  min- 
ing companies ;  a  strict  enforcement  of  the  laws  and  regulations  by 
state  inspectors,  operators,  and  employees,  with  penalties  for  all 
who  violate  them,  whether  he  be  operator  or  employee.  A  standard 
coal  mine  law  embracing  all  of  the  good  features  of  the  present 
varied  laws  will  be  a  big  stride  toward  safety.  With  the  same 
basic  law  for  each  state,  miners  who  migrate  from  one  state  to 
another  will  be  familiar  with  the  fundamental  requirements.  The 


RECORD  OF  MINE  SAFETY  WORK 


417 


418        PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

education  of  the  miner  to  realize  the  dangers  under  which  he 
works  will  have  much  to  do  with  accident  prevention.  A  common 
language  understood  by  both  foreman  and  miner  is  of  prime  impor- 
tance. Improved  safety  methods  and  appliances  will  reduce  the 
dangers  incident  to  the  industry.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned 
the  general  use  of  safety  lamps;  the  marking  and  guarding  of  all 
dangerous  places,  as  shafts,  winzes,  raises,  and  other  openings  in 
the  mines;  a  systematic  inspection  of  all  working  places  for  gas, 
ventilation  and  roof  conditions,  safeguarding  of  machinery  and 
electric  wires,  the  employment  of  shotfirers  or,  better  yet,  electrical 
firing  apparatus,  and  shooting  only  when  all  men  are  out  of  the 
mine;  the  use  of  permissible  explosives;  the  co-operation  of  state, 
and  Federal  organizations  with  operators'  associations,  labor  organ- 
izations, operators,  and  employees;  and  last,  but  not  least,  eternal 
vigilance  on  the  part  of  all.  There  must  be  no  let-up  on  any  phase 
of  safety  work,  lest  we  lose  the  gains  we  have  made  within  the 
last  few  years.  The  dangers  are  lurking  in  every  nook  and  corner 
of  the  mine  awaiting  the  opportunity  to  find  the  safety  man  resting 
on  his  laurels. 

Science  an  Aid  to  Accident  Reduction. 

As  the  war  in  Europe  is  a  gigantic  struggle  fought  with  wea- 
pons devised  by  the  chemists  and  engineers,  so  the  war  on  the 
hazards  of  the  mining  industry  must  be  waged  largely  by  engi- 
neers and  chemists.  It  is  often  considered  that  the  engineers  duty 
has  ended  when  he  satisfies  the  requirements  of  his  employer  by 
producing  the  required  amount  of  coal  or  ore  at  a  minimum  mining 
cost.  The  employer  today  recognizes  that  both  he  and  his  technical 
assistants  have  still  another  duty  to  perform,  that  of  safeguarding 
their  employees. 

The  wonderful  advances  in  mechanics,  chemistry,  and  elec- 
tricity should  combine  to  reduce  mine  accidents.  While  the  haz- 
ards are  increasing  in  many  ways,  progress  is  being  made,  but  it  is 
only  within  the  last  five  or  six  years  that  the  combined  efforts  of  all 
parties  interested  are  showing  a  gain  on  the  increasing  dangers. 

Among  the  causes  of  accidents  which  show  an  increase  since 
the  close  of  the  first  five-year  period  of  inspection  (Table  3)  are: 
"Falls  of  roof  or  pillar";  "Haulage  systems";  "Gas  and  dust  ex- 
plosions"; "Suffocation  from  mine  gases";  "Electricity"  and  "Min- 
ing machines."  Those  which  show  a  decrease  in  the  fatality  rate 
are :  "Explosives" ;  "Animals"  ;  "Mine  fires"  ;  all  "Shaft  accidents" 
and  "Miscellaneous"  causes. 


RECORD  OF  MINE  SAFETY  WORK 


419 


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420         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

Falls  of  roof:  Falls  of  roof,  being  the  principal  cause  of  acci- 
dents in  both  coal  and  metal  mines,  is  one  that  should  command  the 
serious  attention  of  engineers,  inspectors,  operators,  mine  foremen, 
and  the  miners.  Falls  are  bound  to  occur,  yet  with  proper  precau- 
tions, use  of  sufficient  supports,  and  care  on  the  part  of  the  foremen 
and  miners  their  number  should  be  reduced  to  a  considerable  extent. 
The  scarcity  of  timber  and  the  continually  increasing  price  of  mate- 
rial suitable  for  mine  supports  are  changing  methods  of  mining 
in  order  to  meet  the  new  conditions,  as,  for  example,  the  caving 
system  in  metal  mines,  whereby  a  minimum  amount  of  timber  is 
used.  During  a  twenty-six-year  period  (Table  3)  fatalities  due  to 
this  cause  have  increased  nearly  6  per  cent,  but  since  1909  this  group 
of  accidents  in  coal  mines  has  shown  a  gradual  decline  in  the 
fatality  rate  from  1.84  per  1,000  men  employed  to  1.47  in  1915,  the 
latter  figure  being  below  the  general  average  of  1.55  for  forty-four 
years. 

Haulage:  On  account  of  the  increased  tonnage  of  material 
handled  underground,  and  the  magnitude  of  the  underground  haul- 
age systems,  the  fatalities  both  per  1,000  men  employed,  and  the 
percentage  of  fatalities  due  to  mine  cars  and  locomotives  has  prac- 
tically doubled  since  the  beginning  of  inspection,  and  it  is  in  this 
phase  of  the  work  that  the  efforts  of  the  mechanical  engineer  should 
result  in  improved  and  safer  haulage  systems. 

Gas  and  dust  explosions:  Like  mine  fires,  mine  explosions 
occupy  prominent  headlines  in  the  newspapers  and  are  therefore 
considered  by  the  public  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  hazards  in  coal 
mining.  The  number  of  fatalities  due  to  gas  and  dust  explosions 
in  1915  was  13  per  cent  of  the  total  number  killed,  or  slightly  more 
than  one-fourth  of  the  fatalities  due  to  falls  of  roof,  where  only 
one  or  two  men  are  killed  at  one  time,  notices  of  which  seldom 
appear  in  other  than  the  local  papers. 

Accidents  due  to  gas  and  dust  explosions  in  the  United  States 
were  comparatively  few  from  1875  to  1890,  the  fatality  rate  being 
about  0.30  per  1,000  men  employed.  Since  1890  the  fatality  rate 
has  been  very  irregular,  owing  to  a  large  number  of  disasters 
occurring  at  various  times.  The  climax  was  reached  in  1907,  when 
seven  explosions^  occurred,  in  each  of  which  more  than  twenty  men 
were  killed.  The  number  killed  by  gas  and  dust  explosions  in  1907 
was  1.417  per  1,000  employed  in  all  coal  mines,  or  1.796  per  1,000 
for  the  bituminous  coal  mines  alone. 


RECORD  OF  MINE  SAFETY  WORK  421 

On  account  of  the  hazard  of  gas  and  dust  explosions,  and  the 
ill  effects  resulting  from  vitiated  air  in  many  underground  work- 
ings, it  devolves  upon  the  chemist  to  make  complete  analyses  of 
mine  gases,  and  coal  dust,  not  only  with  the  view  of  preventing 
explosions,  but  for  the  purpose  of  bettering  the  ventilation,  and 
devising  means  to  render  the  dust  inert.  As  a  result  of  the  chem- 
ists' research  work  and  laboratory  experiments,  the  real  hazards 
are  exposed  and  safety  measures  are  being  devised,  improved  and 
installed  so  that  a  reduction  of  70  per  cent  in  the  fatality  rate  has 
been  obtained  for  1915  as  compared  with  1907,  our  worst  year. 

Explosives:  The  use  of  high  explosives  in  mining  and  tun- 
neling is  universal.  The  demand  for  an  explosive  which  can  be 
more  safely  handled  and  which  on  explosion  or  detonation  pro- 
duces a  smaller  amount  of  gas,  which  will  not  injure  the  health 
of  the  miner,  nor  delay  the  resumption  of  work  after  each  round 
of  shots  is  fired  is  being  met  by  the  investigative  work  of  the 
chemical  laboratory.  Irregularities  in  the  composition,  of  explosives, 
length  of  flame,  quantities  of  heat  and  gas  generated,  variations  in 
the  strength  of  detonators,  and  differences  in  the  speed  of  fuses 
are  fruitful  sources  of  accidents.  By  chemical  analyses  and  phys- 
ical tests  explosives  may  be  so  standardized  that  certain  accidents 
will  be  reduced,  as  has  been  the  result  of  the  introduction  of  per- 
missible explosives  in  many  of  the  gaseous  mines  of  the  United 
States.  The  first  permissible  explosives  were  used  in  the  bitumin- 
ous coal  mines  of  the  United  States  in  1901.  In  1903  the  total 
amount  used  was  288,661  pounds,  at  which  time  the  fatality  rate 
due  to  explosives  was  0.339  Per  1,000  men  employed.  The  quantity 
of  permissible  explosives  used  in  the  bituminous  mines  has  in- 
creased rapidly  from  the  above  figure  to  16,804,609  pounds  in  1915, 
with  a  fatality  rate  of  0.13  per  1,000  men  employed,  or  a  reduction 
of  60  per  cent,  which  shows  the  results  obtained  by  the  use  of  this 
type  of  explosives. 

Electricity:  With  the  introduction  of  electricity  into  mines 
there  is  also  introduced  a  new  underground  hazard  and  it  devolves 
upon  the  electrical  engineer  to  install  proper  electric  lights  in  the 
mines;  safeguard  trolley  wires;  provide  efficient  electric  safety 
lamps,  explosion-proof  motors,  and  electric  shot  firing  for  gaseous 
mines ;  extend  the  use  of  electric  signal  systems,  and  telephones. 
The  percentage  of  fatalities  due  to  the  use  of  electricity  in  coal  mines 
in  the  earlier  years  was  less  than  one-fourth  of  I  per  cent,  while  in 
recent  years  it  has  increased  to  3.43  per  cent. 


422         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

Shaft  Accidents:  When  the  Comstock  mines  were  working  at 
greatest  capacity,  Nevada  recognized  the  dangers  connected  with 
hoisting  from  deep  mines,  by  passing  a  law  requiring  safety  gates 
on  mine  cages.  Since  then  the  mechanical  engineer,  at  both  coal 
and  metal  mines,  has  done  much  to  perfect  hoisting  apparatus  by 
installing  overwinding  devices,  automatic  breaks,  closed  skips  or 
cages  for  hoisting  men,  fireproof  construction  of  shaft  buildings, 
and  inclosed  ladder-ways  with  alternating  landings  in  shafts.  Largely 
as  a  result  of  these  improvements  there  has  been  a  decrease  of  about 
50  per  cent  in  shaft  accidents  at  coal  mines.  Metal  mines  show  a 
reduction  of  28  per  cent  in  shaft-accident  fatalities  since  1911. 

Mine  Maps:  Accurate  mine  maps  are  essential  to  the  safety 
of  the  workers.  They  furnish  the  superintendent  and  manager  with 
accurate  data  as  to  the  condition  of  neighboring  mines  and  all  work- 
ings in  the  mine  'under  consideration.  With  accurate  maps,  such 
accidents  as  inrush  of  water,  mine  squeezes,  and  mine  fires  may  be 
so  controlled  as  to  reduce  the  loss  of  life,  if  not  prevent  it  entirely. 
Mine  maps  are  also  an  important  aid  to  ventilation,  for  without 
them  it  is  impossible  to  keep  tab  on  the  many  ramifications  of  the 
underground  workings  of  large  mines. 

Ventilation:  Less  attention  has  been  given  to  the  ventilation 
of  the  metal  mines  than  in  almost  any  other  department.  It  has  not 
received  the  consideration  which  it  deserves.  The  ventilation  sys- 
tems of  eastern  coal  mines  may  well  be  adopted  by  engineers 
in  our  western  metal  mines.  Although  many  of  the  metal  mines 
have  two  or  more  openings  at  such  levels  as  to  give  natural  ventila- 
tion, yet  there  are  some  where  artificial  ventilation  must  be  applied, 
not  to  prevent  explosions  as  in  the  coal  mines,  but  to  give  the  miner 
sufficient  air  in  order  to  maintain  his  physical  condition  such  that 
he  may  work  most  efficiently.  Poor  ventilation  affects  the  miner's 
health  very  materially.  This  is  only  another  phase  of  the  safety 
problem,  the  preservation  of  health. 

Sanitation:  It  is  only  in  recent  years  that  the  sanitation  of 
mines  and  mining  villages  is  receiving  attention.  This  has  only  an 
indirect  bearing  upon  accidents  in  that  the  healthful  conditions  so 
maintained  will,  result  in  improving  the  physical  conditions  of  the 
miner.  A  strong  healthy  man  will  often  recover  from  a  serious  in- 
jury where  a  weakling  would  die  within  a  short  time,  or  remain  an 
invalid  for  years. 

Early  and  Recent  Fatality  Rates  Compared. 

United  States:  Table  I  shows  comparative  figures  for  the  num- 
ber of  men  employed,  and  number  killed  during  the  first  five  years 


RECORD  OF  MINE  SAFETY  WORK 


423 


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424         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

of  inspection  in  each  coal-mining  State  and  for  the  years  1911-1915 
inclusive.  While  the  first  period  is  not  made  up  of  the  same  5-year 
period,  for  each  State,  it  does  represent  an  average  of  the  early 
stages  of  coal  mining  in  each  State,  and  a  composite  for  the  United 
States  as  a  whole.  At  the  bottom  of  the  table  similar  data  from  the 
principal  foreign  coal  mining  countries  are  also  shown. 

The  composite  for  the  first  five  years  of  inspection  in  the 
United  States  shows  the  average  number  of  men  employed  as 
214,942  with  a  fatality  rate  of  3.31  per  1,000,  and  the  amount  of 
coal  produced  per  man  per  year  as  508  tons.  The  year  most  nearly 
corresponding  with  this  number  of  men  is  1885  with  213,178.  The 
interval  between  the  first  and  second  periods  is,  therefore,  approxi- 
mately 26  years.  The  average  for  the  last  five  years,  1911-1915, 
inclusive,  shows  fatality  rate  of  3.40  per  1,000,  which  is  a  slightly 
higher  rate  than  for  the  first  five  years  under  inspection,  but  the 
production  of  coal  per  man  per  year  has  increased  208  tons,  or 
40  per  cent. 

Foreign  Countries:  With  reference  to  the  foreign  figures,  the 
earliest  figures  available  for  Great  Britain  are  for  the  year  1851. 
During  the  five  years  following,  the  average  number  of  men  killed 
per  1,000  employed  was  4.29,  or  one  unit  higher  than  for  the  United 
States.  However,  the  amount  of  coal  produced  per  man  per  year 
was  only  244  tons,  as  compared  with  508  tons  in  the  United  States, 
or  less  than  half.  After  an  interval  of  54  years,  however,  the  num- 
ber of  men  employed  has  more  than  quadrupled,  while  the  fatality 
rate  has  dropped  from  4.29  to  1.141  per  1,000  men  employed.  The 
production  of  coal  per  man  per  year  has  increased  only  43  tons,  or 
19  per  cent.  The  fatality  rate  for  Prussia  was  2.00  per  1,000  during 
the  early  years,  and  after  an  interval  of  52  years  it  has  increased 
to  2.26  per  1,000.  The  production  per  man  per  year  has  increased 
from  158  tons  to  284  tons,  or  80  per  cent.  Figures  for  other  coun- 
tries as  France,  Belgium,  Austria,  Japan,  and  India  are  given. 
Statistics  for  the  coal  mines  of  British  Columbia,  Nova  Scotia  and 
Alberta  are  very  similar  to  those  of  the  United  States.  The  first 
five  years  for  British  Columbia  shows  a  fatality  rate  of  7.50  per 
1,000,  with  302  tons  produced  per  man  per  year;  after  an  interval 
of  30  years  the  fatality  rate  has  decreased  to  3.39  or  practically  the 
same  as  in  the  United  States.  The  production  of  coal  increased 
slightly  over  previous  years,  but  it  is  still  below  that  of  the  United 
States.  Figures  for  Nova  Scotia  in  the  early  years  show  a  fatality 
rate  of  2.91  per  1,000,  and  after  an  interval  of  40  years  the  rate  is 


RECORD  OF  MINE  SAFETY  WORK  425 

2.73  per  i;ooo.  Alberta,  however,  shows  a  decided  increase  in 
fatalities,  the  average  for  the  first  five  years  being  3.52  while  for 
the  last  five  years  9.19.  This  latter  figure  is  unfortunately  aug- 
mented by  reason  of  one  serious  explosion. 

The  record  presented  in  the  foregoing  figures  is  not  an  enviable 
one  for  the  United  States.  It  would  seem  to  be  more  of  a  warning 
as  to  what  we  may  expect,  than  to  indicate  that  the  safety  move- 
ment has  nearly  reached  its  goal.  The  years  1911  to  1915  represent 
current  practice  in  coal  mining  with  many  improvements  in  mining 
methods  and  safety  appliances,  yet  the  fatality  rate  is  higher  than 
in  the  earlier  years  of  the  industry.  Many  companies  and  a  few 
states  as  Illinois,  Iowa,  Kansas,  Michigan,  Missouri,  Oklahoma, 
Pennsylvania,  Washington  and  Wyoming  show  marked  decreases, 
while  in  other  states  the  rates  have  increased  to  such  an  extent  that 
there  is  an  actual  increase  represented  for  the  United  States  as  a 
whole.  There  has,  however,  been  a  marked  reduction  in  recent 
years;  the  average  rate  for  the  five-year  period,  1901-1905,  was 
3.454;  for  the  five  years  1906-1910,  3.938;  and  for  the  years  1911- 
1915,  3.40,  while  the  rate  in  1915  alone  was  3.09. 

On  account  of  the  large  tonnage  of  coal  handled  per  man  in 
the  United  States,  it  is  doubtful  whether  we  can  ever  hope  to  attain 
the  low  rates  obtaining  in  many  foreign  countries.  For  example, 
the  fatality  rate  in  Great  Britain  is  1.41  per  1,000  with  a  production 
of  only  287  tons  per  man.  The  production  in  the  United  States  per 
man  is  716  tons  per  year,  so  that  a  rate  per  1,000  men  employed 
proportioned  on  the  basis  of  the  amount  of  coal  produced  in  the 
United  States  would  make  the  rate  for  Great  Britain  3.51,  our 
average  rate  with  present  practices  being  3.40.  In  the  United  States 
a  little  over  50  per  cent  of  the  coal  is  machine  mined,  while  in  Great 
Britain  between  5  and  8  per  cent.  Germany  has  a  fatality  rate  of 
2.26  and  a  production  of  284  tons  per  year  per  man,  which  on  the 
United  States  tonnage  basis  would  raise  the  German  rate  to  5.69, 
Japan  has  a  production  of  124  tons  per  man  per  year  and  a  fatality 
rate  of  1.34,  which  proportioned  on  the  basis  of  the  production  of 
coal  in  the  United  States  would  raise  the  Japanese  rate  to  7.74,  as 
compared  with  our  rate  of  3.40.  The  fatality  rates  in  the  United 
States,  when  based  on  the  number  of  men  employed,  are  apparently 
high,  yet  they  are  much  lower  than  are  the  rates  in  foreign  countries, 
when  reduced  to  the  tonnage  basis.  The  latter  comparison,  how- 
ever, is  not  strictly  fair  by  reason  of  different  geological  conditions, 


426         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 


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RECORD  OF  MINE  SAFETY  WORK  427 

as  thickness  of  seam,  inclination,  depth,  etc.  The  thickness  of  coal 
beds  that  are  being  worked  in  the  United  States  averages  much 
greater  than  in  many  foreign  countries,  hence  the  ease  with  which 
a  large  tonnage  may  be  produced. 

Metal  Mines:  Table  2  shows  data  relating  to  fatalities  at  metal 
mines  during  the  first  five  years  of  inspection  as  compared  with  the 
latest  five  years  available.  In  this  table  is  included  data  for  the 
principal  metal-mining  countries  as  Australia,  Austria,  British 
Columbia,  France,  Germany,  Great  Britain,  Spain,  and  the  Trans- 
vaal. The  earlier  records  of  a  number  of  the  countries  are  not  as 
complete  as  in  the  coal-mining  industry,  but  the  figures  shown  are 
representative  and  are  the  best  that  are  available.  The  fatality  rates 
in  most  cases  have  decreased  slightly  during  the  interval  between 
the  inauguration  of  inspection  service  and  present-day  conditions. 

While  these  tables  do  not  show  as  much  decrease  as  one  would 
expect  after  such  long  periods  of  inspection,  they  do  not  necessarily 
reflect  upon  the  ability  and  efficiency  of  the  mine  inspectors.  They 
do,  however,  show  that  the  hazards  are  increasing,  and  that  it  will 
require  constant  efforts  to  keep  prices  with  them.  The  records  for 
the  past  five  years  show  that  we  are  gaining  and  that  there  has 
been  a  substantial  reduction  in  fatalities.  ( 

The  conservation  of  human  life  in  industrial  plants  is  a  question 
of  paramount  importance  and  is  being  considered  by  legislative 
bodies,  labor  organizations,  captains  of  industry,  and  individual 
employes.  Today  it  is  being  realized  that  the  public  forms  a  party 
to  the  mining  operations  to  such  an  extent  that  accident  compensa- 
tion laws  are  now  enacted  in  more  than  thirty  states.  Every  fatal 
accident  leaves  its  impress  upon  the  community  in  the  loss  of  a 
useful  citizen  and  the  provider  for  a  family,  with  the  result  that 
many  widows  and  orphans  are  rendered  public  charges  for  which 
taxpayers  must  contribute  support.  The  sufferings  and  privations 
borne  by  many  of  the  dependents  can  not  be  measured  by  words  nor 
compensated  by  a  money  equivalent.  Here  is  an  industry  employing 
1,000,000  men,  of  which  three  out  of  every  1,000  are  killed  each 
year.  A  reduction  of  50  per  cent  in  the  number  of  fatalities  would 
result  in  an  annual  saving  of  1,500  human  lives,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  injuries  and  sufferings  sustained  by  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
unfortunates.  From  a  humanitarian  point  of  view,  no  greater  good 
for  the  industry  could  be  accomplished  than  to  effect  this  reduction. 


428         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 


RECORD  OF  MINE  SAFETY  WORK 


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DUTIES  OF  MINE  INSPECTORS. 
James  W.  Paul,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

When  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  mine  inspector  is  asked  the 
question:  "What  are  the  duties  of  the  mine  inspector?"  he  answers 
by  quoting  that  section  of  his  state's  law  which  prescribes  the  duty 
of  the  inspector. 

In  some  state  laws  these  duties  are  set  out  at  some  length 
while  in  others  they  are  not,  but  in  all  state  laws  it  is  made  clear 
that  the  principal  duty  of  the  inspector  is  to  see  that  the  law  is 
enforced  and  wherein  the  law  is  not  being  complied  with,  to  resort 
to  such  remedies  as  are  provided  by  law. 

Three  things  have  acted  as  a  hindrance  to  the  realization  of 
the  highest  efficiency  in  the  mine  inspection  service;  namely,  inade- 
quate compensation  to  insure  keeping  good  men,  uncertainty  of 
tenure  of  office  and  assigning  too  many  mines  to  the  inspector. 

In  states  where  the  above  handicap  does  not  exist  it  is  pos- 
sible to  build  an  organization  which  will  insure  the  most  efficient 
inspection  service. 

Unfortunately,  many  inspectors  occupy  their  office  for  a  term 
which  is  measured  by  the  length  of  a  political  administration.  Some 
attempts  have  been  made  in  several  of  the  states  to  adopt  a  civil 
service  which  would  aid  in  holding  together  the  inspection  service 
but  the  plan  has  for  some  reason  failed  in  these  states,  probably  for 
the  reason  that  a  political  civil  service  had  been  adopted  instead  of  a 
true  non-partisan  civil  service. 

A  condition  of  uncertainty  in  tenure  of  office,  a  meager  salary 
and  an  expense  allowance  which  necessitates  the  greatest  of  economy 
and  much  personal  discomfort  are  not  conducive  to  holding  the 
most  capable  men  and  those  who  do  hold  on  are  open  for  a  better 
job,  and  they  may  use  their  good  offices  to  that  end. 

Wherein  it  may  be  claimed  that  some  unscrupulous  inspectors 
abuse  the  privileges  which  their  office  affords  them  in  looking  for 
a  good  place  to  land,  it  cannot  be  made  the  basis  for  an  indictment 
against  mine  inspectors  in  general. 

The  inspector  who  for  reason  of  personal  friendship  will  be 
lax  or  indifferent  in  the  enforcement  of  the  laws  which  cover  safety 


434         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

measures  is  a  discredit  to  the  inspection  system  which  admits  of 
his  continued  employment.  The  conscientious  inspector  is  one  who 
does  not  allow  his  judgment  or  acts  to  be  influenced  by  courteous 
favors  which  may  be  bestowed  upon  him  by  officials  or  employes 
with  ulterior  motives. 

The  duty  of  an  inspector  should  be  confined  to  making  an 
honest  effort  to  have  all  the  mine  laws  complied  with  and  wherein 
he  finds  the  law  inadequate  he  should  endeavor  to  have  it  amended 
or  revised  in  such  manner  that  it  will  afford  the  greatest  protec- 
tion against  dangerous  conditions. 

In  his  conduct  with  the  miners,  operators  and  mine  officials 
he  should  exercise  a  spirit  of  justice  and  fairness  and  in  points  of 
controversy  between  the  operator  and  the  employe,  other  than  those 
pertaining  to  his  duties,  he  should  be  neutral. 

An  inspector's  duty  to  the  state  has  been  fulfilled  when  he  has 
succeeded  in  having  the  law  complied  with  and  has  used  the  reme- 
dies provided  in  the  law  against  those  who  fail  to  obey  the  law. 

Many  inspectors  feel  that  their  duties  are  only  fulfilled  when 
they  have  gone  beyond  the  requirements  of  the  law  and,  for  the 
sake  of  humanity  and  to  meet  their  conception  of  a  duty  they  owe 
society,  have  brought  about  the  adoption  of  additional  safeguards. 

If  the  aforesaid  is  instrumental  in  bringing  forward  some  con- 
structive criticism  which  will  be  beneficial  to  the  mine  inspection 
service  of  our  states,  the  author  will  feel  that  his  brief  remarks 
have  not  been  in  vain. 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  GOLD  PRODUCTION  OF  THE 

WORLD. 

Waldemar  Lindgren,  Cambridge,  Mass. 

Introduction. 

Previous  experiences  are  not  encouraging  for  those  who  would 
attempt  a  prediction  of  the  course  of  the  world's  production  of 
metals.  Even  where  estimates  of  available  resources  can  be  made 
the  industry  refuses  to  follow  the  prophets,  for  unexpected  reserves 
appear  and  the  definition  of  available  ore  must  be  revised  down- 
ward. Still  more  hazardous  is  the  forecast  of  the  production  of 
the  precious  metals  for  here  the  available  ore  is  generally  beyond 
exact  estimation. 

We  all  remember  how  roughly  the  early  views  of  the  future  of 
gold  and  silver  were  treated  by  the  actualities  of  development ;  how 
ores  previously  despised  became  assets  of  tremendous  value;  how 
the  costs  of  treatment  were  lowered ;  and  how  fast  the  new  discov- 
ies  appeared  on  the  scene. 

I  write  on  the  subject  with  some  personal  feelings  for  in  1902 
I  ventured  to  suggest1  a  probability  of  a  moderate  decrease  in  the 
gold  production  of  the  United  States,  though  recognizing  the  like- 
lihood of  an  increase  in  the  world's  production.  The  relentless 
statistics  supported  this  view  for  a  brief  period  but  in  1905  began 
a  rapid  upward  swing.  The  output  in  that  year  increasing  to  about 
$88,000,000.  The  increase  continued  with  unimportant  interruptions 
to  1909  when  a  maximum  of  nearly  one  hundred  million  dollars 
was  reported.  The  new  discoveries  in  Nevada  and  Alaska  nulli- 
fied the  predictions.  Another  feature,  the  wonderful  increase  in 
the  production  of  copper,  which  brought  much  gold  as  a  by-product 
was  not  taken  into  consideration. 

The  future  course  of  the  gold  production  of  the  world  is,  of 
course,  a  much  more  complex  problem  and  may  well  be  approached 
with  much  trepidation.  I  do  not  intend  to  take  up  your  time  with 
recital  of  the  well  known  facts :  How  the  output  has  been  steadily 
and  rapidly  increasing  since  the  eighties  during  which  a  level  pro- 
duction was  maintained  of  a  little  over  one  hundred  million  dollars, 

'Trans.  Am.  Inst.  Min.  Eng.,  Vol.  33,  1903,  p.  811. 


436         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

to  nearly  $307,000,000  in  1899;  $454,000,000  in  1909  and  $471,000,- 
ooo  in  1915. *  Twice,  from  1900  to  1902,  and  from  1913  to  1914, 
there  was  a  slight  backset,  due  to  local  and  well  recognized  causes, 
but  on  the  whole  we  still  seem  to  be  on  the  upward  grade.  Is  this 
likely  to  continue  and  if  so,  for  how  long? 

Statistics. 

For  many  years  the  Director  of  the  U.  S.  Mint  has  undertaken 
the  important  work  of  collecting  the  statistics  of  the  world's  produc- 
tion of  gold  and  silver  and  we  may  well  be  proud  of  the  universal 
recognition  of  this  as  the  most  authoritative  statement.  Neverthe- 
less the  careful  observer  will  note  that  even  in  this  compilation 
there  is  much  room  for  improvement.  It  would  be  well  worth  while 
fior  the  Bureau  -of  the  Mint  to  employ  for  this  work  a  specialist 
with  thorough  technical  knowledge  of  the  geology,  mining  and 
smelting  of  the  precious  metals. 

Criteria. 

There  are  many  factors  to  be  considered  in  judging  the  prob- 
abilities of  increase  or  decrease  in  the  gold  production  of  a  country. 
First,  the  nature  of  the  principal  deposits:  They  may  be  shallow 
placers  exhausted  in  a  few  years,  but  on  the  other  hand  there  are 
countries  like  Alaska  and  California  which  boast  of  gravel  beds 
so  extensive  that  they  last  for  many  decades.  The  lode  mines  may 
be. of  the  type  of  deep-seated  origin  like  those  of  Brazil,  California, 
or  South  Dakota ;  in  these  the  ore  may  be  of  lower  grade  but  there 
is  a  marked  stability  of  yield.  Or  again  the  lode  deposits  may  be 
of  the  type  formed  near  the  surface  like  those  of  the  Comstock, 
or  the  Goldfield  district  in  which  case  the  ore  is  often  of  high  tenor 
and  the  production  dazzling  but  not  lasting. 

In  the  second  place  there  are  the  discoveries  most  likely,  of 
course,  in  new  countries.  These  possibilities  are  difficult  to  ap- 
praise but  always  to  be  considered.  Who  would  have  thought  that 
Mexico  should  become  an  important  producer  of  gold?  And  yet, 
9  there  is  the  El  Oro  district  in  a  well  prospected  part  of  the  country, 
in  which  the  riches  simply  happened  to  be  covered  up  by  a  sheet 
of  lava  until  adventurous  souls  had  the  nerve  to  drive  a  few  tunnels. 

In  the  third  place  there  is  the  cost  of  treatment.  Thousands  of 
ingenious  men  are  ever  striving  to  decrease  this  item  or  to  increase 
the  recovery.  In  a  certain  district  this  cost  may  be  $10  per  ton. 

'Estimated  by  Eng.  &  Min.  Journal,  Jan.  8,  1916. 


FUTURE  OF  GOLD  PRODUCTION  OF  THE  WORLD      437 

This  ore  is  worked  out  and  the  vicinity  lapses  into  somnolent  repose. 
A  few  dollars'  decrease  and  presto,  there  are  now  ore  bodies  waiting 
for  the  drill  and  the  powder.  When  we  see  serious  attempts  made 
to  mine  ores  containing  less  than  $2  worth  of  gold  per  ton,  each 
one  of  us  begins  to  think  of  this  or  that  locality  where  there  are 
masses  of  material  which  may  be  drawn  within  the  definition  of  ore. 
So  except  in  a  few  districts  the  calculation  of  gold  reserves  becomes 
an  operation  of  very  uncertain  value.  Do  you  realize  what  it  would 
mean  to  the  gold  production  of  the  world  to  have  the  working  costs 
on,  the  Rand  reduced  to  $2.50  per  ton?  With  all  this  in  view  the 
prophet  after  a  while  is  likely  to  acquire  a  wholesome  conservatism. 
Of  course  all  things  have  a  limit :  Every  deposit  will  be  worked 
out  sooner  or  later,  the  inexorable  depth  and  the  internal  heat  of 
our  globe  increase  the  cost  in  spite  of  the  engineer.  The  treatment 
costs  cannot  be  depressed  indefinitely.  We  might  feel  inclined  to 
predict  an  ultimate  exhaustion  of  our  gold  bearing  deposits  in  the 
distant  future,  were  it  not  for  the  hopelessness  of  anticipating  just 
what  the  human  race  will  do  in  the  next  hundred  years. 

The  Component  Parts. 

A  casual  survey  of  the  present  conditions  shows  that  the 
Transvaal  supplies  40  per  cent  of  the  world's  production  and  that 
in  the  main  this  output  ($188,400,000  in  1915)  comes  from  a  small 
district  comprising  a  few  hundred  square  miles.  Only  about 
$7,000,000  is  derived  from  "outside",  districts  in  the  Transvaal. 
This  predominance  of  the  Transvaal  is  the  outstanding  and  strik- 
ing feature  in  the  story  of  the  gold  production  of  the  world.  Its 
spectacular  advance  is  very  largely  Transvaal  history.  The  fluctu- 
ations elsewhere  are  of  less  importance.  Therefore,  any  predic- 
tion for  the  future  must  necessarily  be  based  upon  a  close  study 
of  that  district.  No  exact  parallel  to  these  South  African  deposits 
is  found  elsewhere  in  the  world  and  geologists  and  mining  engi- 
neers have  advanced  many  conflicting  theories  as  to  their  origin. 
At  the  present  time  the  most  prominent  students  of  these  deposits 
tend  to  regard  these  pre-Cambrian  or  Cambrian  beds  of  conglomerate 
as  alluvial  deposits  rapidly  accumulated  under  especially  favorable 
circumstances  in  the  deltas  of  large  rivers  which  probably  had  their 
source  in  the  old,  pre-Cambrian  granitic  and  schistose  rocks  of  the 
north.  These  old  rocks  contained  the  upper  parts  of  rich  gold 
quartz  vein,  now  largely  eroded.  A  protracted  period  of  slow 
erosion  weathering  and  decomposition  set  the  gold  free  and  ground 


438         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

it  into  fine  particles.  Though  it  is  difficult  or  impossible  to  trans- 
port heavy  gold  in  the  water  courses,  the  fine  gold  is  easily  carried 
along  and  a  sudden  increase  in  the  transporting  power  of  the  river 
coming  at  the  right  time  might  suffice  to  sweep  large  masses  of 
this  fine  gold  down  into  the  deltas  of  the  streams.  The  develop- 
ment of  pyrite  and  the  silicification  of  these  beds  are  regarded  as 
secondary  metamorphic  processes.  The  whole  topography  of  the 
area  of  the  crystalline  schists  is  naturally  wholly  changed  at  the 
present  time  and  the  superficial  placers  once  existing  are  swept 
away.  Nevertheless  the  richness  of  the  region  is  borne  out  by  the 
rapidly  increasing  production  of  Rhodesia  which  has  doubled  in  few 
years  and  now  for  1915  stands  at  about  $19,000,000. 

The  predictions  in  regard  to  the  permanence  of  the  gold  de- 
posits of  the  Transvaal  have  not  been  fortunate;  in  all  cases  their 
possibilities  have  been  underestimated.  Owing  to  favorable  geologic 
position  and  underground  temperatures  a  much  greater  tonnage  is 
available  than  was  thought  possible  at  first  and  just  now  the  pos- 
sibilities of  the  "East  Rand"  are  looming  up  large.  Whether  all 
expectations  be  fulfilled  or  not  it  appears  certain  that  there  is  much 
available  ground  to  be  opened  up  and  there  is  always  the  probability 
that  ore  carrying  $4  to  $5  per  ton  may  be  ultimately  worked  at  a 
profit. 

As  pointed  out  before  the  industry  has  shown  a  remarkable 
strength  and  resiliency;  not  only  has  the  output  of  the  Rand  ex- 
erted a  dominating  influence  on  the  world's  production  for  the  last 
seventy-five  years,  but  unfavorable  influences  have  affected  it  sur- 
prisingly little.  There  was  a  temporary  backset  two  or  three  years 
ago  owing  to  labor  troubles  and  rebellion ;  but  the  year  1915  closed  in 
spite  of  difficulties  of  obtaining  capital  for  new  enterprises  with  a 
greater  production  than  ever  and  more  favorable  prospects. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  present  big  mines  of  the  Rand 
proper  will  be  exhausted.  One  often  finds  statements  like  this: 
"It  is  estimated  that  in  1929  fully  one-half  of  the  mines  now  pro- 
ductive will  have  depleted  their  supplies  of  ore ;  in  thirty  years  the 
output  will  have  fallen  from  $190,000,000  to  $40,000,000  per  an- 
num."1 With  the  prospective  opening  of  the  new  mines  of  the 
East  Rand  it  begins  to  look  as  if  the  production  of  the  region  could 
be  maintained  in  its  present  volume  for  many  years  to  come.  It 
seems  hard  to  believe  that  there  can  be  great  advance  over  the 
present  figures. 

'Mining  &  Scientific  Press,  Oct.  7,  1916.    Editorial. 


FUTURE  OF  GOLD  PRODUCTION  OF  THE  WORLD      439 

Rhodesia  and  the  West  Coast  producing  respectively  $18,900,- 
ooo  and  $8,600,000  also  look  promising  and  in  Rhodesia  particu- 
larly the  advance  has  been  rapid. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  gold  output  of  Australasia  has  re- 
ceded persistently  during  the  last  decade.  At  present  it  forms  only 
about  9  per  cent  of  the  world's  production.  The  decrease,  chiefly 
apparent  in  Western  Australia  and  New  Zealand,  is  mainly  caused 
by  the  beginning  exhaustion  of  the  rich  ore  bodies.  It  is  probable 
that  the  decrease  if  maintained  will  proceed  at  a  much  slower  rate 
and  there  are  still  possibilities  of  new  discoveries. 

In  British  India  the  production  of  $12,000,000  which  has  been 
maintained  at  the  present  high  water  mark  for  several  years  is 
largely  derived  from  some  mines,  exceeding  4,000  feet  in  depth,  and 
difficulties  owing  to  this  depth  will  probably  appear  in  the  near 
future. 

Asiatic  Russia  is  often  mentioned  as  a  coming  country  in  the 
way  of  gold  production.  At  present  the  Empire  yields  about  $27,- 
000,000  annually,  of  which  a  smaller  part  is  derived  from  the  dimin- 
ishing production  of  the  Urals,  while  much  the  larger  part  comes 
from  Eastern  Siberia.  Some  of  the  placer  mines  like  the  Bodaibo 
of  the  Lena  gold  fields  are  yielding  very  heavily  at  present.  The 
lode  mines  contribute  as  yet  but  little.  We  have  no  data  to  gauge 
the  productive  capacity  of  Eastern  Siberia,  but  there  are  no  doubt 
large  amounts  of  gold  bearing  gravels  yet  to  be  worked.  Except 
for  temporary  war  conditions  there  is  little  probability  of  serious 
diminution  of  the  supply  from  this  source. 

The  South  American  production  has  practically  remained  con- 
stant for  many  years,  and  bids  fair  to  change  very  slowly;  an 
increase  may  be  expected  from  the  placers  of  Colombia,  while 
some  of  the  producing  mines  of  Brazil  are  beginning  to  reach  a 
depth  at  which  further  operations  become  difficult.  Increasing  ac- 
tivities in  Chile  and  Peru  may  add  slightly  to  their  production  of 
gold.  For  the  world's  production  South  America  counts  but  little, 
contributing  about  3  per  cent  to  it. 

We  are  naturally  interested  in  the  position  of  the  United 
States  of  America.  In  spite  of  a  steady  increase  from  about  $33,- 
000,000  in  1892  to  treble  that  amount  in  1915,  the  importance  of 
the  United  States  in  relation  to  the  output  of  the  world  has  steadily 
diminished  from  one-third  in  the  first  mentioned  year  to  nearly  a 
fifth  in  1915. 


440         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

The  advance  apparently  culminated  in  1909  with  a  production 
of  nearly  one  hundred  million  dollars.  Then  followed  four  years 
of  recession  to  $88,000,000  (in  1913),  but  in  the  last  two  years 
the  lost  ground  has  been  almost  recovered.  The  output  of  such 
an  enormous  territory  involving  all  kinds  of  deposits  is  particularly 
subject  to  the  delicate  balance  between  character  of  deposits,  new 
discoveries  and  cost  of  treatment. 

There  are  strong  elements  of  stability  like  the  lode  production 
of  California,  the  deep  mines  of  Alaska  and  South  Dakota,  the  new 
dredge  fields  becoming  available  and  the  gold  as  byproduct  of  copper 
ores. 

There  are  also  features  working  towards  a  reduction  in  the 
output.  Among  these  may  be  counted  the  more  or  less  rapid  ex- 
haustion of  placers,  the  ephemeral  yield  of  tailing  piles  and  the 
prospective  decline  of  certain  lode  mines,  as  often  exemplified  in 
Nevada.  Dredge  fields  will  not  last  for  ever;  the  exhaustion  of 
some  in  California  is  probable.  While  recovery  in  concentrating 
tends  to  increase,  and  the  metallurgical  processes  are  improved,  the 
wages,  particularly  those  of  miners,  are  also  decidedly  increasing. 
Few  new  discoveries  have  been  reported  during  the  last  few  years. 

It  requires  more  than  ordinary  acumen  to  sort  and  weigh  all 
these  factors.  It  seems  difficult  to  believe  that  any  rapid  increase 
above  the  $100,000  can  take  place ;  there  seems  to  be  as  many  fac- 
tors working  for  a  reduction  as  for  an  increase.  There  are  others, 
however,  that  do  not  look  at  the  matter  in  this  light  and  to  whom 
it  appears  that  enough  of  low  grade  ore  bodies  will  be  developed  in 
the  near  future  to  offset  the  unfavorable  aspects. 

The  gold  production  of  our  northern  neighbor,  amounting  to 
about  $18,000,000,  has  advanced  slowly  for  several  years.  At  pres- 
ent it  is  made  of  three  roughly  equal  components :  Yukon  placers, 
British  Columbia  lode  mines,  and  Ontario  lode  mines.  The  rapid 
development  in  the  production  of  the  latter  has,  however,  more 
than  counterbalanced  a  decrease  from  the  Yukon  and  British  Colum- 
bia and  the  possibility  of  still  further  reduction  from  the  Yukon 
must  be  considered.  The  rich  gold  mines  of  Ontario  are  new  dis- 
coveries. And  who  shall  say  that  another  field  like  that  of  Porcu- 
pine will  not  be  found  in  the  wilds  of  the  north? 

A  score  of  years  ago  nobody  would  have  classed  Mexico  as  a 
gold  producing  country  of  any  importance.  The  discovery  of  the 
rich  and  extensive  ores  of  El  Oro  rapidly  brought  the  output  of  the 
country  to  $25,000,000.  In  the  last  few  years  there  has  been  a 
great  drop  and  the  figures  for  1915  are  estimated  to  $17,000,000. 


FUTURE  OF  GOLD  PRODUCTION  OF  THE  WORLD      441 

In  great  part  this  is  caused  by  conditions  of  civil  war,  but  previ- 
ously to  that  the  end  of  some  of  the  great  ore  bodies  seemed  to  be 
in  sight. 

Conditions. 

The  dominant  position  which  the  Rand  districts  of  South 
Africa  now  occupy  in  regard  to  the  gold  production  of  the  world 
have  been  sufficiently  emphasized  in  the  preceding  paragraphs. 
The  prospects  in  that  region  seem  to  favor  a  maintenance  and  pos- 
sibly an  increase  in  the  output  during  the  next  decade. 

With  this  in  view  we  may  say  that  what  happens  in  the  rest 
of  the  world  is  really  of  smaller  importance.  Locally,  favorable 
or  unfavorable  factors  may  dominate  but  they  appear  to  be  fairly 
well  balanced  and  nothing  short  of  new  sensational  discoveries  is 
likely  to  influence  the  world's  production  greatly. 

A  progressive  increase  of  the  total  yield  of  gold  on  the  same 
scale  as  that  which  has  taken  place  since  1900  would  seem  to  be 
extremely  improbable.  Possibly  on  the  other  hand  a  decrease  of 
importance  is  at  least  as  unlikely.  For  a  number  of  years  to  come 
a  slow  increase  or  stationary  world's  production  would  seem  to  be 
favored  by  the  probabilities  and  the  change  of  rate  of  increase  must 
necessarily  have  a  marked  economic  effect. 


THE  FEDERAL  TRADE  COMMISSION  AND  THE 

MINING  INDUSTRY. 
Hon.  Edward  N.  Hurley,  Washington,  D.  C. 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  address  this  meeting  of  the  American  Min- 
ing Congress.  A  body  such  as  this,  whose  methods  make  for  fair 
and  open  discussion  of  those  great  problems  which  confront  not 
only  the  mining  industry  but  the  nation  as  a  whole,  must  inevitably 
accomplish  a  great  work.  This  work  will  not  only  bear  fruit 
among  yourselves,  but  it  will  focus  public  attention  upon  these 
great  economic  problems  as  they  apply  to  your  industry.  Those 
problems  involving  the  safety  of  human  life,  the  relations  between 
employer  and  employe,  the  efficiency  of  production  in  a  basic 
industry  and  the  conservation  of  irreplaceable  resources  are  of 
tremendous  significance  to  the  people  of  the  whole  country.  I  con- 
gratulate you  as  members  of  the  American  Mining  Congress  on  the 
broadminded  and  fair  attitude  you  have  taken  in  the  discussion  of 
these  fundamental  problems. 

If  your  organization  had  done  nothing  more  than  secure  the 
creation  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Mines,  it  would  have 
deserved  well.  But  I  am  sure  that  your  efforts  in  the  direction 
of  fair  and  practical  workmen's  compensation  laws,  arbitration 
of  industrial  disputes,  conservation,  and  other  important  matters 
will  give  your  Congress  a  growing  and  wholesome  influence 
throughout  the  nation. 

A  Common  Platform. 

At  your  meeting  two  years  ago  at  Phoenix,  Arizona,  Secretary 
Callbreath  made  a  statement  that  embodies  the  mental  attitude  of 
your  organization  as  I  understand  it.  With  your  permission  I 
will  quote  the  substance  of  that  statement,  which  seems  to  me  a 
platform  on  which  all  fair-minded  men  can  stand — whether  oper- 
ators, employes,  or  Government  officials.  This  in  brief  was  what 
your  secretary  said: 

"Safety,  efficiency,  conservation  are  the  three  watchwords  of 
the  American  Mining  Congress,  and  it  is  hoped  that  by  co-opera- 
tive effort  on  the  part  of  the  mining  men  of  the  United  States  these 
things  may  be  accomplished.  I  hope  the  day  may  come  when  this 


THE  FEDERAL  TRADE  COMMISSION  443 

conflict  between  employer  and  employe  will  cease,  because  the  high- 
est development  of  the  mining  industry  can  never  be  secured  until 
the  mine  worker  and  the  mine  operator  work  squarely  together 
for  the  best  safety,  the  best  working  conditions,  the  best  living 
conditions  and  the  highest  wages  that  are  possible  to  be  paid  taking 
other  interests  into  consideration.  The  mine  operator  is  entitled 
to  his  profit.  That  profit  must  be  enough  not  only  to  pay  current 
expenses  and  to  cover  his  risk,  but  to  cover  the  value  of  his  mine, 
which  sooner  or  later  will  be  depleted.  Having  met  those  two 
conditions,  the  third  thing  is  that  the  consumer  is  entitled  to  the 
product  of  the  mine  at  the  lowest  price  which  it  is  possible  to 
furnish  it  to  him  for,  having  cared  first  for  the  miner  and  the 
operator." 

That,  gentlemen,  is  an  enunciation  of  principles,  clear  and 
simple,  that  we  can  all  subscribe  to,  and  we  should  all  do  our  part 
to  bring  about  the  day  when  these  fair  and  just  conditions  shall 
prevail  throughout  the  mining  industry  of  the  United  States. 

Efficiency  Needed  in  the  Bituminous  Coal  Industry. 

In  the  bituminous  coal  mining  industry,  especially,  it  is  impor- 
tant that  the  attention  of  the  public  should  be  drawn  to  this  state- 
ment of  principles.  The  country  should  understand  the  stake  it 
has  in  this  industry  and  consider  its  problems  fairly  and  seriously 
from  all  points  of  view. 

Where  physical  and  economic  conditions  tend  to  the  keenest 
competition,  as  they  appear  to  in  this  industry,  it  follows  that 
Safety  and  Conservation  really  depend  upon  Efficiency.  By 
efficiency  I  mean  not  simply  efficiency  of  individual  mines  and 
individual  companies,  but  efficiency  in  the  industry  as  a  whole. 
First,  efficiency  in  production  and  distribution  at  the  lowest  cost 
consistent  with  conservation  of  life  and  of  coal;  and  second, 
efficiency  in  selling  at  the  lowest  price  consistent  with  a  fair  profit 
and  the  perpetuation  of  the  industry.  To  attain  this  efficiency  of 
production  and  of  price  we  need  a  third  efficiency — efficiency  in' 
cost  accounting.  Efficiency  in  cost  accounting  spells  knowledge, 
light,  sanity.  It  means  the  industry's  understanding  of  itself, 
which  is  the  first  essential  to  every  step  in  its  progress  toward 
wholesome  conditions. 

Effect  of  Ignorance  of  Costs. 

Let  us  take  a  look  at  this  matter  concretely.     There  are  many 
operators  who  have  no  cost  systems.     They  are  the  men  who  go 


444         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

it  blind.  There  are  others  who  have  cost  systems,  but  some  of 
them  give  accurate  costs  and  some  give  costs  that  are  not  accurate. 
One  operator's  cost  sheet  is  a  true  guide  to  him;  another's  is  a 
will-o'-the-wisp  that  leads  him  into  the  mire  of  business  ruin.  He 
thinks  he  knows,  but  he  may  be  charging  to  capital  account  what 
ought  to  go  to  operating  cost;  he  may  be  forgetting  his  overhead 
expense ;  and,  most  important  of  all,  he  may  fail  to  count  on  depre- 
ciation of  his  equipment  and  depletion  of  his  mine.  What  is  the 
result?  Prices  that  look  good  to  him  are  really  suicidal.  What 
he  thinks  are  annual  profits  are  really  annual  eatings  up  of  his 
capital  and  even  when  the  inevitable  crash  comes  he  may  not 
know  what  it  was  that  killed  him.  On  the  tombstone  of  many 
operations  might  truly  be  written  the  words,  "This  enterprise  died 
of  ignorant  competition." 

But  ignorance  of  true  costs  does  not  affect  only  the  operator 
who  "guesses"  his  costs,  or  whose  faulty  cost  sheets  mislead  him. 
They  affect,  often  disastrously,  the  efficient  operator,  who  knows 
his  costs  but  is  helpless  against  conditions  induced  in  the  industry 
by  the  ignorant  price  maker. 

Too  often  the  operator  who  sets  the  competitive  price  may  be 
the  very  man  who  disregards  safety  of  life  for  cheapness  of  pro- 
duction, the  man  who  wastes  his  coal  rather  than  increase  his  costs 
to  save  it,  and  who  in  addition  is  ignorant  of  what  his  true  costs 
are.  Not  till  every  operator  in  the  industry  is  educated  to  an 
understanding  of  what  this  means,  will  you  be  on  the  high  road  to  a 
solution  of  the  problems  of  bituminous  coal. 

The  Bankers  Part. 

Bankers  are  realizing  this.  The  Pennsylvania  Railroad  adver- 
tises that,  of  all  the  people  carried  over  its  lines  last  year,  not  one 
single  life  was  lost.  The  bankers  of  the  country  before  very  long 
will  be  referring  with  pride  to  the  minimum  business  death  rate 
among  their  clients.  Suppose  Jones  is  operating  a  coal  mine  here 
in  Illinois  on  the  "guess"  plan;  Smith  is  operating  one  on  the  "no 
depreciation"  plan,  or  on  the  plan  of  "depreciation  charged  off 
when  an  extra  good  year  comes  along" ;  and  Brown  has  an  efficient 
cost  system.  Suppose  all  three  come  to  a  banker  for  loans  for 
their  mining  business.  What  is  the  banker  to  do  ?  He  knows  that 
Jones  and  Smith  are  likely  to  be  waging  a  price  war  in  the  industry 
that  will  really  net  them  losses  where  they  think  they  are  making 
gains ;  and  he  knows  that  this  price  war  may  impair  the  market  of 


THE  FEDERAL  TRADE  COMMISSION  445 

the  efficient  operator,  Brown — and  send  him  down  to  failure  with 
the  rest. 

Low  price  making  based  on  guesswork  or  on  partial  costs  is 
a  menace  to  sound  business.  The  menace  is  not  in  underselling, 
for  competitors  must  expect  to  face  the  low  prices  due  to  efficiency. 
But  even  the  most  efficient  cannot  continually  meet  cut-throat  prices 
based  on  ignorance.  I  believe  that  bankers  owe  a  duty,  to  insist  on 
careful  cost  accounting  systems  and  sound  financial  statements 
before  extending  further  credit  to  concerns  whose  unbusinesslike 
methods  endanger  the  whole  structure  of  business.  Bankers  will 
doubly  aid  business  by  insuring  that  business  shall  know  its  true 
costs  before  extending  its  operations. 

I  do  not  propose  to  shut  off  the  credit  of  a  small  operator  full 
of  pluck  and  energy.  I  simply  propose  that  the  borrower's  energy 
and  pluck  shall  be  intelligently  directed.  Individual  force  plus  a 
true  knowledge  of  costs  means  success — without  such  knowledge 
it  too  often  drives  a  man  to  business  disaster.  It  would  be  much 
better  for  him  if  the  banker  would  require  an  adequate  cost 
analysis  before  making  the  loan  and  so  protect  his  client  against  a 
mistake  that  may  mean  a  loss  to  the  client,  a  loss  to  the  banker, 
and  an  impairment  of  sound  conditions  in  the  industry. 

A  Plan  to  Secure  Better  Accounting. 

I  hope  that  in  the  not  very  distant  future  each  industry  in  this 
country  will  have  developed  a  basic  cost  system  that  will  fit  its 
particular  needs;  that  the  question  of  a  reasonable  and  adequate 
basis  for  depreciation  will  be  worked  out  for  each  industry;  and 
that  these  basic  systems  will  be  approved  by  the  Federal  Trade 
Commission. 

I  am  now  working  on  a  plan  that  I  hope  will  make  it  possible 
for  manufacturers,  merchants  and  business  men  generally  to  know 
whether  their  businesses  are  on  a  sound  cost  basis,  and  to  go  to  the 
banker  with  confidence  in  the  justice  of  their  requests  for  loans. 
My  thought  is  to  give  public  accountants  the  opportunity  of  be- 
coming registered  United  States  accountants  under  the  general 
supervision  of  the  Federal  Reserve  Board  and  to  permit  such 
accountants  to  certify  under  a  United  States  seal  the  cost  records 
and  financial  soundness  of  the  concerns  whose  books  they  examine. 

It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  the  public  accountants  are  willing 
and  ready  to  do  their  part  in  seeing  that  the  banker  is  presented 
with  a  statement  or  balance  sheet  that  will  show  the  real  facts. 


L 


446         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

The  trouble  is  that  many  manufacturers  are  unwilling  to  agree 
with  their  accountants  as  to  what  amount  shall  be  charged  off  to 
depreciation.  When  a  public  accountant  attempts  to  make  a  proper 
charge  for  this,  he  is  confronted  by  the  manufacturer  with  a  state- 
ment like  this :  "My  machinery  and  buildings  are  as  good  as  they 
were  ten  years  ago,  and  your  charge  for  depreciation  is  too  high." 
The  accountant,  although  anxious  to  do  what  is  right,  realizes  that 
unless  he  is  willing  to  agree  with  his  client  he  is  likely  to  lose  him, 
and  compromises  by  charging  off  an  insufficient  amount  for  depre- 
ciation. The  next  year  similar  conditions  arise ;  and  after  this  has 
continued  for  two  or  three  years,  it  is  a  very  hard  matter  to  treat 
this  item  in  such  a  way  that  the  balance  sheets  will  be  on  a  cor- 
rect and  sound  basis.  But  when  we  have  an  officially  approved 
basis  for  depreciation  in  that  manufacturer's  industry,  the  ac- 
countant and  the  banker  working  together  will  be  able  to  bring  the 
manufacturer  into  line. 

I  do  not  want  you  to  get  the  impression  from  this  that  I  am 
advocating  that  all  books  should  be  kept  under  governmental  super- 
vision, nor  that  public  accountants  should  not  be  allowed  to  certify 
business  accounts  without  a  United  States  registry.  But  if  a  public 
accountant  has  his  registry  number,  and  if  the  manufacturer  com- 
plies with  the  fundamental  system,  then  let  the  accountant  make  and 
seal  his  certification  in  his  capacity  as  a  United  States  registered 
accountant. 

You  can  readily  see  how  such  a  plan  would  steady  the  bitu- 
minous coal  industry  as  well — how  it  would  automatically  induce 
safer  and  more  conservative  methods,  with  unquestionable  benefit 
to  the  entire  industry. 

Uniform  Cost  Accounting  Methods. 

The  subject  of  more  uniformity  in  cost  finding  is  at  present 
receiving  the  earnest  attention  of  many  operators  and  associations 
in  the  bituminous  field.  By  a  uniform  practice  I  mean  a  common 
classification  of  costs  of  production  both  inside  and  outside  the 
mine,  and  of  costs  of  selling;  a  uniform  method  of  distributing 
overhead  expense ;  a  uniform  method  of  providing  for  deprecia- 
tion of  plant  and  equipment  with  rates  more  or  less  standardized; 
and  a  uniform  method  of  taking  care  of  depletion  of  the  coal. 
Please  understand  me,  I  am  not  advocating  uniform  costs,  uniform 
depletion  charges — that  is  palpably  impossible — but  uniform 
v  methods  of  getting  at  what  the  real  costs  are.  Where  uniformity 


THE  FEDERAL  TRADE  COMMISSION  447 

of  method  is  adopted  you  can  get  production  statistics  and  cost 
statistics  that  are  comparable,  one  company  with  another;  you 
will  be  talking  the  same  language ;  you  can  profit  by  each  other's 
experience,  conduct  your  operations  more  efficiently  and  price  your 
output  intelligently.  When  the  industry  is  on  an  efficient  cost 
accounting  basis,  ignorant  competition,  which  is  your  most  insidious 
danger,  will  be  a  thing  of  the  past. 

Results  of  Uniform  Accounting  in  Iron  and  Steel  Industry. 

The  excellent  financial  condition  of  the  iron  and  steel  industry 
in  recent  years  is  due  in  a  marked  degree  to  the  attention  iron 
and  steel  manufacturers  have  given  to  the  important  questions  of 
business  policy.  Perhaps  most  important  of  these  is  the  knowl- 
edge of  true  costs  of  production  and  distribution.  I  doubt  if  there 
is  another  industry  in  the  United  States  where  conditions  in  this 
respect  are  as  satisfactory;  where  the  destinies  of  the  industry 
have  been  as  wisely  safeguarded  by  adequate  provisions  for  exhaus- 
tion of  capital,  both  of  plant  and  natural  resources;  where  there 
is  as  careful  a  study  of  methods  of  lowering  costs  and  increasing 
efficiency.  It  is  a  gratifying  fact  that  practically  all  iron  and  steel 
manufacturers  are  recording  and  classifying  their  costs  on  a  sub- 
stantially uniform  basis,  are  distributing  their  overhead  expense 
by  the  same  methods,  and  are  adequately  providing  for  depreciation 
and  exhaustion.  It  will  be  a  proud  day  for  the  bituminous  coal 
mining  industry  when  as  much  can  be  said  for  it! 

The    Contrast  in   Bituminous   Coal  Mining. 

But  what  is  the  picture  in  your  bituminous  coal  fields?  It  is 
said  that  the  mines  could  readily  produce  icx>,ooo,ooo  tons  in 
excess  of  what  can  now  be  marketed  at  a  profit.  It  is  estimated  by 
reputable  authorities  that  for  every  ton  sold  half  a  ton  is  left  in 
the  ground.  This  means  that  for  the  600,000,000  tons  of  bituminous 
that  will  be  mined  this  year  approximately  300,000,000  tons  will  be 
lost,  of  which  possibly  200,000,000  tons  could  be  saved  under 
thoroughly  efficient  conditions  in  the  industry.  Moreover,  it  is  the 
cream  of  our  coal  resources  that  we  are  wasting  so  prodigally. 
We  are  now  mining  in  the  best  and  most  accessible  seams,  and 
the  greater  the  present  waste,  the  sooner  we  shall  be  forced  back 
upon  the  poorer  and  less  accessible  coals  that  will  constitute  the 
supply  for  the  future.  More  serious  for  today  than  waste  of 
coal  is  the  surprising  waste  of  labor.  Of  our  600,000  bituminous 


448         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

miners,  approximately  500,000  are  idle  from  60  to  100  working 
days  per  year.  In  Illinois  the  mines  ordinarily  run  only  180  days 
a  year  and  over  70,000  men  must  be  maintained  in  idleness  three 
to  four  months  out  of  every  twelve. 

Such  inefficiencies  as  these  should  not  be  tolerated  in  any  well- 
ordered  business  or  nation.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  financial  writers 
strongly  criticise  the  conditions  in  an  industry  where  inefficiencies 
like  these  are  found?  They  say  that  for  years  the  credit  of  bitu- 
minous coal  operators  has  been  far  from  good;  that  bankers  have 
hesitated  to  advance  adequate  loans;  and  that  the  list  of  dividend 
payers  is  chiefly  remarkable  for  its  brevity. 

What  the  Operators  Can  Do  for  Themselves. 

In  some  degree  the  difficulties  of  the  bituminous  coal  mining 
industry  are  due  to  the  faulty  business  methods  of  the  operators. 
Many,  as  I  have  said,  do  not  have  accurate  cost  accounting  sys- 
tems and  the  greater  number  do  not  make  proper  charges  for  the 
depreciation  of  mining  equipment  or  for  the  depletion  of  coal  lands. 
Moreover,  many  companies  fail  to  allow  for  the  constant  increase 
in  the  cost  of  mining  coal  which  necessarily  results  from  the  ex- 
tension of  the  mine  workings.  When  the  mines  are  first  opened  and 
the  coal  is  being  taken  from  ground  near  the  openings — haulage, 
drainage,  ventilation,  and  upkeep  costs  are  all  at  a  minimum. 
But  as  the  workings  are  pushed  out  farther  from  the  openings,  the 
coal  must  be  hauled  farther  underground,  more  water  must  be 
pumped,  more  power  must  be  used  for  ventilation,  and  more  men 
must  be  employed  in  caring  for  this  work.  If  the  mining  com- 
panies do  not  make  proper  allowance  for  this  natural  increase  in 
their  costs,  and  from  the  beginning  of  their  business  make  their 
prices  with  this  fact  in  mind,  they  must  expect  to  suffer  the  finan- 
cial hardships  that  usually  overtake  the  short-sighted  man  in  any 
business. 

The  presence  of  inefficiencies  on  a  large  scale  in  an  industry 
is  an  indication  of  serious  trouble.  But  the  first  question  in  seek- 
ing a  remedy  is,  What  can  the  patient  do  for  himself?  Undoubt- 
edly, better  business  methods  on  the  part  of  individual  operators, 
accurate  cost  accounting  systems,  and  price-making  policies  that 
have  a  sensible  regard  for  the  inevitable  rise  in  the  costs  as  the 
mines  develop,  can  effect  much  improvement. 

One  of  the  most  helpful  ways  in  which  improvement  in  cost 
accounting  can  be  effected  is  through  the  study  and  establishment 


THE  FEDERAL  TRADE  COMMISSION  449 

of  uniform  methods  of  cost  accounting  by  associations  of  operators 
in  different  districts,  or  even  in  the  industry  as  a  whole.  Such  uni- 
form, systematic,  and  scientific  methods  of  cost  accounting  have 
been  adopted  with  marked  success  by  cartels  in  various  industries  in 
Germany.  Frequently  special  comptrollers,  or  "revision  officials," 
visit  the  plants  of  the  members  and  make  sure  that  all  co-operate 
on  the  same  basis,  so  that  the  entire  cartel  operates  as  a  unit. 

Where  the  Pinch  Comes. 

But  many  of  the  bituminous  coal  mine  operators  of  the  United 
States  hold  that  their  experience  has  taught  them  that  when  all 
has  been  done  that  they  can  do  to  improve  business  methods,  a 
fundamental  difficulty  will  remain.  They  believe  that  the  primary 
cause  of  the  wastes  and  inefficiencies  of  the  industry  is  unre- 
stricted_  competition.  With  a  vast  area  of  undeveloped  coal  lands 
on  which  mines  can  at  any  time  be  opened,  and  an  ever-present 
potential  overproduction  from  mines  already  in  operation,  com- 
petition tends  to  force  the  price  of  bituminous  at  the  mines  to  the 
level  of  the  lowest  cost  of  production. 

This  lowest  cost  of  production,  though  sometimes  obtained  by 
highly  efficient  methods  of  mining,  is  too  often  obtained  by  min- 
ing only  coal  which  can  be  taken  out  most  cheaply  and  abandoning 
all  the  rest;  by  skimping  on  the  installation  of  safety  devices  and 
risking  accidents  and  explosions;  by  cutting  depreciation  and  de- 
pletion charges  to  the  minimum  or  wholly  disregarding  them;  by 
considering  only  the  low  initial  cost  of  mining,  and  not  the  later 
higher  costs — in  short  by  all  the  objectionable  tactics  which  lead  to1 
inefficiency  and  waste  of  coal  and  human  life. 

That  is  where  the  pinch  comes.  The  operators  believe  that 
unrestricted  competition  places  a  premium  on  inefficiency,  on  waste 
of  the  natural  resources,  and  on  disregard  of  life.  They  believe  it 
puts  it  beyond  the  power  of  the  operators  themselves  to  effect 
their  own  cure.  They  believe  collective  action  with  constructive 
aid  and  regulation  by  the  Government  is  necessary  for  any  effective 
remedy.  With  this  analysis  and  view  labor  organizations  in  the 
industry  agree. 

The  Problem  Put  Up  to  the  Federal  Trade  Commission. 

This  is  a  significant  situation.  The  people  in  a  basic  industry — 
operators  and  miners  together — tell  us  that  their  industry  has  for 
years  been  tending  increasingly  to  demoralization  as  its  normal 


450         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

condition,  and  that  periods  of  prosperity  are  notable  exceptions  to 
the  rule.  They  lay  their  cards  on  the  table  and  ask  the  Govern- 
ment for  searching  study  of  the  facts  and  such  relief  in  the  com- 
mon interest  as  the  facts  warrant.  That  is  the  problem  put  up  to 
the  Federal  Trade  Commission.  At  the  direction  of  Congress  it 
is  organizing  a  thorough-going  inquiry,  and  when  it  has  all  the 
facts  before  it,  it  will  make  constructive  recommendations  to  Con- 
gress, which  it  hopes  will  reach  to  the  roots  of  the  trouble. 

Intelligent  competition  is  an  adequate  regulator  for  most  of 
our  industries.  Government  regulation  is  not  necessary  or  desir- 
able as  a  general  policy  in  this  country.  We  do  not  need  it.  Com- 
petition, intelligently  directed,  may  be  relied  on  in  nearly  all  cases 
to  take  care  of  both  public  and  private  interests. 

But  exceptional  cases  may  arise  when  competition  fails  to  reg- 
ulate. If  such  a  case  does  arise,  Government  should  step  in  and 
regulate;  it  should  use  its  power  in  behalf  of  the  common  interest 
to  do  what  competition  failed  to  do. 

If  the  Federal  Trade  Commission's  study  establishes  beyond 
dispute  that  bituminous  coal  mining  is  an  industry  that  can  <:ure  its 
troubles  simply  by  greater  efficiency,  more  intelligent  competition, 
and  such  co-operation  as  the  law  now  permits  ior  improving  con- 
ditions, then  the  matter  is  up  to  the  operators  themselves.  The 
Commission  will  glady  give  such  help  and  suggestion  as  it  can;  but 
the  industry  must  take  itself  in  hand  and  work  out  its  own  sal- 
vation. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  the  facts  show  that  in  this  industry  un- 
restricted competition  is  the  primary  cause  of  business  ills,  rather 
than  a  cure  for  them,  then  the  matter  is  up  to  Congress  and  to  the 
public.  I  personally  would  favor  any  measure  of  Government  reg- 
ulation that  may  be  found  necessary  and  suitable  in  order  to  effect 
a  real  remedy.  In  my  judgment,  if  ruinous  and  destructive  com- 
petition exists  in  a  great  industry  like  this,  it  cannot  be  allowed 
to  go  on.  The  waste  of  human  life,  the  waste  of  coal,  the  waste 
of  labor  and  the  resultant  loss  of  wages,  the  financial  instability  of 
the  large  investments  in  this  industry  vitally  concern  the  national 
welfare.  When  we  have  diagnosed  the  disease,  when  we  have 
found  the  cause,  we  must  not  hesitate  to  apply  the  remedy.  Our 
vision  must  not  be  narrow;  we  must  look,  not  to  the  past,  but  to 
the  future.  If  the  well-being  of  a  great  industry  demands  a  for- 
ward step  in  national  policy,  let  us  not  be  afraid  to  take  it. 

But  whatever  the  outcome  of  the  Federal  Trade  Commission's 


THE  FEDERAL  TRADE  COMMISSION  451 

inquiry,  one  great  practical  benefit  ought  to  result.  It  is  my  hope 
that  the  Commission's  careful  analysis  of  the  costs  of  bituminous 
coal  companies  in  all  the  different  fields  will  develop  a  broad  and 
sound  basyis  for  uniform  accounting  methods,  either  in  the  separate 
fields  or  possibly  in  the  industry  as  a  whole.  If  this  can  be  brought 
about,  you  will  have  taken  a  long  step  toward  the  realization  of 
your  inspiring  watchwords — safety,  Efficiency,  and  Conservation — 
and  you  will  be  ready  to  face  the  difficulties  in  your  path  with  new 
courage  and  intelligence. 


THE  COST  OF  COAL. 
By  Geo.  Otis  Smith  and  C.  E.  Lesher,  Washington,  D.  C. 

The  price  of  coal  is  a  matter  of  vital  concern  to  the  average 
citizen.  No  less  important,  however,  is  the  question  what  our  coal 
actually  costs  to  produce  and  the  interest  in  this  subject  is  typical 
of  the  popular  interest  in  the  large  productive  enterprises  of  the 
country.  As  citizens  we  recognize  the  consumer's  dependence  upon 
the  producer  and  are  taking  advanced  ground  as  to  their  relative 
rights.  In  few  industries  does  this  dependence  seem  more  vital  or 
the  consumer's  equity  appear  larger  than  in  that  of  producing  and 
selling  coal.  The  per  capita  annual  expenditure  for  the  useful 
metals  is  roughly  equivalent  to  that  for  coal,  but  few  citizens  pur- 
chase pig  iron  or  bar  copper,  whereas  of  the  urban  population  only 
the  dwellers  in  apartments,  boarding  houses,  and  hotels  are  spared 
the  necessity  of  buying  coal.  The  consumption  of  coal  in  the  United 
States  for  heating  and  cooking  is  between  i  and  il/2  tons  per  capita. 
A  careful  estimate  for  1915  is  i.i  tons,  which  happens  to  be  iden- 
tical with  the  figure  determined  for  similar  consumption  in  Great 
Britain  in  1898.  This  nonindustrial  consumption  is  greatest  in 
cities  and  in  this  city  of  Chicago  in  1912  it  was  nearly  2  tons.  Of 
course  every  citizen  indirectly  pays  for  his  share  of  the  total  con- 
sumption which  last  year  amounted  to  4.6  tons  per  capita. 

Again  it  may  be  that  because  to  a  larger  degree  the  cost  of 
metals  is  charged  to  capital  outlay  rather  than  to  the  operating 
expense  of  life,  we  appreciate  less  keenly  the  unit  price  of  these 
materials  that  are  not  immediately  consumed  with  the  using.  At 
any  rate,  public  opinion  is  more  easily  brought  to  a  high  tempera- 
ture by  considering  the  price  of  coal  than  by  considering  the  price 
of  any  other  product  unless  we  except  gasoline,  recent  discussion  of 
which  has  been  almost  explosive. 

Looking  backward  as  well  as  forward,  one  need  not  be  an 
alarmist  to  suggest  that  in  the  whole  field  of  productive  business  the 
coal  industry  seems  the  one  most  likely  to  be  threatened  with  Gov- 
ernment operation.  The  foodstuffs  are  produced  on  land  owned 
and  operated  by  the  millions,  and  so  far  as  the  production  of  the 
raw  material  for  them  is  concerned,  "monopoly"  is  an  unknown 


THE  COST  OF  COAL  453 

word,  but  when  we  think  of  coal,  terms  like  "barons"  and  "trusts" 
instinctively  come  to  mind.  For  these  reasons  the  determination  of 
certain  facts  connected  with  coal  production  and  the  analysis  of 
the  cost  elements  that  enter  into  the  price  of  coal  constitute  a  timely 
subject  for  discussion. 

In  discussing  costs,  however,  we  do  not  overlook  the  too  evi- 
dent fact  that  at  times  price  may  far  outstrip  cost.  The  price  of 
coal  depends  upon  the  balance  between  necessity  for  fuel  on  the 
one  hand  and  ability  to  produce  and  to  deliver  on  the  other;  the 
ability  to  produce  is  in  turn  controlled  by  the  labor  available  and 
the  ability  to  deliver  is  dependent  upon  car  supply.  Increased  for- 
eign demand  for  American  coal,  large  industrial  consumption, 
unusual  weather — all  may  have  great  influence  on  the  current  price 
of  coal,  but  none  of  these  is  to  be  considered  a  factor  in  the  actual 
cost  of  production  except  so  far  as  it  causes  irregularity  in  operat- 
ing expenses  and  promotes  a  decrease  in  efficiency  of  mine  labor. 
Today  high  prices  are  being  received  for  coal  by  those  who  are  able 
to  produce  and  deliver  more  than  their  outstanding  contracts 
require.  In  other  words,  a  few  operators  may  be  able  and  willing 
to  capitalize  the  urgent  necessity  of  the  consumer  and  their  own 
ability  to  deliver.  The  premium  for  fuel  now  being  paid  generally 
by  the  consumers  of  the  country  and  by  such  trades  as  have  been 
caught  short  in  their  contracts  is  in  reality  not  properly  chargeable 
to  cost  of  coal  but  to  cost  of  car  and  labor  shortage,  just  as  in  the 
times  of  stress  accompanying  labor  troubles  the  premium  paid  by 
their  consumers  is  a  part  of  the  price  the  country  pays  for  strikes. 

Four  general  items  of  cost  must  be  considered  as  normally 
controlling  the  price  of  coal  to  the  consumer — resource  cost,  mining 
cost,  transportation  cost,  and  marketing  cost.  Under  usual  con- 
ditions each  of  these  items  includes  a  margin  of  profit  which  may 
seem  either  excessive  or  inadequate,  according  to  your  point  of 
view.  Yet  an  unbiased  consideration  of  these  cost  items  is  abso- 
lutely essential  as  a  preliminary  to  the  decision  by  the  public 
whether  we  are  buying  coal  at  a  fair  price,  and  if  not  why  not.  As 
long  as  it  is  the  popular  view  that  the  price  of  coal  is  made  up  of 
one  part  each  of  mining  costs  and  freight  costs  to  two  parts  each 
of  operator's  profits  and  railroad  dividends,  with  the  cost  of  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  needless  waste  on  the  side,  the  demand  for  investi- 
gation will  continue,  and  in  so  far  as  there  is  any  element  of  truth 
in  this  view,  legislative  action  is  justified,  even  though  the  pre- 


454         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

scribed  reform  may  approach  the  extreme  of  public  ownership  and 
operation  of  mines  and  railroads. 

As  the  initial  item  of  cost,  the  amount  charged  against  the 
marketed  product  as  the  value  of  the  coal  in  the  ground,  which  for 
brevity  may  be  termed  the  resource  cost,  is  perhaps  the  item  most 
often  overlooked  by  the  coal  consumer,  and  for  this  reason  that 
phase  of  the  subject  will  be  fully  considered  after  the  other  items 
are  treated.  These  other  items  need  less  discussion  in  this  paper 
for  several  reasons:  the  item  of  marketing  cost  is  one  that  can  be 
brought  directly  under  observation  by  the  consumer  if  he  will  but 
study  the  matter  intelligently,  the  transportation  cost  can  be  learned 
by  simple  inquiry  and  its  control  lies  within  the  province  of  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  and  the  details  of  mining  cost 
can  best  be  set  forth  by  the  mine  operators  themselves,  for  they 
have  now  adopted  the  policy  of  free  discussion  of  these  matters, 
which  they  once  regarded  as  sacred  from  public  view.  The  purpose 
of  this  paper,  then,  is  simply  to  give  a  summary  statement  of  all 
these  elements  in  the  cost  of  coal,  and  some  special  discussion  of 
the  resource  cost.  In  presenting  the  subject,  the  senior  author 
assumes  responsibility  for  whatever  may  be  regarded  as  mere  ex- 
pressions of  opinion  and  the  junior  author  stands  behind  the  state- 
ments of  fact- 

The  item  of  cost  first  to  be  considered  represents  that  part  of 
the  value  given  to  the  ton  of  coal  by  the  mine  operator  and  the 
mine  worker.  This  may  be  termed  mining  cost,  but  it  must  include 
the  operator's  selling  costs  and  other  overhead  expenses  as  well  as 
the  mining  costs  proper  which  include  the  larger  expenditures  for 
wages,  supplies,  and  power.  This  cost  plus  the  resource  cost — the 
royalty  or  depletion  charge — and  the  profit  or  loss  on  the  sale  make 
up  the  value  at  the  mine  mouth.  The  mining  cost  varies  not  only 
between  mines  of  different  companies  in  separated  fields  but  even 
between  adjacent  mines  of  the  same  company  in  the  same  field. 
Both  nature  and  man  contribute  to  such  variation. 

It  is  not  practicable  to  assign  a  very  exact  figure  to  the  mining 
cost — the  census  of  1909  indicated  an  average  of  $i  a  ton  for 
bituminous  coal  and  $1.86  for  anthracite,  but  these  figures  are 
believed  by  some  operators  to  be  too  low.  It  is  possible,  however, 
to  show  in  a  general  way  the  distribution  of  this  item;  the  cost  of 
mining  is  divided  between  labor,  70  to  75  per  cent ;  materials,  16 
to  20  per  cent ;  general  expense  at  mine  and  office  and  insurance, 
2  to  4  per  cent ;  taxes,  less  than  i  per  cent  to  3  per  cent  for  bitumin- 


THE  COST  OF  COAL  455 

ous  coal,  and  3  to  7  per  cent  for  anthracite;  selling  expenses, 
nothing  to  5  per  cent,  and  recently  to  these  items  has  been  added 
the  direct  and  indirect  cost  of  workman's  compensation  which  may 
reach  5  per  cent  for  bituminous  coal.  The  charges  for  labor,  mate- 
rial, and  general  office  expenses  are  easily  understood,  as  is  also 
a  charge  for  depreciation  of  plant  and  machinery;  but  taxes  and 
selling  expenses  are  important  items  that  may  be  overlooked  by 
the  casual  observer.  Some  figures  recently  published  show  that 
the  taxes  levied  in  West  Virginia  last  year  on  coal  lands  and  coal- 
mine improvements — that  is,  on  the  industry  as  a  whole — were 
equivalent  to  nearly  3  cents  per  net  ton  of  coal  produced,  which  is 
doubtless  fully  as  much  as  the  profit  made  by  many  of  the  opera- 
tors in  that  state. 

The  cost  of  selling  coal  is  nothing  for  the  companies  that  use 
their  own  product,  including  the  Steel  Corporation  and  a  large 
number  of  others,  and  is  little  or  nothing  for  the  producers  who 
sell  nearly  all  their  coal  to  such  large  consumers  as  the  railroads. 
Companies  that  produce  coal  for  domestic  use  and  the  general  run 
of  steam  trade  must  figure  on  a  selling  cost  as  high  as  10  cents  or 
more  per  ton,  the  cost  depending  on  the  extent  of  their  business. 
The  average  selling1  cost  for  bituminous  coal  is  probably  5  to  10 
cents  a  ton,  and  for  anthracite  the  usual  charge  of  sales  agencies 
is  reported  as  10  cents  a  ton  for  steam  sizes  and  15  cents  for  the 
prepared  sizes. 

The  producers  of  coal  and  the  transportation  companies  are 
concerned  not  so  much  with  the  actual  rates  charged  for  carrying 
coal  as  with  the  adjustment  of  rates  between  different  coal  fields 
and  between  different  markets.  In  the  many  years  in  which  our 
coal  industry  has  been  developing,  rate  structures  have  been  built 
up  that  give  to  this  and  that  producing  district  differentials  over 
other  districts — "handicaps,"  as  it  were — that  may  be  based  on 
comparative  lengths  of  haul  or  on  the  ability  of  the  coals  to  com- 
pete by  reason  of  difference  in  quality  or  in  cost  of  mining  or  per- 
haps may  be  merely  the  survival  of  past  practice,  for  which  no 
reason  now  exists.  The  consumer  of  coal,  however,  is  interested  in 
the  actual  rather  than  the  relative  freight  rate. 

To  help  toward  a  realization  of  the  magnitude  of  this  trans- 
portation item,  it  may  be  pointed  out,  first,  that  all  but  14  per  cent 
of  the  output  of  the  country's  coal  mines,  aggregating  532  million 
tons,  is  moved  to  market  by  rail  or  water,  and  second,  that  nearly 
half  of  the  bituminous  coal  (47  per  cent  in  1915)  and  more  than 


456         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

two-thirds  of  the  anthracite  (71  per  cent  in  1915)  is  shipped  out- 
side of  the  states  in  which  it  is  produced. 

Add  to  this  statement  of  the  extent  to  which  coal  enters  inter- 
state commerce  a  glance  at  the  distribution  of  centers'  of  maximum 
production  and  maximum  consumption — the  New  York-Baltimore 
industrial  zone,  which  has  a  total  per  capita  consumption  of  nearly 
10  tons  and  lies  100  to  .400  miles  from  the  tributary  coal  fields; 
New  England,  consuming  about  7  tons  to  the  unit  of  population 
and  lying  400  to  800  miles  from  its  coal  supply;  or  the  populous 
industrial  district  of  which  Chicago  is  the  commercial  center,  con- 
suming 8  to  9  tons  per  capita  of  coal  in  part  hauled  more  than  400 
miles  from  the  fields  of  West  Virginia  and  eastern  Kentucky  and 
in  part  200  miles  or  less  from  the  Illinois  mines.  With  these  facts 
in  mind  we  must  realize  that  the  transportation  cost  is  necessarily 
a  large  part  of  the  country's  fuel  bill. 

As  has  already  been  suggested,  the  transportation  rate  in  force 
from  any  coal  fields  to  any  market  can  readily  be  learned  by  the 
consumer  who  wishes  to  figure  this  item  in  the  cost  of  the  coal 
he  buys.  Therefore  in  the  present  general  consideration  of  the 
subject  it  is  sufficient  to  state  the  average  value  of  this  item.  In 
the  interstate  traffic,  both  rail  and  water,  bituminous  coal  probably 
pays  an  average  freight  of  nearly  $2  per  ton.  In  other  words,  the 
transportation  costs  more  than  the  product  and,  as  some  parts  of 
the  country  are  just  now  learning,  is  sometimes  more  difficult  to 
obtain.  The  value  of  coal  like  the  value  of  so  many  other  com- 
modities, is  a  place  value. 

The  average  freight  charge  on  anthracite  is  higher  than  that 
on  bituminous  coal,  first  because  the  rates  are  higher  and  second 
because  according  to  the  reports  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission, all  movement  considered,  the  coal  is  carried  a  greater  dis- 
tance. 

The  cost  of  handling  the  coal,  exclusive  of  freight,  from  the 
time  it  leaves  the  producer  until  it  is  in  the  consumer's  fuel  bin, 
may  be  termed  the  marketing  cost.  It  can  readily  be  seen  that  a 
large  part  of  the  coal  produced  is  not  subject  to  this  cost  for  most 
large  users  of  steam  coal,  such  as  the  railroads  and  the  coke  manu- 
facturers, place  contracts  directly  with  the  producing  companies 
or  their  selling  agencies  and  buy  in  the  open  market  only  when 
their  needs  exceed  the  deliveries  under  their  contracts.  Much  of 
the  coal,  however,  both  anthracite  and  bituminous,  passes  through 
the  hands  of  a  wholesale  dealer  or  jobber  before  it  is  received  by 


THE  COST  OF  COAL  457 

the  retail  dealer  who  puts  it  in  our  cellars  or  in  the  bins  of  a  power 
plant.  Coal  that  gets  a  long  way  from  the  mine  may  pass  through 
many  hands  before  it  reaches  the  consumer,  and  it  not  only  pays 
commissions  all  along  the  line  but  is  subject  to  shrinkage  and 
deterioration,  both  of  which  enter  into  the  final  selling  price  to 
the  consumer.  Brokers  are  usually  satisfied  to  make  a  gross  profit 
of  perhaps  10  cents  a  ton,  but  as  several  brokers  may  make  a  ''turn 
over"  on  the  same  car  before  it  is  unloaded  this  element  of  cost 
may  be  several  times  that  amount. 

About  half  of  the  anthracite  and  around  15  per  cent  of  the 
bituminous  coal  is  retailed  in  less  than  carload  lots,  and  the  greatest 
number  of  individuals  are  directly  concerned  in  the  marketing  of 
this  portion,  regarding  the  profits  on  which  there  is  the  widest 
divergence  of  opinion.  The  margin  in  the  retail  business  between 
cost  on  cars  and  price  delivered  is  between  $1.25  and  $2  a  ton  and 
is  not  more  than  enough  to  give  on  the  average  a  fair  profit.  The 
shrinkage  and,  in  part,  the  deterioration  are  together  seldom  less 
than  i  per  cent  of  the  weight  and  may  exceed  4  per  cent,  and  the 
retail  dealer  also  must  provide  in  his  selling  price  for  uncollectable 
accounts. 

Advertising  is  a  large  expense — in  part  carried  by  the  retailer 
directly  but  all  borne  by  the  industry.  The  largest  single  item 
in  the  cost  of  retailing  is  of  course  that  representing  the  labor  of 
handling  and  the  local  cartage,  which  together  make  up  about  half 
the  marketing  cost. 

There  now  remains  to  be  considered  the  first  major  item,  or 
the  resource  cost,  which  is  what  the  operator  has  to  pay  for  the 
coal  in  the  ground — the  idle  resource,  which  he  starts  on  its  career 
of  usefulness.  This  cost  is  expressed  as  a  royalty  or  a  depletion 
charge. 

One  of  the  latest  leases  by  a  large  coal-land  owner  provides 
for  the  payment  of  27  per  cent  of  the  selling  price  of  the  coal  at 
the  breaker.  This  percentage  is  therefore  not  only  a  royalty  figured 
on  the  mineral  resource  but  also  a  commission  based  on  the  miner's 
wage.  To  bring  this  right  home  to  you  and  to  me,  it  may  be  said 
that  the  practical  result  is  that  if  the  anthracite  we  burn  in  our 
range  this  winter  happens  to  come  from  that  particular  property, 
we  will  pay  fully  $i  a  ton  into  the  treasury  of  the  city  trust  that 
owes  its  existence  to  the  far-seeing  business  sense  of  a  hard-headed 
citizen  of  Philadelphia.  Whether  such  a  royalty  is  excessive  or 


458         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

not  the  fact  remains  that  this  is  the  tribute  paid  to  private  owner- 
ship. 

The  present  average  rate  of  royalty  on  anthracite  is  probably 
between  32  and  35  cents  a  ton  on  all  sizes,  which  is  from  12  to  14 
per  cent  of  the  selling  value  at  the  mine.  The  minimum  rate  (about 
10  per  cent)  is  found  in  some  old  leases,  and  the  maximum  (20  to 
27  per  cent)  in  leases  made  in  the  last  five  years.  R.  V.  Norris 
states  that  in  the  late  sixties,  when  the  annual  output  of  anthracite 
was  around  15,000,000  tons,  royalties  were  8  to  10  cents  a  ton  on 
prepared  sizes,  but  that  no  charge  was  made  on  the  smaller  sizes. 
In  the  seventies  the  rate  rose  to  25  cents  on  prepared,  one-half 
that  on  pea,  and  one-fourth  on  "smaller  sizes.  By  the  middle 
eighties,  when  the  output  was  a  third  what  it  is  now,  the  rate  was 
about  double  that  of  the  seventies — that  is,  40  to  50  cents  on  the 
larger  sizes  and  5  to  10  cents  on  the  smaller  sizes.  The  tendency 
is  still  upward  by  reason  of  increases  in  the  rates  for  intermediate 
sizes  and  the  operation  of  royalty  rates  based  on  a  percentage  of 
the  selling  value,  an  increasing  quantity.  Figured  on  the  output 
from  the  Girard  lands,  which  is  nearly  3  per  cent  of  the  total  pro- 
duction, the  gross  return  to  the  estate  from  its  coal  lands  is  over 
50  cents  a  ton. 

Nor  is  the  increase  in  value  of  anthracite  lands  any  less  strik- 
ing. At  the  beginning  of  the  last  century,  as  stated  by  Mr.  Norris, 
•the  great  bulk  of  these  lands  were  patented  by  the  State  of  Penn- 
sylvania for  $2  to  $4  an  acre;  in  the  middle  of  the  century  the 
price  of  the  best  land  rose  to  $50,  and  in  1875  even  to  $500.  Now 
$3,000  an  acre  has  been  paid  for  virgin  coal  land,  and  little  is  on 
the  market  at  that.  In  considering  these  increases  in  land  values, 
the  effect  of  interest  and  taxes  must  not  be  overlooked. 

The  bituminous  coal  industry  is  a  mo.dern  institution  compared 
with  the  mining  of  anthracite,  and  much  of  the  bituminous  coal 
land  was  acquired  by  the  operating  companies  during  the  last  20 
years  for  little  if  anything  more  than  its  surface  value.  Today 
there  are  large  areas  of  bituminous  coal-bearing  lands  that,  because 
they  are  undeveloped  and  without  railroads,  can  be  purchased  at 
a  low  price,  but  little  or  no  anthracite  land  is  on  the  market,  and 
little  has  changed  hands  for  years.  The  present  average  resource 
cost  of  bituminous  coal  is  not  much  over  5  cents  a  ton,  or  about 
4  per  cent  of  the  average  selling  value  at  the  mine.  In  the  Poca- 
hontas  region  and  the  Pittsburgh  district  the  royalties  are  much 
higher,  but  these  like  others  that  might  be  cited,  are  exceptions — 


THE  COST  OF  COAL  459 

one  due  to  coal  of  special  quality,  and  the  other  to  location — factors 
which,  incidentally,  are  exactly  those  that  have  assisted  in  making 
the  resource  cost  of  anthracite  what  it  is. 

Should  you  be  interested  in  summing  up  all  these  various  costs 
and  striking  a  balance  between  labor's  share  and  capital's  return, 
you  would  find  that  the  mine  worker,  the  trainman,  and  the  wagon 
driver  together  receive  fully  half  of  the  price  of  the  anthracite 
delivered  at  your  house,  and  the  same  three  classes  of  labor  receive 
not  less  than  half  the  price  paid  by  the  average  consumer  for  the 
cheaper  soft  coal.  In  a  similar  manner  the  average  return  on  the 
capital  invested  in  land,  mining  plant,  railroads,  and  coal  yard  may 
be  roughly  calculated,  with  the  result  that  landlord,  bondholder 
and  stockholder  of  coal  company  and  railroad  together  receive  about 
$1.15  from  the  ton  of  anthracite  and  only  50  to  75  cents  from  the 
ton  of  bituminous  coal,  and  of  either  of  these  amounts  the  mine 
operator's  share  is  only  a  small  fraction. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  analysis  of  costs  to  offer  any  cure- 
all  for  the  high  price  of  coal,  yet  some  comment  on  the  facts  pre- 
sented may  possess  values.  At  least  certain  lines  of  approach  can 
be  pointed  out  as  not  very  promising.  For  example,  anyone  who 
is  at  all  cognizant  of  the  trend  in  price  of  labor  and  material  can 
see  little  hope  of  relief  in  lower  costs  for  these  items.  Further- 
more, observation  of  the  advances  made  in  mining  methods  in  the 
last  decade  or  two  affords  slight  warrant  for  belief  in  any  charge 
of  wasteful  operation.  As  consumers  of  coal  we  might  do  well  to 
imitate  the  economy  now  enforced  by  the  producers  in  their  engi- 
neering practice.  In  the  northern  anthracite  field  machine  mining 
is  extracting  coal  from  22  and  24  inch  beds,  and  throughout  the 
anthracite  region  the  average  recovery  of  coal  in  mining  is  65  per 
cent,  as  against  40  per  cent  only  20  years  ago.  Nor  are  the  bitumin- 
ous operators  any  less  progressive  in  their  conservation  of  the  coal 
they  mine. 

Yet  it  must  be  remembered  that  conservation  of  a  natural 
resource  though  it  will  undoubtedly  be  of  direct  economic  benefit 
in  the  future,  is  not  essentially  a  cheapening  process ;  in  fact,  these 
increased  recoveries  of  coal  have  in  large  part  become  possible 
only  because  of  a  higher  market  price.  And,  following  further  this 
line  of  thought,  we  may  say  that  the  increased  safety  in  the  coal 
mines  that  has  come  through  the  combined  efforts  of  the  coal  com- 
panies, the  state  inspectors,  and  the  Federal  Bureau  of  Mines 
necessarily  involves  some  increase  in  cost  of  operation,  but  the  few 


460         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

cents  per  ton  thus  added  to  the  cost  is  a  small  price  to  pay  for  the 
satisfaction  of  having  the  stain  of  blood  removed  from  the  coal  we 
buy.  That  form  of  social  insurance  which  is  now  enforced  through 
the  workman's  compensation  laws  alone  adds  from  2  to  5  cents  a 
ton  to  the  cost  of  coal. 

In  the  item  of  transportation  perhaps  the  most  promising 
means  of  relief  is  that  of  reducing  the  length  of  haul.  Though 
many  a  consumer's  preference  for  coal  from  a  distant  field  over 
that  from  a  field  nearer  home  is  based  on  special  requirements,  the 
deciding  element  in  the  preference  of  other  consumers  is  simply  the 
price,  and  this  in  turn  may  be  largely  due  to  a  differential  freight 
scale,  which  is  thus  not  in  the  public  interest  if  we  admit  the 
premise  that  it  is  wasteful  to  burn  such  coal  in  hauling  coal  into 
coal  districts  or  past  such  districts,  except  in  so  far  as  quality  re- 
quirements absolutely  demand  the  long-haul  coal.  The  recent  east- 
ward movement  of  the  higher-grade  coals,  in  part  caused  by  the  ex- 
port demand,  may  involve  some  increase  in  the  average  length  of 
haul  and  thus  in  the  transportation  cost  of  coal  not  exported,  but  on 
the  other  hand  this  enforced  adjustment  may  lead  some  consumers 
to  discover  nearer  home  sources  of  coal  equally  well  suited  to  their 
purposes. 

Reduction  in  marketing  costs  is  a  reform  so  close  to  the  con- 
sumer that  he  should  be  able  to  find  for  himself  whatever  relief  is 
possible.  Professor  Mead,  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  is 
authority  for  the  statement  that  the  delivery  of  coal  is  costing  the 
dealers  50  cents  a  ton  more  than  is  necessary. 

There  only  remains,  therefore,  the  first  item  of  all — the  value 
of  the  coal  in  the  ground,  or  rather  the  return  which  the  land-owner 
is  asking  for  this  natural  resource.  The  fortunate  holder  of  coal 
land,  whether  a  very  human  individual  or  a  soulless  corporation 
or  a  large  trust  estate  administered  for  benevolence  only,  is  likely 
to  endeavor  to  get  all  that  the  traffic  will  bear.  Especially  in  the 
possession  of  a  limited  resource  like  anthracite,  the  tendency  has 
been  and  will  continue  to  be  to  increase  royalties  as  the  years  pass, 
and  the  only  penalty  imposed  by  the  state  for  high  royalties  seems 
to  be  high  taxes,  which  too  often,  indeed,  serve  to  justify  the  high 
resource  cost  put  upon  coal  in  the  ground.  Finally,  in  considering 
royalty  rates  or  depletion  charge  we  must  not  overlook  the  interest 
that  accumulates  throughout  the  period  between  the  purchase  of 
the  coal  land  and  the  removal  of  the  last  ton  of  coal. 


THE  COST  OF  COAL  461 

In  placing  a  value  upon  the  Choctaw  lands  some  years  ago  the 
Geological  Survey  figured  the  aggregate  royalties  at  current  rates 
as  160  million  dollars  but  if  that  amount  of  royalty  were  to  be 
collected  through  the  six  or  seven  centuries  required  for  mining 
the  two  thousand  million  tons  under  this  land,  the  present  value  of 
the  land  would  be  only  6l/2  million  dollars  if  purchased  by  the  Fed- 
eral Government  or  only  4  million  if  purchased  by  the  State  of 
Oklahoma,  and  even  less  if  the  project  were  financed  by  a  corpora- 
tion that  would  need  to  issue  6  per  cent  bonds.  Such  is  an  illus- 
tration from  actual  experience  in  coal-land  valuation — the  4  or  6 
million  dollars  invested  in  these  Oklahoma  coal  lands  now  would 
require  a  final  return  of  160  million  dollars  in  royalties  to  balance 
the  account. 

More  recently  Mr.  Gushing,  the  editor  of  Black  Diamond,  has 
figured  the  cost  of  a  monopolistic  control  of  the  available  coal 
resources  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  on  the  basis  of  the  United 
States  Geological  Survey  estimate  of  two  million  million  tons.  At 
a  valuation  of  coal  in  the  ground  of  only  i  cent  a  ton,  which  as  he 
stated  is  less  than  has  been  paid  for  large  holdings,  this  deal  would 
require  a  capitalization  of  20  billion  dollars,  and  the  fixed  charges 
on  the  bonds  of  this  United  States  Coal  Corporation  would  require 
an  interest  charge  alone  of  $2  a  ton  against  a  production  of  600 
million  tons  a  year.  Mr.  Gushing  characterizes  such  a  financial 
undertaking  in  mild  terms  as  hopelessly  impossible,  and  yet  his 
figures,  which  do  not  include  taxes,  are  most  enlightening  as  afford- 
ing some  measure  of  the  cost  of  possessing  an  undeveloped  resource. 
Incidentally,  these  startling  figures  furnish  a  strong  argument  for 
the  present  policy  of  the  National  Government  in  retaining  owner- 
ship of  the  public  coal  lands,  at  least  up  to  the  time  when  the 
market  conditions  justify  the  opening  of  a  mine  and  then  either 
leasing  or  selling  a  tract  only  large  enough  for  that  operation.  The 
consumer  of  the  next  century  simply  cannot  afford  to  have  private 
capitalists  invest  today  in  coal  land  for  their  great  grandchildren 
to  lease. 

The  burden  that  seems  inevitable  under  unregulated  private 
ownership  of  a  natural  resource  like  coal  is  that  because  the  lands 
containing  these  national  reserves  of  heat  and  power  are  taxed  and 
because  the  individual  or  corporation  properly  charges  up  interest 
at  current  rates  on  his  large  holding,  the  consumer  must  pay  a 
resource  cost  which  takes  into  account  the  long  period  of  unde- 
velopment.  Even  the  high  rates  of  royalty  on  the  lands  of  the 
Girard  Estate  may  be  found  less  excessive  than  they  seem  if  a  cen- 


462         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

tury's  taxes  and  interest  charges  are  figured.  Yet  the  fact  remains 
that  the  royalty  for  anthracite  represents  a  much  large  proportion 
of  the  cost  of  the  mined  coal  than  any  bituminuous  royalties.  More- 
over, we  believe  the  highest  royalty  prevailing  in  the  anthracite 
region  has  far  more  influence  in  fixing  the  selling  price  than  the 
lower  rates  of  the  older  leases. 

Any  study  of  costs  in  the  coal  industry  finds  its  point  in  the 
question  not  who  but  what  fixes  the  price  of  coal.  The  cost  of 
mining  coal,  like  the  cost  of  living,  is  increasing.  Exact  mining 
costs,  however,  cannot  be  determined  until  the  operators  have  accom- 
plished their  reform  of  standardizing  accounting.  Too  often  the 
bituminous  operator  includes  in  his  account  only  the  two  largest 
and  most  obvious  items,  labor  and  material.  Thus,  when  the  market 
for  bituminous  coal  is  dull,  the  company  whose  land  costs  little 
.or  nothing  is  able  to  set  a  lower  limit  of  price  than  the  company 
whose  coal  must  stand  a  charge  of  5  to  10  cents  per  ton  or  even 
more,  be  that  charge  called  royalty,  depletion,  or  amortization.  At 
such  times  the  operator  with  the  larger  resource  cost  must  sell  at 
a  real  though  not  always  recognized  loss,  but  of  course  with  the 
hope  of  recouping  himself  at  times  of  high  prices  like  the  present,  if 
fortunately  he  has  any  coal  to  sell  not  already  contracted  for. 

Even  with  the  average  low  resource  cost  of  bituminous  coal, 
the  state  of  competition  that  is  tied  up  with  idle  and  half-worked 
mines  results  in  an  average  total  cost  that  is  little  below  the  average 
selling  price.  Of  course  in  this  business  there  are  those,  both  large 
operators  and  small,  who  make  a  profit  in  lean  as  well  as  in  fat 
years,  just  as  there  are  those  for  whom  the  prosperous  years  are 
too  infrequent  to  keep  them  out  of  the  hands  of  receivers. 

In  the  anthracite  fields  the  mining  costs  and  especially  the 
resource  costs  are  higher.  But  here,  with  an  average  market  demand 
that  normally  exceeds  or  at  least  equals  the  available  supply  (and 
with  the  passing  years  this  disparity  must  be  expected  to  increase), 
there  results  naturally  a  lack  of  competition  for  the  market.  Even 
gentlemen's  agreements  are  unnecessary  as  long  as  every  operator 
can  reasonably  expect  to  sell  his  product,  and  the  market  price  of 
anthracite  at  the  mine  must  therefore  tend  to  be  fixed  by  the  oper- 
ator who  has  the  largest  mining  and  resource  cost  rather  than  by 
his  neighbor  who  may  be  doubly  favored  with  a  mine  less  expensive 
to  work  and  a  lease  less  exacting  in  terms. 

Confessedly,  this  analysis  of  the  cost  elements  that  enter  into 
the  price  of  coal  emphasizes  our  lack  of  specific  facts,  which  can 


THE  COST  OF  COAL  463 

be  supplied  in  the  future  only  through  "installation  of  uniform 
cost-keeping  methods  and  uniform  and  improved  accounting  sys- 
tems" to  quote  from  the  declaration  of  purposes  of  the  Pittsburgh 
coal  producers.  With  the  results  of  such  bookkeeping  in  hand, 
more  definite  reply  can  be  made  to  the  public's  appeal  for  relief 
from  high  prices.  Yet  even  now  it  may  be  possible  to  suggest  how 
that  relief  will  eventually  be  obtained.  Study  of  present  conditions 
in  the  coal  mining  districts  fails  to  encourage  the  idea  of  govern- 
mental operation  of  the  seven  thousand  coal  mines  in  this  country. 
More  in  line  with  the  trend  of  public  sentiment  in  the  last  decade, 
however,  is  governmental  control  in  the  interest  of  the  consumer  by 
regulation  of  prices,  and  to  judge  from  the  facts  of  experience  in 
the  regulation  of  transportation  of  other  public  utilities,  the  public 
coal  commissions  will  be  given  sufficient  discretionary  powers  to 
safeguard  the  interests  of  producer  and  consumer  alike,  and  even 
mandatory  requirements,  either  legislative  or  executive,  will  be 
subject  to  judicial  review. 

Competition  seems  to  have  failed  of  late  years  -to  benefit  the 
consumer  of  coal.  In  the  bituminous  fields  the  competition  when- 
ever present  has  been  wasteful  and  in  the  anthracite  fields  there  has 
been  practical  absence  of  healthy  competition;  and  whether  too 
great  or  too  little  competition,  the  result  is  the  same — to  increase 
the  actual  cost  of  bituminuous  coal  by  saddling  the  industry  and  its 
product  with  the  fixed  charges  on  idle  or  semi-idle  mines  and  to 
raise  the  price  of  anthracite  coal  by  favoring  the  burdens  of  high 
resource  costs. 

In  estimating  the  aggregate  losses  incurred  by  society  by  reason 
of  the  large  number  of  mines  not  working  at  full  capacity,  the  facts 
to  be  considered  are  that  the  capital  invested  in  mine  equipment 
asks  a  wage  based  on  a  year  of  365  days  of  24  hours,  while  labor's 
year  averaged  last  year  only  230  days  in  the  anthracite  mines  and 
only  203  days  in  the  bituminous  mines  with  only  5  to  8  hours  to 
the  day. 

As  coal  is  more  an  interstate  than  an  intrastate  commodity, 
any  regulation  of  prices  needs  to  be  under  Federal  control,  and  to 
benefit  both  consumer  and  producer  such  control  cannot  stop  with 
transportation  and  mining  costs  but  must  stand  ready  to  exercise 
full  rights  as  a  trustee  of  the  people  over  the  coal  in  the  ground. 
The  private  owner  of  coal  land,  which  derives  its  real  value  from 
society's  needs  has  no  more  sacred  right  to  decide  whether  or  not 
that  coal  shall  be  mined  when  it  is  needed  by  society  or  to  fix  an 


464         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

exorbitant  price  on  this  indispensable  national  resource  than  the 
coal  operators  have  to  combine  for  the  purpose  of  exacting  an 
excessive  profit  from  the  consumer,  or  the  railroads  to  charge  all 
that  the  traffic  may  bear.  The  proposal  to  bring  landowner  under 
the  same  rule  as  mine  operator  and  coal  carrier  may  seem  radical, 
but  where  is  the  point  at  which  coal  becomes  the  resource  upon 
which  industrial  society  depends  for  its  very  life? 

Public  regulation,  however,  will  be  fair  and  indeed  in  the  long 
run  will  prove  beneficial  to  the  landowner  as  well  as  to  the  con- 
sumer, to  the  mine  worker  as  well  as  to  the  operator,  because  any 
such  agency  as  the  Federal  Trade  Commission,  in  its  control  of 
prices,  must  determine  costs,  and  as  we  interpret  the  present  atti- 
tude of  the  whole  coal-mining  industry  the  operators  are  willing 
to  rest  their  case  on  a  fair  determination  of  actual  costs  on  which 
their  profits  may  then  be  figured. 


WHAT  BECOMES  OF  THE  BENEFITS  OF  PRODUCTION 

EFFICIENCY? 

George  H.  Gushing,  Chicago,  111. 

Every  industry  in  passing  from  the  manual  labor  to  the  mechan- 
ical stage  must  necessarily  effect  certain  economies.  The  cost  of 
production  decreases  as  the  use  of  machines  increases  or,  to  put 
it  another  way,  the  volume  of  output  increases  per  unit  of  cost. 

The  coal  industry  has  in  about  twenty-five  years,  made  the 
transfer  so  completely  that  there  remains  no  mine  without  some 
mechanically  equipped  departments.  In  the  truly  modern  mine, 
only  one  act  in  the  entire  production  program  remains  to  be  fitted 
with  machinery. 

Between  the  time  when  in  the  memory  of  some  coal  operators 
everything  was  done  by  men  and  the  present  when  everything  is 
done  by  machines,  a  great  reduction  in  the  cost  must  have  and  has 
taken  place.  Yet  a  statement,  about  the  financial  results  of  coal 
mining  today  is  almost  identical  with  the  same  sort  of  a  statement 
made  twenty-five  years  ago.  The  struggle  between  the  miners  and 
the  operators  is  as  pointed  as  it  was  then.  It  is,  if  anything,  more 
so.  The  operators  take  refuge  behind  the  same  declaration  now 
as  they  did  then,  namely,  that  they  cannot  afford  to  pay  what  the 
men  demand. 

The  mortality  statistics  among  coal  companies  have  not  been 
collected  with  care,  but  those  who  have  watched  the  trade  know 
that  we  have  neither  saved  the  infants  nor  prolonged  the  life  of 
the  aged. 

The  economies  gained  by  the  use  of  machines  have  not  been 
used  to  relieve  the  condition  of  the  coal  trade.  In  some  mysterious 
way  they  have  been  swallowed.  Indeed,  in  going  over  the  records 
of  the  industry,  I  find  that  following  the  introduction  of  every 
money  saving  machine,  the  return  on  capital  invested  in  coal  mines 
has  shrunk. 

Coal  production  consists  after  all  is  said,  of  only  three  simple 
acts — cutting,  transporting,  and  preparing.  Of  course,  many  more 
things  enter  today,  but  they  are  not  essentially  parts  of  the  act  of 
getting  the  coal.  Within  those  three  simple  things,  the  economies 


466         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

have  been  effected  because  in  those  three  places  only  can  machinery 
be  applied  to  cut  the  cost.  All  other  machines  put  in  for  all  other 
purposes  can  do  nothing  but  increase  the  cost. 

Since  the  greater  efficiency  is  thus  confined  to  three  points 
which  can  be  studied,  it  is  easy  to  measure  the  economies  secured. 

In  the  rooms,  the  modern  cutting  machines  can  get  down  from 
100  to  150  tons  in  a  day  of  eight  hours.  I  know  of  one  mine  where 
each  machine  gets  250  tons  a  day.  That  is  exceptional.  By  con- 
trast, in  the  old  days,  a  miner  and  his  helper  could  do  no  more  than 
get  five  tons  a  day  while  working  ten  and  twelve  hours.  Some 
records  show  that  in  difficult  veins  the  men  got  two  and  one-half 
tons,  but  if  they  worked  fourteen  hours,  as  some  did,  and  used 
skill,  they  could  get  three  and  one-half  tons.  Thus  the  mining 
machine  is  easily  equal  to  fifteen  or  twenty  men  in  the  matter  of 
getting  down  the  coal.  The  economy  is  proportional. 

The  modern  mine  locomotive  can  make  easily  twenty  miles 
an  hour.  If  the  mule  makes  three  he  is  going  some.  The  locomo- 
tive can  haul  easily — I  am  conservative — thirty,  three  and  four-ton 
cars  to  the  trip.  The  mule  could  haul  but  few  cars  and  those  were 
small.  The  economy  there  is  also  proportional.  That  is,  the  loco- 
motive is  at  least  six  times  as  fast  and  ten  times  as  strong  as  the 
mule. 

I  have  seen  a  modern  hoisting  engine  lift  a  cage  from  300  to 
600  feet  with  two  large  pit  cars  of  coal  and  repeat  the  operation 
three  times  in  a  minute.  Those  who  were  operating  mines  twenty- 
five  years  ago  tell  me  that  the  old  hoisting  engines  would  lift  a 
cage  to  the  surface  only  occasionally.  In  some  cases  it  was  never 
sure  whether  a  car  which  started  for  the  top  would  ever  get  there. 

Also,  in  the  modern  main  bottom,  the  cars  are  self  caging;  the 
load  kicks  the  empty  off  the  platform  and  takes  its  place.  The 
empty  cars  automatically  switch  themselves.  In  the  old  mine  this 
work  had  to  be  done  by  man  power  with  much  pulling,  hauling,  and 
swearing. 

The  contrast  between  the  old  and  the  new  shaft  practice  sug- 
gests other  economies  proportional  first  to  the  greater  speed,  and 
second  to  the  greater  capacity  of  the  pit  cars  hoisted. 

If  we  say  that  in  these  three  simple  things  alone  is  condensed 
the  act  of  getting  coal  and  if  we  base  efficiency  on  the  greater  use 
of  time,  it  must  be  evident  that  the  cost  of  coal  getting  has  shrunk 
tremendously.  It  is  impossible  to  make  exact  comparisons  between 
these  two  periods  because  of  the  vast  change  in  all  coal  mining 


BENEFITS  OF  PRODUCTION  EFFICIENCY  467 

methods  in  that  period  of  time.  Still,  if  we  confine  our  thought 
to  the  mere  matter  of  getting  the  coal,  I  believe  the  men  of  experi- 
ence in  both  periods  will  agree  with  me  that  the  cost  of  getting  the 
coal  today  is  not  more  than  ten  per  cent  of  what  it  used  to  be. 

What,  then,  has  become  of  the  studiously  sought  economy? 
Why  is  it  that  the  cost  of  the  coal  to  the  operator  at  the  tipple  is 
as  much  as  or  more  than  it  used  to  be?  What  has  become  of  the 
saving  which  amounts  to  ninety  per  cent?  By  what  magic  has  it 
disappeared  so  completely  it  is  a  stranger  to  the  pockets  of  the 
operators  ? 

It  would  prove  entirely  too  tedious  to  attempt  to  trace  the 
devious  ways  by  which  this  assumed  ninety  per  cent  has  wandered 
away  from  home.  Instead,  I  am  going  to  group  the  many  avenues 
of  departure  under  what  I  shall  call  the  four  absorbents  of  economy. 
Some  of  these  are  either  legitimate  or  unavoidable.  Others  are 
mere  refinements  of  waste  which  have  standing  only  because  of 
indifference. 

The  most  oppressive  and  most  useless  of  these  absorbents  I 
shall  call  the  modern  tendency  toward  centralized  buying  while  the 
production  remains  decentralized.  I  might  say  that  this  is  the 
predatory  tendency  in  modern  business  but  I  shall  not  say  it.  I 
will  merely  think  it.  We  all  know  that  the  central  purchasing 
agent  is  a  modern  institution,  the  product  of  a  system  of  combina- 
tions allowed  in  everything  but  coal.  He  buys  an  enormous  ton- 
nage each  year.  He  gets  bids  on  his  coal  supply  from  twenty-five 
to  250  different  producers  and  wholesalers.  He  draws  a  salary 
solely  because  he  can  save  money  on  coal  purchases.  To  make 
his  job  good,  he  uses  his  power  to  the  best  advantage.  Having 
no  competitor  in  buying,  he  studiously  pits  salesman  against  sales- 
man until  he  gets  all  of  them  into  a  quarrelsome  mood  towards  each 
other  but  in  a  too  friendly  mood  towards  him.  They  thus  arrive 
at  the  point  where  each  is  willing  to  subject  his  company  to  a  loss 
rather  than  allow  a  competitor  to  make  a  profit  on  that  business  or 
to  come  out  even.  That  mood  is  what  the  purchasing  agent  is 
hired  to  create. 

We  have  one  of  those  amiable  buyers  located  here  in  Chicago. 
His  concern  uses  upwards  of  4,000  tons  of  coal  per  day.  He  has 
"welcome"  written  on  his  door  mat  and  he  lets  it  be  known  that 
this  means  "to  coal  salesmen  especially."  He  says  openly  that  if 
the  time  ever  comes  when  he  has  to  pay  as  much  as  cost  of  pro- 
duction for  his  coal,  his  company  will  open  its  own  mines.  He 


468         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

boasted  to  me  at  one  time  that  he  had  bought  thirty-five  cars  of 
Illinois  screenings  at  $2  a  car. 

Just  recently,  I  have  spent  a  little  time  checking  up  on  the  cost 
of  coal  to  a  number  of  railroads  who  also  have  adopted  centralized 
purchasing.  One  such  purchasing  agent  bought  two  sizes  of  coal. 
He  told  me  that  his  prices  were  most  liberal  to  the  operator.  Per- 
haps they  were  from  the  railroad  point  of  view.  Yet  the  mine  run 
price  he  pays  is  four  cents  a  ton  less  than  the  cost  of  production. 

All  the  other  railroads  observed  were  found  to  be  paying  less 
than  this  one. 

These  centralized  buyers  have  entrenched  themselves  in  their 
privilege.  The  concerns  they  represent  have  acquired  coal  lands 
and,  in  some  cases,  coal  mines.  They  thus  can  and  do  hang  the 
sword  above  the  operators'  heads  by  saying: 

"Sell  us  the  coal  we  need  for  less  than  cost  of  production  or 
we  will  mine  our  own.  What  then  will  become  of  your  productive 
capacity  ?" 

Part  of  the  operator's  economy  has  gone  into  that  hole.  The 
coal  mine  was  equipped  with  money  saving  machines  to  hand  the 
resultant  economy  over  to  the  central  purchasing  agent. 

The  second  absorbent  of  economy  is  unionism.  In  this  I  am 
not  indulging  in  partisanship,  I  merely  state  facts.  The  direct  tax 
upon  the  cost  of  coal,  to  support  the  union  amounts  to  about  half  a 
cent  a  ton.  This  is  only  a  small  beginning  of  what  the  union  means 
regardless  of  the  fact  it  will  average  close  to  $2,000,000  a  year. 

The  increase  in  the  cost  of  labor,  traceable  to  unionism,  varies 
with  the  different  fields.  But,  a  recent  compilation  shows  that  this 
on  the  average  amounts  to  upwards  of  fifty  cents  a  ton  in  the  last 
twenty-five  years.  That,  alone,  would  account  for  the  disappear- 
ance of  much  of  coal's  economy. 

This,  while  important,  covers  only  the  major  superficial  item 
of  expense.  Along  with  unionism  came  collective  bargaining.  With 
collective  bargaining  came  the  periodical  strikes  or  threats  of  such 
strikes.  This  in  turn  brought  a  need  for  a  reserve  productive 
capacity  to  allow  the  coal  mine  to  protect  the  public  against  pos- 
sible eventualities.  And,  the  resultant  storage  piles  emphasized  the 
period  of  summer  dullness  only  to  demand  still  larger  capacity  to 
meet  the  fall  rush  for  coal.  This  expanded  the  investment,  increased 
the  overhead  and  complicated  the  machinery  generally.  Naturally 
it  added  to  the  cost  of  coal  and  hence  subtracted  from  the  money 
won  by  economy. 


BENEFITS  OF  PRODUCTION  EFFICIENCY  469 

Then,  too,  the  worker  is  secure  in  his  position  since  unionism 
came.  He  is  only  human  and  hence  he  lost  his  efficiency  when  he 
no  longer  needed  to  display  it  to  hold  his  working  place.  In  one 
contract  period  alone  and  as  a  result  of  concessions  made  to  the 
union,  it  is  estimated  that  the  reduction  in  personal  efficiency  among 
the  miners  has  averaged  more  than  ten  per  cent. 

These  things  about  unionism  when  added  together,  explain 
where  other  parts  of  the  operator's  studiously  sought  and  dearly 
bought  economy  has  gone.  He  has  paid  for  economy  and  the  union 
has  taken  the  benefit  of  it  away  from  him. 

The  third  absorbent  of  economy,  I  call  the  social  spirit  of  the 
time.  I  do  not  take  any  stand  against  these  social  inclinations,  you 
understand.  They  are  delightful  things  to  think  about.  The  only 
thing  I  am  thinking  about  when  I  discuss  them  is  that  it's  curious 
to  find  a  pauper  so  strong  on  philanthropy  when  he  has  to  do  the 
giving. 

One  of  these  social  expressions  is  the  "mining  camp  beauti- 
ful." We  may  explain  this  in  many  ways  but  the  thing  which 
comes  most  readily  to  my  mind  is  that  it  is  a  covert  effort  to  wean 
the  miner  away  from  any  too  great  fondness  for  the  union  by 
planting  flower  gardens,  recreation  parks,  et  cetera,  under  his  nose. 
The  assumption  seems  to  be  that  if  you  can  fix  his  mind  on  peonies 
and  cabbages  he  will  not  lust  after  the  convention  hall  and  super- 
heated oratory. 

Of  a  piece  with  these  are  the  wash  houses,  the  amusement 
halls,  the  more  elaborate  expenditures  for  mining  villages,  the 
sewerage  systems,  the  staff  of  physicians,  the  hospital  and  their 
corps  of  trained  and  visiting  nurses. 

In  the  social  class,  also,  I  place  the  enactment  of  workman's 
compensation  laws.  The  expense  of  this  department  alone  amounts, 
in  most  states,  to  about  eight  to  ten  cents  a  ton  on  all  coal  mined. 
Coming  swiftly  down  the  same  road  is  a  scheme  for  old  age  pen- 
sions which  will  entail  a  still  greater  cost.  When  you  complicate 
both  of  these  things  by  the  cost  of  mine  insurance  to  cover  them, 
and  when  you  know  that  forty  to  sixty  per  cent  of  the  latter  fund 
is  eaten  up  by  the  mere  machinery  of  administration,  the  item  of 
expense  grows  to  be  pretty  big. 

Also,  in  the  social  class  belongs  the  safety  first  movement,  with 
its  underground  telephones,  its  teams  of  men  equipped  with  expen- 
sive apparatus  and  so  drilled  at  the  coal  company's  expense  they 
are  better  doctors  than  the  average  physician  in  a  large  city. 


470         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

In  the  same  category  may  be  placed  the  cost  of  the  extra  air 
and  escapement  shafts,  a  purely  modern  invention;  rescue  cham- 
bers below  ground  with  their  stocks  of  goods;  and  the  electric 
lighting  of  mines  and  better  air  supply  now  provided. 

If  you  make  a  total  of  the  cost  of  these  social  items,  and  if  you 
recall  that  the  old  time  operator  had  nothing  to  do  with  any  of  them, 
you  begin  to  understand  where  some  more  of  the  operator's  economy 
has  gone. 

The  fourth  absorbent  of  economy  I  call  the  administrative 
expense.  This  covers  a  multitude  of  things  with  which  the  old  time 
operator  had  nothing  to  do.  To  begin  with,  the  state  is  costing  its 
business  concerns  an  enormous  sum  of  money  these  days.  Most 
of  this  is  chargeable  directly  to  administrative  expense.  It  isn't 
always  what  the  State  actually  does  that  costs  the  money.  Often  it 
is  what  the  state  threatens  to  do.  For 'instance,  the  commonwealth 
is  presided  over  generally  speaking  by  a  politician  who  harbors  a 
deep  seated  and  insatiable  yearning  to  do  something  for  his  people. 
The  cost  of  that  something — no  matter  what  it  is — must  be  borne 
in  part  at  least  by  a  tax  upon  the  mines.  The  operators  set  out 
to  prove  that  the  people  do  not  want  or  need  that  thing  and,  even 
if  they  do,  the  mines  cannot  afford  to  give  it.  Thus  they  have  to 
fight  the  executive  and,  often,  even  to  fight  off  the  blood-thirsty 
voter  backed  by  the  whole  power  of  our  political  organization.  This 
fight  costs  money,  whether  the  battle  is  won  or  lost.  If  the  opera- 
tor tried  to  do  battle  alone,  the  cost  of  the  single-handed  conflict 
with  the  state  would  swamp  him  over  night.  Instead  of  doing  such 
a  foolish  thing,  operators  band  themselves  together  into  associa- 
tion. Thus  we  have  county  associations,  district  associations,  state 
associations,  interstate  associations,  and  national  associations.  All 
of  these  are  supported  by  dues  and  the  administrative  expense  of 
the  coal  mine  has  to  pay  all  of  them. 

The  state  and  the  railroads  have  come  to  be  about  the  same 
thing  in  these  enlightened  and  advanced  days.  The  railroad  we 
will  assume  wants  to  whet  its  appetite  for  gold  by  advancing  the 
rates  on  coal.  The  operator  has  either  to  pay  the  rates  or  to  pay 
the  cost  of  a  fight  that  he  may  avoid  paying  them.  Every  time  the 
railroads  thinks  it  wants  some  of  the  coal  man's  money,  it  costs  the 
coal  man  something  whether  the  railroad  gets  what  it  wants  or 
doesn't  get  it. 

Then,  too,  the  state  itself  has  growing  wants.  Its  list  of  essen- 
tials is  expanding  every  year.  To  satisfy  these  essentials,  taxes 


BENEFITS  OF  PRODUCTION  EFFICIENCY  471 

must  be  collected.  The  coal  man  pays  his  taxes  because  his  is  a 
visible  asset  which  cannot  escape  the  eye  of  the  assessor. 

These  various  items  are  all  chargeable  to  administrative  expense 
and  an  executive  these  days  is  not  considered  as  looking  out  for  the 
interests  of  his  company  unless  he  has  a  liberal  personal  expense 
account  chargeable  to  his  activities  in  some  of  these  lively  disputes. 

But,  the  administrative  expense  does  not  end  there.  We  have 
journeyed  a  long  way  from  the  old  days  when  there  was  warehous- 
ing in  the  coal  business.  Coal  has  fallen  in  line  with  the  spirit  of 
1916  which  is  expressed  in  the  slogan  "direct  from  the  mine  to 
you."  We  even  hear  these  days  of  "fresh  mined  coal."  What  we 
used  to  pay  as  warehousing  charges  we  are  now  paying — and  more 
— in  long  distance  telephone  calls,  telegraph  tolls,  demurrage 
charges,  reconsignment  charges,  special  discounts  to  grasping  buy- 
ers, and  what  not  in  order  to  keep  the  cost  moving  around  the  ware- 
house to  the  user. 

Because  of  this  mania  for  "fresh"  things — even  coal — we  have 
a  most  elaborate  organization  for  the  sale  of  coal.  This  has  become 
so  complete  and  so  splendid  it  might  almost  be  called  the  general 
sales  agent's  retinue.  It  is  costing  the  mines  of  the  middle  west 
from  twelve  to  eighteen  cents  a  ton  to  sell  their  domestic  coal  these 
days.  On  the  sale  of  steam  coal,  it  is  a  toss  up  between  direct  sell- 
ing expense  and  a  ten  cent  a  ton  commission  to  a  jobber.  A  more 
simple  and  efficient  organization  and  even  a  little  more  sensible 
method  of  distribution  would  reduce  that  cost  to  about  three  cents 
a  ton. 

Under  administrative  expense,  I  include  also  the  cost  of  what 
I  call  the  supernumeraries  around  the  mines.  These  comprise  men 
who  are  supposed  to  be  administrative  officers.  In  reality,  they 
are  but  policemen  and  timekeepers  because  they  have  been  robbed 
of  their  administrative  functions  by  the  rules  of  the  union.  How- 
ever, they  draw  salaries  for  what  they  seem  to  be  instead  of  for 
what  they  are  and  these  are  charged  against  the  coal.  Therefore, 
we  must  include  these  excess  salaries  in  administrative  expense, 
regardless  of  the  fact  that  the  title  holders  have  lost  or  misplaced 
their  functions. 

If  you  add  together  all  of  these  new  and  extraordinary  admin- 
istrative expenses,  I  believe  you  will  be  able  to  explain  where  a  lot 
of  the  operator's  result  of  economy  has  gone. 

Now,  if  you  add  together  the  totals  found  under  each  of  these 
four  absorbents,  you  will  find  that  the  new  outlay  exceeds  the  new 


472         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

economies  by  a  considerable  margin.  This  astounding  result  isn't 
so  hard  to  understand  when  you  realize  that  the  economies  have 
come,  in  pennies  per  ton,  from  three  sources,  while  expenditures, 
in  pennies  per  ton,  have  flown  through  four  subdivided  channels. 
Thus  is  explained  why  the  coal  industry  which  has  saved  literally 
hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  is  yet  worse  off  than  it  was  before 
it  started  to  save  a  cent. 

The  items  of  new  and  extraordinary  outlay  I  have  enumerated 
do  not  cover  the  list  by  any  means.  But,  by  indicating  directions 
taken  by  the  departing  money,  they  do  tell  what  has  become  of 
the  operator's  economies  brought  about  by  the  use  of  cost  cutting 
machines. 


THE  WORLD'S  OIL 'SUPPLY. 
By  Ralph  Arnold,  New  York. 

Introduction. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  paper  to  outline  the  status  and  possi- 
bilities of  the  oil  industry  throughout  the  world  and  to  discuss 
briefly  the  reason  why  the  world's  supply  is  not  inexhaustible,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  is  very  restricted,  and  for  that  reason  should  be 
conserved  to  the  best  advantage. 

In  preparing  a  paper  of  so  wide  a  scope  as  the  title  of  this 
one  implies,  it  becomes  necessary  not  only  to  seek  information  from 
first-hand  sources,  but  to  draw  liberally  from  published  data.  In 
addition  to  the  available  literature,  the  writer  has  had  the  co-opera- 
tion of  many  geologists,  particularly  of  Mr.  A.  Beeby  Thompson, 
the  well  known  English  petroleum  geologist,  whose  recent  visit  to 
the  United  States  was  most  timely  in  so  far  as  the  preparation  of 
this  paper  is  concerned. 

Importance  of  Oil. 

Petroleum  has  assumed  such  a  position  in  the  industrial  world 
in  the  last  few  years  as  to  place  it  among  the  first  group  of  minerals 
essential  to  civilization.  Food  is  cooked  with  it,  houses  heated  by 
it,  power  for  surface,  marine  and  aerial  transportation  is  furnished 
by  it,  machinery  lubricated  with  it,  and  it  enters  into  our  everyday 
life  in  manifold  other  ways.  As  one  man  tersely  put  it,  "We  are 
dependent  upon  petroleum  from  the  time  it  lubricates  the  wheels  of 
our  baby  carriage  until  it  performs  the  same  service  for  our  hearse." 

The  world's  production  of  crude  petroleum  in  1915  was  427,- 
695,347  barrels;  the  281,104,104  barrels  of  this  produced  in  the 
United  States  was  worth  an  average  of  about  80  cents  per  barrel, 
or  a  total  of  $224,883,283 ;  the  balance  of  the  world's  production 
was  worth  at  least  an  average  of  $1.00  per  barrel,  so  that  the  total 
value  of  the  entire  world's  production  for  that  year  was  approxi- 
mately $371,474,526.  The  value  of  the  derivatives  of  this  oil  could 
not  have  been  less  than  a  billion  to  two  billion  dollars. 


474         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

World's  Supply  Limited. 

Because  petroleum  is  a  natural  product  and  is  sometimes  pro- 
duced in  prodigal  quantities  in  certain  fields,  people  commonly  have 
the  notion  that  there  is  an  unlimited  supply  of  oil  in  the  earth's 
crust.  It  is  true  that  petroleum  or  associated  hydrocarbons  occur 
almost  universally,  especially  in  regions  of  sedimentary  rocks,  but 
it  is  likewise  true  that  petroleum  in  commercial  quantities  is  confined 
to  a  limited  number  of  restricted  areas  throughout  the  world.  As 
indicative  of  the  relatively  small  area  yielding  commercial  quantities 
of  petroleum,  it  might  be  mentioned  that  the  total  area  of  the  United 
States  is  3,025,640  square  miles;  the  proven  oil  producing  area  4,109 
square  miles,  or  13  one-hundredths  of  one  per  cent  of  the  entire 
area.  When  it  is  considered  that  the  United  States  is  the  most 
intensely  developed  of  the  important  oil  producing  countries,  it  can 
be  readily  understood  that  commercial  deposits  of  oil  are  rare. 

Why  Petroleum  Deposits  Are  Rare. 

A  study  of  the  chemical  and  physical  properties  of  petroleum, 
its  origin,  migration  and  accumulation,  makes  clear  why  its  dis- 
tribution is  so  wide,  but  its  segregation  in  commercial  deposits  so 
restricted.  In  the  first  place  it  is  a  liquid  at  ordinary  temperature, 
susceptible  to  evaporation  when  exposed  to  the  air,  and  never  a 
stable  compound  even  when  confined.  Slow  distillation  is  always 
taking  place  in  crude  petroleum,  generating  gas  which  tends  to 
expand  and  cause  migration  of  the  oil.  In  most  deposits  the  ten- 
dency to  migrate  because  of  the  generation  of  gas  is  augmented  by 
hydrostatic  pressure.  Oil  is,  therefore,  not  a  stationary  but  a 
migratory  substance. 

Many  theories  have  been  advanced  to  account  for  the  origin 
of  oil,  the  one  most  commonly  accepted  being  that  it  is  derived 
through  more  or  less  tedious  processes,  from  organic  remains, 
either  animal  or  vegetable  or  both,  laid  down  under  water,  usually 
in  intimate  association  with  fine,  shale-firming  sediments.  The 
alteration  of  this  material  to  crude  oil  is  accomplished  through  the 
agency  of  bacteria  and  types  of  distillation  and  filtration  under 
moderate  temperatures.  Its  occurrence,  then,  is  confined  to  a  par- 
ticular group  of  rocks. 

The  migration  and  accumulation  of  the  liquid  hydrocarbons 
are  largely  influenced  by  water  which  is  associated  with  the  oil 
in  the  rock  formations  and  by  the  structure  of  the  containing  beds. 
Without  going  into  details  it  may  be  said  that  to  have  a  commercial 


THE  WORLD'S  OIL  SUPPLY  475 

deposit  of  oil,  three  things  are  essential ;  first,  an  adequate  source 
of  supply  in  the  form  of  organic  sediments  such  as  shales  or  lime- 
stones; second,  a  suitable  reservoir  in  the  shape  of  porous-beds  or 
zones  covered  by,  or  enclosed  in,  impervious  formations ;  and,  third, 
the  occurrence  of  the  reservoir  near  enough  to  the  surface  to  permit 
of  the  recovery  of  the  oil  on  a  paying  basis.  In  nature  it  is  not  at 
all  unusual  to  have  two  of  the  conditions  fulfilled,  such,  for  in- 
stance, as  the  presence  of  organic  shales  near  the  surface — this  is 
common  throughout  practically  all  of  the  areas  of  sedimentary 
rocks — but  to  find  reservoir  conditions  in  proper  association  with  an 
adequate  supply  near  the  surface  is  a  rare  coincidence.  Further- 
more, a  natural  oil  reservoir  once  emptied  will  never  fill  up  again 
in  many  generations  as  we  count  them. 

Factors   Governing   the  Production   of   Oil. 

Assuming  the  presence  of  commercial  quantities  of  oil  in  any 
country,  it  becomes  useful  to  mankind  only  after  it  is  made  available 
by  development.  The  factors  which  enter  into  the  production  of 
oil  are  numerous  and  complicated.  They  may  be  divided  roughly 
into  four  groups,  viz.,  character  of  the  deposit,  location  of  the 
deposit,  demand  for  the  product,  and  the  personnel  of  the  oper- 
ators, or  by  other  criteria  into  two  groups,  the  one  including  natu- 
ral factors,  the  other  artificial.  The  geologist  has  to  deal  largely 
with  the  first  group,  the  financier  with  the  second,  the  technologist 
with  both. 

Carrying  the  latter  classification  another  step,  the  natural  fac- 
tors governing  the  occurrence  of  oil  may  be  enumerated  as  source ; 
rock  pressure,  or  pressure  under  which  the  oil  and  gas  exist  in 
their  underground  reservoir;  viscosity  and  other  physical  and 
chemical  properties  of  the  oil ;  and  the  thickness,  extent,  porosity 
and  structure  of  the  reservoir  rock.  In  the  group  of  artificial  fac- 
tors, or  those  having  to  do  with  its  recovery  and  use,  might  be  men- 
tioned the  price  of  oil  and  gas,  which  is  the  dominant  factor,  and 
such  others  as  depth  of  wells ;  time  required  to  complete  wells ;  dis- 
tance separating  wells ;  physical  condition  of  wells,  pumps  and  other 
equipment;  improvements  in  methods  of  development  and  recov- 
ery; water  complications;  discovery  of  new  fields;  distance  of 
fields  from  markets;  transportation  facilities;  relative  cost  of  pro- 
duction as  compared  with  other  fields  and  with  other  commodities ; 
relation  of  the  government  to  the  industry,  etc. 


476         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

It  is,  therefore,  obvious  from  even  the  brief  survey  recorded 
above,  that  the  question  of  world's  supply  is  not  one  that  can  be 
even  summed  up  comprehensively  without  a  pretty  thorough  re- 
view of  all  phases  of  the  oil  industry. 

Relative  Importance  of  Countries. 

In  discussing  the  relative  importance  of  the  various  countries 
of  the  world  as  producers  of  petroleum,  the  question  as  to  past  and 
present  productiveness  must  often  be  considered  separately  from 
that  of  their  probable  future  productiveness,  for  in  some  cases  the 
country,  like  the  United  States,  is  at  its  zenith  or  past,  while  other 
countries,  like  Persia  or  Colombia,  with  little  or  no  production  at 
present,  may  offer  evidence  of  later  becoming  most  important. 

The  relative   rank  as  oil  producers  of   the  countries  of   the 
world  with  respect  to  one  another  is  shown  by  the  following  table 
compiled  by  the  United  States  Geological  Survey. 
WORLD'S  PRODUCTION   OF  CRUDE  PETROLEUM   IN    1915  AND  TOTAL 

YIELD  SINCE  1857. 

Quantity,  1915,  Percent 

barrels  of 

Country.  of  42  gals.  total. 

United  States  *28i,  104,104  65.72 

Russia    68,548,062  16.03 

Mexico 32,910,508  7.69 

Dutch  East  Indiesf 12,386,808  2.90 

Roumania 12,029,913  2.81 

India 8,202,674  1.92 

Galicia    4,158,899  .98 

Japan  and  Formosa 3,1 18,464  .73 

Peru 2,487,251  .58 

Germany    995,764  .23 

Trinidad    $750,000  .18 

Argentina 516,120  "       .12 

Egypt   221,768  .05 

Canada 215,464  .05 

Italy   39,548  .01 

Other   $10,000 


427,695,347  loo.oo 

*Marketed  production,    f  Includes  British  Borneo.    ^Estimated. 

According  to  this  table,  it  is  seen  that  nearly  three-fourths  of 

the  world's  supply  is  now  coming  from  North  America,  including 


THE  WORLD'S  OIL  SUPPLY  477 

Mexico,  and  that  the  bulk  of  the  remainder  comes  from  Russia. 
The  United  States  has  produced  about  60  per  cent  of  the  total  pro- 
duction to  date,  while  Russia  has  produced  only  about  half  as  much, 
or  a  little  over  28  per  cent.  As  regards  future  production,  it  is 
probably  safe  to  say  that  Russia  or  even  Mexico  will  outstrip  the 
United  States.  This  condition  is  true  because  of  the  early  and  in- 
tensive development  of  petroleum  in  the  United  States,  due  to  the 
proximity  of  the  fields  to  markets,  the  character  of  our  citizens 
who  went  into  the  business,  and  the  attitude  of  our  government. 
The  last  two  factors  are  always  important  ones,  and  ones  that  will 
be  in  the  future,  as  they  have  been  in  the  past,  the  determining  ones 
in  many  instances.  These  same  two  factors  are  also  the  dominant 
ones,  almost  universally,  when  it  comes  to  conservation  of  oil,  and 
it  is  the  balance  between  those  engaged  in  exploitation  and  those 
favoring  conservation  that  determines  the  efficiency  with  which  the 
petroleum,  as  well  as  other  natural  resources,  is  produced  and 
utilized. 

In  discussing  the  present  and  future  sources  of  the  world's 
supply  of  petroleum,  the  countries  will  be  taken  up  in  geographic 
order,  beginning  with  North  America.  The  future  possibilities  of 
the  various  countries,  obviously  the  most  interesting  topic  to  this 
audience,  will  receive  the  most  attention. 

North  America. 

Canada. 

The  Canadian  oil  fields  are  among  the  oldest  in  the  world, 
and  although  never  of  very  great  importance,  have  yielded  a  fairly 
constant  production  for  many  years.  The  production,  or  indica- 
tions of  oil,  are  found  in  Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  Quebec, 
Ontario,  Saskatchewan,  British  Columbia,  Northwest  Territory  and 
Alberta.  The  oil  producing  territory  of  Canada  is  confined  at 
present  to  the  province  of  Ontario,  where  an  area  of  about  twenty- 
five  square  miles  of  proved  land  yields  the  total  annual  output  of  a 
little  over  200,000  barrels  of  oil.  Extensive  areas  in  western 
Canada,  however,  offer  indications  suggesting  the  presence  of  oil 
in  commercial  quantities,  and  it  is  believed  that  the  future  will 
see  the  Dominion  take  its  place  as  an  important  producer  of 
petroleum.  The  oil-yielding  formations  are  of  Ordovician  to  Car- 
boniferous age  in  the  east,  and  of  Cambrian,  Devonian  and  Cre- 
taceous age  in  the  west.  The  oil  is  usually  found  in  sandstones, 
limestones  or  dolomites,  associated  with  anticlines  and  domes.  It 
ranges  from  the  heavy  oil  of  Asphaltic  type  in  Athabasca  to  the 


478         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

high-grade  refining  oils  of  36  to  46  degrees  Baume  (0.8434  to 
0.7955  specific  gravity)  of  the  Ontario  field.  The  initial  production 
of  individual  wells  has  never  gone  above  7,500  barrels  daily;  the 
present  average  per  well  is  only  a  few  gallons.  The  product  is 
used  entirely  within  the  country. 

United  States. 

The  oil  fields  of  the  United  States  are  fairly  well  distributed 
geographically,  occupying  areas  from  the  Appalachian  Range  on 
the  east  to  California  on  the  west,  and  from  the  Canadian  boundary 
on  the  north  to  the  Mexican  line  on  the  south.  They  are  usually 
classified  as  Appalachian,  Lima-Indiana,  Illinois,  Mid-Continent, 
Gulf,  Rocky  Mountain  California,  and  Alaska  fields.  Their  proved 
area  includes  over  4,100  square  miles;  the  prospective  territory 
nearly  1,000  square  miles.  The  production  for  1915  was  281,104,- 
104  barrels;  the  total  production  to  1915  was  3,616,561,244  barrels; 
the  estimated  future  supply  is  5,482,000,000  barrels.  The  oil  is 
found  in  formations  ranging  in  age  from  the  Ordovician  to  the 
latest  Tertiary  and  Quaternary,  usually  in  sandstones  or  lime- 
stones. Practically  all  types  of  structure  are  present  in  the  pro- 
ductive areas,  but  anticlines  and  domes  predominate.  In  quality 
the  oil  ranges  from  the  asphalt-base  oils  of  California  and  Texas, 
whose  gravity  is  from  10  to  35  degrees  Baume  (i.ooo  to  0.8485 
specific  gravity)  to  the  lightest  paraffin-base  oils  of  the  eastern 
states,  whose  gravity  is  from  25  degrees  to  52  degrees  Baume 
(0.9032  to  0.7692  specific  gravity).  The  maximum  production  of 
individual  wells  for  most  of  the  fields  is  less  than  10,000  barrels 
daily,  although  there  has  been  daily  records  of  58,000  barrels  in 
California  and  75,000  barrels  in  Texas.  The  wells  range  in  depth 
from  200  to  more  than  6,000  feet.  Old  pipe-line  transportation 
systems  extend  for  hundreds  of  miles  in  certain  parts  of  the 
country. 

At  the  present  rate  of  consumption  of  approximately  280,000,- 
ooo  barrels  per  year,  an  estimated  supply  of  5,482,500,000  barrels 
would  last  only,  approximately,  20  years.  However,  as  the  total 
production  of  the  United  States  will  gradually  decrease  from  year 
to  year,  it  is  believed  that  the  total  available  supply  will  spread  out 
over  a  period  of  from  50  to  75  years.  The  price  of  oil,  which  now 
ranges  from  50  cents  to  $2.00  per  barrel  (average  95  cents), 
depending  on  the  locality  and  grade  of  the  product,  probably  will 
increase  to  figures  approximately  $1.00  per  barrel  for  fuel  oil 
and  possibly  $5.00  or  more  for  the  lighter  grades.  All  other 


THE  WORLD'S  OIL  SUPPLY  479 

factors  being  equal,  a  barrel  of  fuel  oil  as  compared  with  coal  on 
the  Pacific  Coast  is  worth  today  93  cents.  Even  were  oil  to  be 
used  only  as  a  fuel,  the  tendency  would  be  for  it  to  rise  in  price 
until  it  reached  a  point  set  by  the  value  of  coal  in  the  same  regions. 
As  oil  has  so  many  points  in  its  favor,  as  regards  ease  of  handling, 
cleanliness,  etc.,  it  is  quite  evident  that  eventually  it  will  be  sold 
at  a  higher  price  than  is  warranted  by  its  heat  value  as  compared 
with  that  of  coal. 

Before  the  free  natural  petroleum  of  the  United  States  is 
exhausted,  the  oil  shales  of  Colorado,  Utah,  California,  and  other 
states  will  have  begun  to  be  utilized  as  a  source  of  petroleum. 
Also  artificial  oil  made  from  animal  and  vegetable  waste  probably 
will  be  available  to  take  its  place. 

Mexico.  v 

The  known  oil  fields  of  Mexico  are  included  within  two  great 
regions,  both  of  which  are  segments  of  the  Gulf  Coastal  Plain — 
— the  Tampico-Tuxpam  and  Tehuantepec-Tabasco  regions.  The  two 
regions  include  about  twenty  fields,  covering  areas  of  over  20,000 
square  miles.  A  very  rough  estimate  places  the  proved  areas  in 
the  two  regions  at  twenty-five  square  miles  and  the  prospective 
area  at  500  to  1,000  square  miles.  The  principal  oil-yielding  rocks 
are  the  Cretaceous  and  immediately  overlying  Eocene,  although 
some  oil  is  obtained  from  the  later  Tertiaries,  locally.  Inasmuch 
as  700  wells  have  been  drilled  for  oil  in  the  entire  republic  up  to  the 
present  time,  and  as  almost  two-thirds  of  the  entire  quantity  of 
oil  produced  has  come  from  two  wells,  neither  of  which  is  more 
than  six  years  old,  it  would  be  rash  indeed  to  give  too  much  weight 
to  estimates  of  unit  areas.  The  quality  of  oil  ranges  from  10° 
to  29°  Baume  (i.ooo  to  0.882  specific  gravity),  the  lighter  oils 
coming  from  the  southern  fields.  The  daily  individual  production 
ranges  up  to  268,000  barrels,  and  a  total  production  of  over  40,- 
000,000  barrels  has  been  yielded  by  one  well  in  about  five  years. 
Wells  range  in  depth  from  800  to  over  3,000  feet,  the  usual  depth 
being  between  2,000  and  3,000  feet.  The  production  of  the  coun- 
try has  jumped  from  over  200,000  barrels  in  1904  to  over  34,000,- 
ooo  barrels  in  1915,  and  bids  fair  to  far  surpass  this  point  when 
political  conditions  in  Mexico  shall  have  become  more  stable  and 
the  war  in  Europe  permits  of  the  utilization  of  more  marine  trans- 
portation facilities. 


480         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

Central  America. 

Little  is  known  of  the  oil  possibilities  of  Central  American 
countries,  but  from  the  information  available  it  does  not  seem 
probable  that  any  very  commercially  important  fields  will  ever  be 
developed  in  them.  There  are  surface  evidences  of  petroleum  in 
Guatamala,  Honduras,  Costa  Rica  and  Panama,  so  it  is  probable 
that  small  fields  may  be  eventually  opened  up  in  one  or  all  of  these 
countries. 

West  India  Islands. 

In  the  West  India  Islands,  which  lie  to  the  north  and  east 
of  the  Caribbean  Sea,  between  North  and  South  America,  oil  indi- 
cations have  been  found  in  Cuba,  Haiti,  Porto  Rico,  Barbados  and 
Trinidad.  Drilling  for  oil  has  been  done  in  all  these  islands  except 
Porto  Rico,  but  important  commercial  results  have  been  obtained 
only  in  Trinidad,*  where  about  750,000  barrels  were  produced  in 
1915.  Several  wells  have  been  drilled  in  Cuba  and  the  oil  is  of 
remarkably  high  grade,  ranging  from  55°  to  70°  Baume  (0.7568  to 
0.7000  specific  gravity).  As  the  production  of  the  only  one  of 
these  wells  which  has  yielded  much  oil  is  measured  in  gallons,  it 
can  be  seen  that  Cuba  will  probably  never  yield  any  considerable 
quantity  of  oil.  The  same  can  be  said  of  the  other  islands  men- 
tioned. 

South  America. 

Practically  every  country  in  South  America  yields  certain  evi- 
dences of  the  presence  of  petroleum.  The  countries  in  which  com- 
mercial quantities  of  oil  are  now  being  produced,  or  which  will 
probably  yield  oil  in  commercial  quantities,  are  Colombia,  Vene- 
zuela, Peru,  Argentina  and  Bolivia. 

Colombia. 

Although  development  of  oil  resources  has  been  carried  on  in 
Colombia  for  many  years,  no  marked  commercially  successful  re- 
sults have  yet  been  obtained.  The  oil  ranges  from  the  heavy  oil 
of  asphaltic  type  to  a  paraffin  oil  of  41°  Baume  (0.8187  specific 
gravity)  and  is  believed  to  be  derived  largely  from  Cretaceous  and 


*Owing  to  the  writer's  present  connections  in  Trinidad  he  deems  it 
inexpedient  to  discuss  the  oil  resources  or  possibilities  of  that  island. 


THE  WORLD'S  OIL  SUPPLY  481 

lower  Tertiary  formations.     The  prospective  territory  may  be  di- 
vided into  four  general  districts  as  follows: 

Possible  oil    Proved  oil 
District.  Area.  territory.       territory. 

Caribbean 15,000  300  I 

Pacific    i  ,800  18 

Magdalena-Santander    10,000  200  I 

Tolima   7,500  100 


34,300  618  2 

The  possibilities  of  Colombia  may  be  summed  up  from  the 
above  table,  which  shows  a  possible  oil  territory  of  618  miles,  and 
proven  oil  territory  of  probably  less  than  two  square  miles.  The 
country  will  yield  commercial  quantities  of  oil  only  after  the 
expenditure  of  large  sums  of  money  for  development  of  wells  and 
transportation  facilities,  as  operations  in  a  country  of  this  kind  are 
very  costly,  on  account  of  adverse  natural  conditions. 

Dutch  Guiana  and  French  Guiana. 

Indications  of  oil  are  known  in  both  Dutch  and  French  Guiana, 
but  it  is  not  likely  that  either  of  these  countries  will  ever  take  a 
prominent  part  in  the  industry. 

Ecuador. 

Oil  has  been  produced  in  small  quantities  in  Ecuador  for  many 
years,  and  certain  favorable  indications  are  known  at  various 
points  along  the  west  coast  of  the  country,  especially  at  Santa 
Elena,  west  of  Guayaquil.  As  the  known  deposits  of  Ecuador  have 
not  been  thoroughly  tested,  any  predictions  as  to  their  ultimate 
possibilities  would  obviously  not  be  justified.  However,  as  the 
surface  evidences  are  rather  meagre,  it  does  not  seem  likely  that 
this  country  will  ever  play  a  very  prominent  part  in  the  oil  indus- 
try of  South  America. 

Peru. 

Peru  was  the  first  country  in  South  America  in  which  oil 
was  produced  on  a  commercial  scale,  and  is  the  most  important 
producer  at  present.  The  petroliferous  areas  can  be  separated  into 
two  general  provinces — that  of  the  Andes,  comprising  at  present 
the  Titicaca  field;  and  that  of  the  coastal  belt,  in  which  are  the 
more  productive  Zorritos,  Lobitos  and  Negritos  fields,  lying  just 
south  of  the  Ecuadorian  frontier.  The  total  area  included  in  the 


482         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

oil  belts  is  over  5,000  square  miles,  of  which  about  200  square  miles 
can  be  said  to  be  either  proven  or  highly  probable,  while  about  100 
square  miles  more  has  oil  possibilities.  The  oil-bearing  rocks  are 
largely  sandstones  of  Eocene  age.  The  structure  is  usually  mono- 
clinal.  Wells  range  from  700  to  3,000  feet  in  depth,  the  average 
being  about  1,500  feet.  The  initial  productions  are  never  very 
large,  and  soon  settle  down  to  an  average  of  from  4  to  7  barrels  a 
day.  The  oil  is  of  excellent  refinery  grade,  yielding  over  15%  gaso- 
lene and  ranges  in  gravity  from  32°  to  43°  Baume  (0.8642  to  0.8092 
specific  gravity).  The  production  of  Peru  in  1915  was  2,487,251 
barrels,  the  greatest  in  its  history.  It  seems  likely  that  this  country 
will  increase  in  production  for  several  years  to  come,  but  that  it 
will  never  yield  more  than  double  or  treble  its  present  output. 

Bolivia. 

The  oil  fields  of  Bolivia  are  found  along  the  eastern  base  of 
the  Andes,  and  are  a  continuation  of  those  in  western  Argentina. 
The  oil  bearing  rocks  are  largely  Cretaceous  and  the  oil  ranges 
from  35°  to  47°  Baume  (0.850  to  0.790  specific  gravity).  The 
formation  is  very  broken  and  sharply  folded  and  faulted.  Owing 
to  the  inaccessibility  of  the  fields,  there  is  little  likelihood  of  devel- 
opment work  being  initiated  until  better  transport  facilities  exist, 
but  eventually  these  fields  should  yield  commercial  quantities  of  oil. 

Argentina. 

Argentina  first  attracted  attention  as  a  possible  producer  of 
petroleum  in  1907,  when  oil  was  discovered,  entirely  by  accident, 
in  drilling  for  water  at  Comodoro  Rivadavia,  on  the  coast  of  Pata- 
gonia. Previous  to  that  time  test  drilling  had  been  done  in  the 
Andean  portion  of  the  republic,  but  no  significant  results  were 
obtained.  The  area  included  in  the  petroliferous  districts  exceeds 
8,000  square  miles,  and  of  this  territory  probably  400  square  miles 
gives  superficial  evidence  of  petroleum.  The  proved  area  does  not 
exceed  two  square  miles.  The  petroleum  occurs  in  rocks  of  Juras- 
sic, Cretaceous  and  Eocene  age,  limestones,  dolomites  and  sand- 
stones predominating.  Both  anticlines  and  practically  structureless 
areas  yield  commercial  quantities.  The  oil  is  asphaltic  and  ranges 
in  gravity  from  11°  to  24°  Baume  (0.996  to  0.9091  specific  gravity). 
The  wells  attain  depths  from  200  to  more  than  4,000  feet  and  are 
rather  small  producers,  so  far  averaging  less  than  100  'barrels  daily 
each.  The  production,  which  was  approximately  516,120  barrels 


THE  WORLD'S  OIL  SUPPLY  483 

in  1915,  comes  entirely  from  the  Comodoro  Rivadavia  district  and 
is  consumed  in  the  country,  principally  for  fuel. 

The  petroliferous  area  of  Argentina  is  divisible  into  three 
principal  districts — the  Comodoro  Rivadavia  district,  on  the  Atlantic 
coast,  and  the  Salta-Jujuy  and  Mendoza-Neuquen  districts  in  the 
Andean  region.  Although  it  is  possible  that  commercial  quantities 
of  oil  may  be  developed  in  all  of  these  fields/  it  does  not  seem 
likely  that  Argentina  will  ever  take  a  very  prominent  place  in  the 
oil  industry. 

Europe  and  Adjacent  Islands. 
General  Statement. 

The  principal  deposits  of  Europe  lie  in  its  eastern  portion, 
those  of  European  Russia,  Galicia,  and  Roumania  being  the  most 
important  at  present  and  also  offering  the  greatest  future  possi- 
bilities. These  three  countries  produce  nearly  one-fifth  of  the 
world's  supply,  and  bid  fair  to  produce  a  much  higher  percentage 
when  political  and  economic  conditions  become  normal. 

England  and  Scotland. 

No  oil  in  commercial  quantities  is  produced  in  these  countries 
direct  from  wells,  although  small  quantities  are  yielded  by  distilla- 
tion from  the  Scottish  oil  shales.  There  is  no  prospect  of  either 
country  ever  being  important  as  producers  of  petroleum. 

France. 

Indications  of  oil  are  found  in  certain  parts  of  France,  but 
none  is  produced  in  commercial  quantities  and  probably  never  will 
be. 

Spain  and  Portugal. 

Indications  in  portions  of  Spain  and  Portugal  suggest  the  pos- 
sibility of  a  small  production  being  developed  in  certain  restricted 
areas,  but  nothing  of  importance  will  probably  ever  come  from  either 
of  these  countries. 

Germany. 

Germany  produces  nearly  a  million  barrels  of  oil  annually, 
largely  from  lower  Alsace  and  Hanover.  The  oil  is  principally  of 
medium  to  heavy  grade  and  is  derived  from  Mesozoic  and  Tertiary 
rocks.  Development  began  in  1889  and  has  been  gradually  increas- 
ing ever  since.  It  is  probable  that  abnormally  intensive  drilling 
has  been  carried  on  since  the  outbreak  of  the  war  to  meet,  as  far  as 


484         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

possible,  the  unusual  internal  demand  for  oil,  and  that  the  produc- 
tion may  now  be  considerably  more  than  ever  before.  It  is  certain, 
however,  that  the  very  limited  area  of  small  producers  of  Germany 
will  never  exercise  much  influence  on  the  oil  industry  even  of 
Europe. 

Italy. 

Three  small  oil  fields  have  been  developed  in  Italy  and  indi- 
cations of  oil  are  spread  over  a  very  wide  territory.  Emilia,  in 
the  valley  of  the  Po  in  Lombardy,  and  areas  in  the  Pescara  and 
Liri  valleys  in  central  Italy,  have  yielded  oil  in  commercial  quan- 
tities. The  petroleum  comes  from  rocks  of  Tertiary  age,  largely 
Eocene,  and  ranges  in  gravity  from  24°  to  44°  Beaume  (0.9091 
to  0.8046  specific  gravity).  The  wells  are  shallow,  not  over  1,000  feet 
in  depth,  and  are  small  producers.  The  entire  output  of  Italy  for 
1915  was  only  about  40,000  barrels,  or  an  average  day's  run  for 
a  good  Mexican  well.  Italy  will  never  yield  more  than  trifling 
quantities  of  oil. 

Austria. 

The  oil  fields  of  Austria  and  Roumania  form  an  intermittent 
belt,  lying  along  the  northeastern,  eastern  and  southeastern  flanks 
of  the  Carpathian  Mountains.  The  Austrian  fields  are  confined  to 
Galicia  and  Bukowina.  The  two  principal  areas  are  the  eastern 
Galician  and  western  Galician  districts.  The  easteni  area  may  be 
sub-divided  into  the  Boryslaw,  Tustanowice  and  Bitkow  districts, 
and  the  western  area,  near  Krosno,  into  the  Bobrka  and  Potok 
fields,  lying  near  Krosno,  and  the  Gorlice  district,  the  westernmost 
one  of  the  province.  The  fields  are  developed  along  subsidary 
folds  and  sometimes  complex  structures  in  the  Eocene  and  Oligo- 
cene  rocks  at  the  base  of  the  mountain  mass.  The  oil  ranges  from 
medium  to  high  grade  paraffin  base,  the  gravity  from  30°  to  over 
50°  Beaume  (0.8750  to  0.7778  specific  gravity).  The  wells  are 
from  1,500  to  2,500  or  3,000  feet  in  depth,  though  in  Tustanowice, 
one  productive  well  attained  a  depth  of  5,800  feet.  The  production 
of  individual  wells  is  often  large  at  first,  but  is  not  sustained  as  in 
some  fields.  Galicia  attained  a  maximum  production  in  1909,  when 
it  produced  nearly  15,000,000  barrels  of  oil ;  it  produced  only  a  little 
over  4,000,000  barrels  in  1915,  and  though  there  are  many  untested 
areas,  offering  evidence  of  good  production,  it  is  probable  Galicia 
will  never  again  produce  at  the  rate  it  has  in  the  past  few  years. 


THE  WORLD'S  OIL  SUPPLY  485 

Roumania. 

Roumanian  oil  fields,  occupying  a  southward  extension  of  the 
belt  in  Galicia  and  Bukowina,  lie  along  the  base  of  the  Carpathians. 
Five  principal  districts  are  at  present  developed,  viz. :  the  Bush- 
tenari,  Campina,  Moreni,  Filipeshti-Baicoi  and  Buzan.  The  oil, 
which  varies  in  gravity  from  20°  to  50°  Beaume  (0.9333  to  °-777^ 
specific  gravity)  and  is  at  one  place  of  paraffin  base,  at  another, 
asphalt  base,  is  found  in  anticlines  and  complex  faulted  zones  in 
rocks  of  Eocene  and  Oligocene  age.  The  wells  range  in  depth  to 
3,000  feet  or  over  and  one  at  least  has  yielded  as  high  as  3,000,000 
barrels  during  its  life.  The  production  of  Roumania  is  now  about 
at  its  zenith,  about  13,000,000  barrels  being  yielded  both  in  1913 
and  1914  and  a  little  over  12,000,000  barrels  in  1915.  Intensive 
development  may  maintain  this  production  for  a  short  time,  but 
as  a  factor  in  the  future,  Roumania  cannot  expect  to  exceed,  its 
present  relative  position  of  fourth  or  fifth  in  the  world's  producers. 

Russia. 

The  word  "Russia"  fills  the  mind  with  pictures  of  unusual 
and  great  things.  It  is  true  to  its  traditions  as  regards  oil.  The 
oil  fields  of  Russia,  as  we  know  them,  are  confined  principally  to 
the  northeastern  shore  of  the  Black  Sea,  the  western  shore  of  the 
Caspian  Sea  and  the  flanks  of  the  Caucasus  mountains,  lying  between 
the  two.  The  region  is  divided  into  a  number  of  important  fields, 
of  which  those  near  Baku  on  the  Caspian  shore,  are  the  best  known 
and  most  important.  Other  fields  are  the  Grosny,  Ural  Caspian, 
Cheleken  and  Maikop,  and  others  to  be  described  under  "Asia." 
The  oil  comes  from  Tertiary  beds,  usually  along  anticlines,  though 
productive  areas  with  complex  structure  are  not  rare.  Practically 
all  grades  of  oil  are  found  in  the  Russian  fields,  the  usual  product 
being  around  30°  Beaume  or  0.8750  specific  gravity.  Enormous 
productions  at  shallow  depths  have  been  encountered  in  the  Baku 
district  in  particular,  where,  in  1901,  about  85,000,000  barrels  or 
one-half  of  the  world's  supply  of  oil  was  coming  from  4,000  acres 
of  producing  territory.  Russia  is  a  country  in  which  the  govern- 
ment regulations  have  tended  to  retard,  rather  than  accelerate  devel- 
opment, and  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  nature  has  been  so  gen- 
erous with  her  as  regards  oil,  she  would  not  occupy  the  position 
of  second  place  among  the  world's  producers  as  she  does  now. 
Russia  reached  one  apex  of  production  in  1901,  when  she  produced 
over  85,000,000  barrels;  in  1915,. she  produced  only  68,000,000.  Such 


486         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

large  areas,  both  in  European  and  Asiatic  Russia,  yield  unmistak- 
able evidence  of  the  presence  of  oil  in  large  quantities  that  it  is  to 
this  country,  among  those  of  Europe  and  Asia,  to  which  the  future 
must  look  for  a  supply.  Many  obstacles,  both  governmental  and 
natural,  will  have  to  be  overcome  to  recover  the  oil,  but  demand 
will  conquer  these,  and  for  many  years  to  come  Russia  can  be 
counted  on  to  hold  second  rank  and  eventually  first  among  the 
world's  producers. 

Asia. 
Russia. 

The  future  possibilities  of  Asiatic  Russia  have  been  mentioned 
above.  The  areas  which  give  the  greatest  promise,  or  in  which 
development  is  now  going  on,  are  in  the  Fugana  district  of  Tur- 
kestan, on  both  sides  of  the  Hissar  mountains,  near  Lake  Baikal, 
in  the  Transcaspian  province,  and  on  the  island  of  Saghalin,  north 
of  Japan. 

Turkey. 

Mesopotania  and  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates  valleys  yield  small 
quantities  of  oil  for  local  consumption.  Still  other  areas  in  this 
country  offer  superficial  evidence  of  the  presence  of  petroleum  but 
little  systematic  prospecting  has  been  done  and  though  it  is  possible 
that  some  commercially  important  fields  may  ultimately  be  opened 
up,  it  does  not  seem  probable  that  Turkey  will  for  some  time  con- 
tribute materially  to  the  world's  supply. 

Persia. 

The  principal  deposits  of  Persia  are  confined  to  the  south- 
western part,  along  the  base  of  the  Zagros  range,  although  impor- 
tant deposits  are  known  on  the  Caspian  shore,  south  of  Baku.  The 
oil  in  the  Zagros  range  comes  from  Miocene  rocks,  while  that  from 
the  Caspian  region  comes  from  older  beds.  The  oil  ranges  in  grav- 
ity from  about  24°  to  45°  Beaume  (0.9091  to  0.8000  specific  gravity), 
and  are  used  largely  locally  for  refining  purposes,  especially  for  the 
manufacture  of  kerosene  and  fuel  oil.  Some  of  the  wells  yield 
good  productions,  one  at  least  giving  a  total  of  over  100,000  barrels. 
Owing  to  the  fact  that  Persian  oil  fields  have  been  developed  as 
yet  only  in  their  more  accessible  portions,  and  that  much  highly 
probable  territory  remains  untested,  it  seems  likely  that  the  country 
will  eventually  become  an  important  factor  in  Asiatic  oil  produc- 
tion. 


THE  WORLD'S  OIL  SUPPLY  487 

Arabia. 

Indications  of  petroleum  are  found  at  several  localities  in 
Arabia,  especially  near  the  Persian  Gulf,  Red  Sea  and  in  Yemen 
province,  but  little  or  no  development  work  has  been  done.  The 
oil  comes  from  Tertiary  and  Cretaceous  beds.  So  little  is  known 
of  the  country  that  nothing  can  be  said  definitely  as  to  its  future, 
although  it  is  believed  that  no  very  important  deposits  will  be  devel- 
oped there  for  many  years  to  come. 

India. 

India  is  the  only  important  oil  producing  country  of  the  British 
Empire.  The  important  districts  are  in  Burma,  while  Assam  is  just 
beginning  to  be  developed.  The  principal  Burmese  fields  are 
Yenangyaung,  Yenangyat,  Singu  and  Minbu,  all  near  the  Irawaddy 
River.  The  oil  comes  from  Tertiary  strata  is  principally  of  a  refin- 
ing grade,  ranging  in  gravity  from  30°  to  40°  Beaume  (0.8750  to 
0.8235  specific  gravity).  Wells  are  now  drilled  to  a  depth  of  3,000 
feet  and  some  are  good  producers.  The  production  of  India  (prac- 
tically all  from  Burma)  has  been  gradually  rising  until  in  1915,  it 
yielded  over  8,000,000  barrels.  Numerous  districts  in  Burma  and 
Assam  show  promise,  and  this  country  will  no  doubt  become  more 
and  more  important  as  a  source  of  oil  as  time  goes  on. 

China. 

China  has  not  as  yet  produced  oil  in  important  commercial 
quantities,  although  considerable  prospecting  has  been  done  within 
the  past  two  or  three  years  by  the  Standard  Oil  Company  of  New 
York,  in  association  with  the  Chinese  government.  Indications  of 
oil  are  found  at  many  localities,  principally  in  the  Jurassic  rocks, 
according  to  Redwood.  From  the  evidence  now  available,  it  seems 
probable  that  China  will  never  play  a  very  prominent  part  in  the 
production  of  oil. 

East  Indies  and  Adjacent  Islands. 
Dutch  East  Indies. 

Important  oil  fields  are  found  in  the  Dutch  islands  of  Borneo, 
Sumatra  and  Java.  The  oil  is  found  in  anticlinal  folds  with  steeply 
dipping  sides ;  and  seepages,  mud-volcanoes  and  other  phenomena 
mark  the  surface  of  the  fields.  The  oil-bearing  strata  are  of  Ter- 
tiary age  and  are  generally  associated  with  coal  and  lignite.  In 
Borneo,  both  asphaltic  and  paraffin  oils  occur  in  the  same  field  at 
different  depths ;  in  the  other  fields  the  bulk  of  the  oil  is  paraffin 


488         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

base.  The  oils  are  mostly  of  the  high-grade  refining  type,  ranging 
above  30°  Beaume  (0.8750  specific  gravity)  and  as  high  as  53° 
Beaume  (0.7650  specific  gravity).  The  wells  vary  in  depth  from 
shallow  holes  to  over  3,000  feet.  The  production  of  the  Dutch  East 
Indies  has  risen  from  a  little  over  2,000,000  barrels  in  1900,  to  over 
12,000,000  barrels  in  1915.  Those  familiar  with  the  islands  claim 
that  there  are  hundreds  of  square  miles  of  oil  land  yet  undeveloped, 
so  that  it  seems  probable  that  this  source,  so  important  at  the  present 
time,  will  remain  so  for  many  years  to  come. 

Small  East  Indian  Fields. 

Among  the  small  islands  or  groups  of  the  East  Indies  yielding 
appreciable  quantities  of  oil  are  the  Celebes,  Tunor  and  Ceram. 
The  geology  of  these  fields  in  general  is  similar  to  that  of  the  larger 
islands  just  mentioned.  They  are  not  as  yet  an  important  factor 
in  the  industry,  but  will  eventually  contribute  their  pro  rata  to  the 
world's  supply. 

Philippine  Islands. 

Indications  of  high  grade  petroleum  are  found  at  several  local- 
ities in  the  Philippines,  and  some  prospecting  has  been  done  in 
small  way.  Capital  stands  ready  today  to  go  in  and  make  thorough 
test  of  the  favorable  localities,  as  soon  as  a  stable  government  is 
established  in  the  islands.  Prospectors  are  willing  to  take  a  chance 
with  the  none  too  good  natural  conditions  in  these  islands,  but  are 
unwilling  to  place  their  investments  under  the  control  of  a  vacillating 
government  like  that  of  the  past  four  years.  It  is  questionable 
whether  these  islands  will  ever  produce  large  quantities  of  oil. 

Japan  and  Formosa. 

The  existence  of  oil  in  Japan  has  long  been  known,  but  it  is 
only  within  the  last  two  years  that  this  country  has  begun  to  intel- 
ligently develop  its  deposits  and  place  its  output  on  an  important 
basis.  The  oil  fields  of  Japan  extend  from  the  Pacific  coast  of  Totomi 
to  the  west  side  of  North  Japan,  and  are  a  southward  extension  of 
the  Saghalin  fields.  The  oil-yielding  formations  are  of  Tertiary 
age  and  the  oil  of  about  25°  Baume  (0.9032  specific  gravity)  and 
similar  in  composition  to  the  California  oils.  The  deposits,  though 
not  extensive  are  still  of  such  importance  as  to  suggest  a  much 
larger  annual  production  ultimately  than  the  3,000,000  barrels  pro- 
duced in  1915.  A  small  production  comes  from  Formosa  and  this 
island  may  eventually  be  further  developed. 


THE  WORLD'S  OIL  SUPPLY  489 

Australia — New  Zealand — New  Guinea. 

Indications  of  petroleum  are  found  in  southeastern  Australia, 
at  several  places  in  New  Zealand,  and  in  western  central  New 
Guinea,  but  up  to  date,  no  commercial  deposits  of  oil  have  been 
opened  up  in  these  great  British  possessions.  The  New  South 
Wales  oil  shales  have  been  exploited  to  some  extent,  usually  dis- 
astrously to  the  investor,  and  a  small  production  developed  in  North 
Island,  but  it  yet  remains  to  discover  anything  of  importance.  The 
general  consensus  of  opinion  is  to  the  effect  that  this  quarter  of  the 
globe  will  never  yield  important  quantities  of  oil. 

Africa. 

Egypt. 

The  only  production  of  oil  in  commercial  quantities  in  Africa 
comes  from  Egypt,  where  Tertiary  'beds  near  the  Red  Sea  yield  a 
good  production  of  fair  grade  oil.  The  production,  which  amounted 
to  nearly  800,000  barrels  in  1914,  fell  to  a  little  over  200,000  barrels 
in  1915,  due  to  the  war.  It  seems  probable  that  further  develop- 
ment in  the  Egyptian  fields  will  result  in  a  greatly  increased  pro- 
duction over  that  yielded  to  date. 

Algeria. 

Favorable  indications  in  the  Miocene  formations  of  northern 
Algeria  have  led  to  recent  investigations  by  the  Pearson  interests 
of  London.  A  little  prospecting  has  already  been  done,  but  no 
positive  results  obtained.  The  country  gives  promise  of  ultimately 
yielding  oil  in  commercial  quantities. 

Other  Parts  of  Africa. 

Nigeria  has  been  tested  for  oil  at  one  or  more  places,  so  far 
without  favorable  results,  and  other  portions  of  the  continent, 
notably  Belgian  Congo,  Gold  Coast,  and  the  Island  of  Madagascar 
yield  favorable  indications  of  oil.  So  little  is  known  of  these  areas 
that  any  prediction  as  to  their  future  possibilities  would  be  extremely 
hazardous.  It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  somewhere  within  the 
great  areas  of  sedimentary  rocks  of  this  continent,  commercial  quan- 
tities of  oil  exist  and  will  be  eventually  exploited. 

Summary. 

Summarizing  the  data  contained  in  the  foregoing  paragraphs, 
it  is  seen  that  the  countries  which  have  attained  their  maximum 


490         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

production,  and  are  either  about  to  decline  or  have  already  started  to 
decline,  are  the  United  States,  Italy,  Galicia,  Roumania  and  Ger- 
many. Canada  attained  a  maximum  production  in  1900  and  Russia 
in  1901,  but  owing  to  the  possibilities  of  new  fields  yet  to  be  opened, 
it  seems  probable  that  both  of  these  countries  will  soon  start  to 
increase  their  production,  with  the  probabilities  strong  that  Canada, 
at  least,  will  some  day  pass  her  former  banner  year.  All  of  the 
other  countries  may  be  credited  with  a  constantly  increasing  pro- 
duction. The  total  world's  production  has  been  increasing  grad- 
ually, since  th^  first  production  in  Roumania  in  1852,  and  it  seems 
likely  that  after  the  close  of  the  war  the  greatly  increased  demand 
for  oil  will  result  in  increasing  the  world's  output  beyond  the  427,- 
000,000  barrels  yielded  in  1915,  and  possibly  to  beyond  the  half 
billion  mark.  The  demand  will  probably  be  such  as  to  cause  this 
great  output  to  be  maintained  for  as  long  as  the  fields  of  the  world 
can  supply  it.  Disregarding  Africa,  which  is  an  unknown  but  prob- 
ably not  highly  important  factor  in  the  situation,  it  is  the  writer's 
belief  that  the  high  point  in  production  for  the  entire  world  will 
occur  within  the  next  ten  years. 


FEDERAL  CO-OPERATION  WITH  THE  OIL  INDUSTRY. 
H.  G.  James,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 

With  proper  co-operation  between  Federal  authorities  and  the 
oil  industry  expensive  investigations  could  be  eliminated;  disquiet- 
ing and  incriminating  rumors  might  be  prevented;  conservation  of 
a  great  resource  extended,  and  future  demand  for  gasoline  and 
other  petroleum  products  largely  met  through  more  scientific 
methods  of  operation. 

These  results  cannot  be  obtained  by  drastic  retaliatory  or  med- 
dlesome rules  of  regulation,  but  through  a  wholesome,  desirable 
and  constructive  co-operative  policy. 

Petroleum  has  become  an  article  of  commerce  and  daily  neces- 
sity of  such  tremendous  importance  that  the  public  welfare  demands 
that  every  possible  facility  shall  be  granted  for  its  protection,  devel- 
opment and  conservation.  The  development  of  the  Mid-Continent 
and  Gulf  Coast  fields  has  been  contemporaneous  with  the  develop- 
ment of  the  motor-driven  vehicle.  In  that  time  it  is  estimated 
960,000,000  barrels  of  petroleum  have  been  produced  in  that  ter- 
ritory, and  it  is  predicted  these  fields  will  produce  4,000,000,000 
barrels  more  before  they  become  exhausted.  It  is  safe  to  say  that, 
because  of  insufficient  knowledge  of  petroleum  distillation,  not  more 
than  30  per  cent  of  the  intrinsic  value  of  this  vast  amount  of  crude 
petroleum  was  saved.  The  purpose  of  this  argument  is  to  arouse 
interest  in  a  comprehensive  campaign  to  prevent  this  unnecessary 
waste  of  a  valuable  resource  in  the  4,000,000,000  barrels  yet  to  be 
produced  in  this  single  district,  to  say  nothing  of  the  remainder  of 
the  country.  It  is  not  so  much  a  matter  of  how  great  a  produc- 
tion of  crude  oil  we  may  attain,  but  how  far  we  make  go  what  we 
have.  Waste  is  a  crime.  Perpetuated  waste  which  we  know  can 
be  arrested  is  worse  than  a  crime.  We  know  from  experience  that 
only  benefit  can  come  from  intelligent,  constructive,  conscientious 
engineering  and  chemical  research  and  co-operation  on  the  part  of 
the  Federal  Government  with  the  oil  fraternity.  Oil  is  not  a  sea- 
sonable crop  that  may  be  reproduced  next  year,  but  when  once 
exhausted  is  gone  beyond  recall.  There  has  been  lost  an  incal- 
culable wealth  in  the  billions  of  barrels  of  crude  petroleum  which 


492         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

are  gone  forever.  This  has  been  proved  by  experiences  the  past 
two  years.  An  industry,  struggling  to  meet  an  overwhelming 
demand,  reaches  out  to  the  Federal  Government  for  aid  and  co- 
operation, and  thus  far  has  reached  very  largely  in  vain,  most  of 
the  time  hampered  and  annoyed  rather  than  co-operated  with  and 
assisted. 

Importance  of  Petroleum. 

Petroleum  has  been  a  commercial  product  fifty-eight  years. 
Probably  no  other  industry  has  witnessed  a  more  marvelous  devel- 
opment in  this  period.  The  world's  total  production  up  to  January 
i,  1916,  aggregated  6,017,457,366  barrels.  Of  this  amount  other 
nations  than  the  United  States  produced  2,400,896,122  barrels,  leav- 
ing the  total  product  of  this  country  from  the  discovery  of  the 
Drake  well  in  August,  1859,  to  January  i,  1916,  3,616,561,244  bar- 
rels, valued  at  $2,969,292,635  in  its  "raw"  state.  These  figures  give 
a  suggestion  of  the  extent  of  the  industry  and  its  great  importance 
to  the  country. 

The  use  of  petroleum  has  increased  until  more  than  one  thou- 
sand useful  articles  are  made  from  it.  Thousands  of  industrial 
plants  which  are  not  generally  considered  in  reports  on  petroleum 
manufacturing  institutions  use  some  product  of  petroleum  as  their 
basic  raw  material.  When  one  hears  experts  prophesying  the 
exhaustion  of  petroleum  within  thirty  years,  one  is  harrowed  with 
thoughts  of  how  the  world  will  proceed  without  the  use  of  this 
mineral  product.  It  has  worked  its  way  into  our  everyday  life 
until  the  sudden  loss  of  few,  if  any,  other  articles  would  create  such 
hardship  upon  all  of  the  people.  If  we  were  to  awaken  tomorrow 
morning  and  find  that  petroleum  and  its  products  had  been  com- 
pletely wiped  out  of  existence,  until  substitutes  could  be  provided, 
not  a  wheel  of  industry  would  turn.  As  you  reflect,  can  you  imagine 
any  other  one  thing  that  would  be  so  seriously  missed?  Your 
trains,  your  steamboats,  your  automobiles,  your  tractor  engines, 
your  stationary  engines,  your  elevators,  your  wagons,  and,  in  fact, 
every  carrying  vehicle  would  stop  running.  Scores  of  medicinal 
articles  would  disappear  from  the  shelves  of  the  apothecary  shop. 
Thousands  of  tons  of  petrpleum  mineral  rubber  now  used  in  the 
manufacture  of  automobile  tires  would,  of  necessity,  have  to  be 
substituted.  Vast  quantities  of  carbon  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
penholders,  talking  machine  records  antf  such  articles  of  daily  use 
would  have  to  come  from  another  source. 

The  total  value  of  petroleum  produced  in  the  United  States 


FEDERAL  CO-OPERATION  WITH  OIL  INDUSTRY        493 

for  the  fifty-eight  years  of  the  industry  has  amounted  to  $2,969,- 
292,635.  These  figures  are  merely  suggestive.  Again,  the  business 
has  only  reached  extensive  development  within  the  past  few  years. 
The  total  crude  production  of  petroleum  in  the  United  States  in 
1915  (official  figures  are  lacking)  was  valued  at  $192,594,469.  The 
total  production  «of  natural  gas,  a  product  found  in  drilling  for 
petroleum  and  which  belongs  to  the  industry,  was  valued  at  $101,- 
312,381.  The  output  of  casinghead  gasoline,  made  from  gas  taken 
from  oil  wells  and  which  industry  has  only  been  started  within  the 
last  few  years,  was  valued  at  $5,510,823,  or  a  total  of  $299,057,673. 
This  is  10  per  cent  of  the  total  value  of  crude  produced  in  the  fifty- 
eight  years  since  the  discovery  well  was  drilled.  It  must  be  taken 
into  consideration  that  natural  gas  and  casinghead  gasoline  were 
not  used  for  commercial  purposes  during  the  first  thirty  or  thirty- 
five  years  of  the  oil  business. 

The  importance  of  the  industry  in  the  United  States  is  further 
illustrated  by  the  fact  that  the  world's  total  production  of  crude 
oil  in  1915  was  447,660,777  barrels,  including  both  marketed  and 
stored  output.  Of  this  amount  the  United  States  produced  301,- 
872,208  barrels  (the  remainder  of  the  world  producing  145,788,569 
barrels),  or  67.4  per  cent.  And  we  are  told,  and  I  believe  it  is  true, 
the  oil  industry  is  even  now  only  in  its  swaddling  clothes.  Ten  years 
ago  it  was  supposed  high  grade  crude  was  nearly  exhausted.  But 
less  than  two  years  ago  a  single  pool  in  the  Mid-Continent  field 
attained  a  daily  production  of  300,000  barrels  of  high  grade 
petroleum,  and  this  area  was  so  small  that  it  could  be  set  down 
within  the  official  boundaries  of  some  of  our  larger  cities  without 
overlapping  into  the  fire  limit.  No  one  is  competent  to  estimate 
how  many  similar  pools  may  yet  be  found  in  most  unexpected  places 
in  this  and  other  countries.  Personally  I  am  thoroughly  convinced 
that  the  supply  will  equal  the  demand  for  generations  yet  to  come. 
But  much  depends  upon  our  use  of  the  developed  supply. 

In  1859  there  was  only  one  oil  producing  well  in  the  United 
States.  That  was  the  Drake  well  at  Titusville,  Pa.  By  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Civil  War  test  wells  had  been  started  in  various 
parts  of  the  country.  One  was  drilling  on  the  Little  Wee  out  on  the 
prairies  of  Kansas.  I  have  been  told  that  another  had  been  started 
about  that  time  in  California,  and  every  now  and  then  I  am  amazed 
to  learn  that  a  test  had  been  begun  in  some  very  unusual  part  of 
the  country  either  just  before  or  just  after  the  War  of  the  Rebel- 
lion. Yet  it  was  not  until  within  the  last  twenty  years  that  the 


494         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

development  was  carried  actively  and  generally  over  the  country. 
Today  petroleum  is  produced  in  commercial  quantities  in  seventeen 
different  states  and  is  being  found  in  smaller  quantities  in  six  or 
eight  other  states. 

There  are  several  trunk  pipe  lines  carrying  crude  from  Okla- 
homa and  Kansas  northeast  to  Chicago  and  Alton,  111.  (East  St. 
Louis),  and  thence  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  There  are  three  pipe 
lines  from  Oklahoma  to  Gulf  ports  in  Texas  and  Louisiana.  The 
pipe  line  system  on  the  Pacific  coast,  in  the  Gulf  coast  region,  in 
the  Mid-Continent  region  and  through  the  Atlantic  states  is  one  of 
the  industrial  wonders  of  the  age.  No  figures  are  available  to  show 
the  number  of  wells  drilled  along  these  lines.  Over  79,000  have 
been  drilled  in  Kansas  and  Oklahoma  alone,  and  it  is  safe  to  esti- 
mate that  no  less  than  500,000  wells  have  been  drilled  in  the  United 
States.  It  is  impossible  to  conceive  the  impetus  this  great  move- 
ment has  brought  to  the  general  prosperity  of  the  nation,  to  say 
nothing  of  pleasure,  comfort  and  luxury  that  have  attended  it. 

There  are  more  than  300  refineries  in  the  United  States,  the 
daily  crude  capacity  of  which  exceeds  the  daily  production  of 
petroleum.  The  total  investment  in  refineries  alone  is  estimated  at 
approximately  $430,000,000.  The  investment  in  pipe  lines,  produc- 
ing wells,  storage  tanks,  oil  machinery  manufacturing  concerns, 
tank  cars,  etc.,  carries  the  petroleum  investment  in  this  country 
into  the  billions  of  dollars,  and  we  are  only  starting.  So  rapid  is 
the  development  of  the  business  that  today  it  is  impossible  to  secure 
the  delivery  of  new  tank  cars  in  less  than  eight  months,  and  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  secure  any  promise  at  all  for  the  delivery  of 
refinery  equipment. 

The  importance  of  petroleum  is  further  illustrated  in  the  fact 
that  in  1915  the  total  value  of  crude  oil,  natural  gas  and  casinghead 
gas  at  the  well  was  $299,057,673,  while  the  total  iron  ore  shipments 
aggregated  only  $101,288,984;  the  total  value  of  gold  production 
was  $101,035,700;  our  entire  silver  production  in  1915  was  only 
$37,397,300;  our  smelter  copper  production  was  $242,900,000.  Thus 
the  value  of  oil  country  products  at  the  well  was  almost  three  times 
that  of  iron  ore  and  gold,  almost  eight  times  that  of  silver,  and 
one  and  one-fifth  times  as  much  as  copper.  In  other  words,  last 
year  it  led  everything  in  the  mining  industry  except  coal  and  its 
initial  value  in  1915  was  one-half  the  value  of  the  oat  crop  of  that 
year,  almost  one-third  of  the  marketed  value  of  wheat,  and  one- 
sixth  the  value  of  the  1915  yield  of  corn.  Yet  we  have  been  pro- 


FEDERAL  CO-OPERATION  WITH  OIL  INDUSTRY        495 

ducing  these  grains  since  the  days  of  Ruth  and  Naomi,  and  how 
much  longer  man  knoweth  not  how  to  compute. 

I 

Possibilities  of  Crude  Oil. 

Notwithstanding  the  great  uses  to  which  petroleum  has  been 
extended,  it  is  generally  conceded  the  possibilities  of  crude  oil  have 
only  so  far  been  hinted  at.  Chemists  admit  less  is  known  of  the 
chemical  reaction  of  petroleum  than  any  other  indispensable  mineral 
product,  and  that  it  promises  greater  rewards  of  research  than 
almost  any  other  thing  of  general  use  today.  The  possibilities  are 
bewildering  to  even  expert  chemists,  and  as  these  facts  crowd  in 
upon  the  attention  of  the  petroleum  manufacturer,  he  is  over- 
whelmed with  the  losses  which  have  been  sustained  in  the  crude 
manner  of  handling  this  raw  material  in  the  past  and  the  pity  of 
continuing  the  same  in  the  future  in  face  of  surrounding  condi- 
tions. We  will  agree  there  was  possibly  no  way  of  avoiding  this 
loss  in  other  days  when  we  were  not  aware  of  the  intrinsic  value 
of  petroleum  contents,  but  with  the  knowledge  we  possess  today, 
every  effort  should  be  made,  both  on  the  part  of  the  government 
officials  and  those  directly  interested  in  the  business,  to  arrest  any 
further  unnecessary  loss. 

That  old  "saw"  has  been  forcibly  brought  to  attention  the  last 
year  that  "necessity  is  the  mother  of  invention."  Within  the  past 
twelve  months  the  petroleum  refiner  was  face  to  face  with  the 
proposition  of  a  shortage  of  crude.  The  demand  for  gasoline  had 
grown  by  leaps  and  bounds.  The  number  of  internal  combustion 
engine-propelled  vehicles  was  increasing  at  the  rate  of  almost  a 
million  a  year.  The  output  of  the  Gushing  pool  had  decreased 
from  300,000  barrels  a  day  in  a  few  months  to  approximately  75,000 
barrels  a  day.  The  yield  of  other  fields  was  also  decreasing.  It 
was  a  serious  question  of  how  to  meet  the  increased  demand  for 
gasoline  in  face  of  the  decreased  output  of  raw  material.  That 
the  refiner  was  able  to  meet  the  situation  without  any  hardship  upon 
the  public,  in  fact  with  the  public  scarcely  realizing  that  such  a  con- 
dition existed,  is  both  a  compliment  to  him  and  a  suggestion  of  the 
possibilities  in  petroleum  if  sufficient  attention  is  given.  I  would 
not  suggest  by  my  appeal  for  Federal  co-operation  that  the  refiner 
is  not  putting  forth  every  possible  effort  to  extend  the  uses  of 
petroleum  himself,  but  the  difficulty  is  that  his  attention  is  so  taken 
up  with  the  needs  of  the  hour  and  his  business  requires  such  a  vast 
amount  of  capital,  he  is  unable  to  go  into  research  work  except  as 


496         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

necessity  requires.  It  is  also  desired  to  show  that  the  loss  in  present 
methods,  if  stopped,  might  defer  the  day  of  shortage  many  years. 
The  exigencies  of  the  past  two  years,  for  example,  forced  upon 
the  refiner  the  necessity  of  producing  a  larger  amount  of  motor 
fuel  from  a  given  quantity  of  crude  than  ever  before.  The  result 
is  the  refiner  is  making,  through  a  more  scientific  knowledge  of 
this  business,  at  least  50  per  cent  more  gasoline  from  a  given 
amount  of  crude  than  he  made  two  years  ago.  In  some  instances 
he  is  making  100  per  cent  more  gasoline.  If  he  had  not  been  able 
to  do  so,  many  an  automobile  would  have  reduced  its  mileage  dur- 
ing the  past  year.  The  refiner  by  scientific  process  has  found  that 
he  can  make  as  good  a  grade  of  gasoline  today  of  56  or  57  gravity 
as  he  used  to  make  at  60  to  62  gravity.  He  is  doing  it  on  scientific 
principles.  For  fifty  years  there  was  scarcely  any  change  in 
methods  of  refining.  During  the  past  two  years  there  has  been  a 
wonderful  change.  It  has  suddenly  been  found  that  gravity  is  of 
little  importance  in  gasoline  and  that  the  end  point  is  all  important. 
We  didn't  know  anything  about  end  point  until  recently,  and  what 
we  have  learned  in  this  direction  has  given  us  a  glimpse  into  the 
future,  and  we  are  almost  afraid  to>  guess  what  tomorrow  may 
bring  forth.  We  know  that  in  some  instances  refiners  are  cutting 
down  their  crude  run  75  per  cent,  yet  getting  more  gasoline  from 
the  remaining  25  per  cent  of  crude  than  was  formerly  extracted 
when  the  plant  was  running  its  full  capacity  of  crude. 

Further  than  this  at  least  one  large  company  is  now  engaged 
in  "skimming"  its  crude  oil  and  taking  off  about  10  per  cent  of 
gasoline,  after  which  the  skimmed  crude  is  placed  in  storage  tanks 
for  future  use.  Heretofore  crude  was  placed  in  storage  and  this 
10  per  cent  evaporated  in  the  air. 

For  half  a  century  gas  in  oil  wells  had  been  permitted  to  flow 
into  the  air  a  total  waste.  Last  year  over  $5,500,000  was  realized 
from  gasoline  compressed  from  the  gas,  and  this  year  the  sum  will 
be  nearly  doubled.  Yet  only  a  small  portion  of  the  casinghead  gas 
of  the  country  is  being  thus  utilized. 

For  many  years  the  vapors  from  petroleum  stills  were  per- 
mitted to  escape  into  the  air.  One  day  a  refiner  conceived  the  idea 
of  saving  this  fearful  loss.  Then  it  was  discovered  that  one  of  the 
most  valuable  fractions  of  the  gasoline  content  had  been  escaping. 
There  are  still  many  such  ways  of  conserving  the  supply  of  this 
valuable  product  through  greater  efficiency,  and  my  contention  is 
that  more  general,  comprehensive  and  far-reaching  benefits  in  this 


FEDERAL  CO-OPERATION  WITH  OIL  INDUSTRY        497 

direction  are  possible  through  the  efforts  of  efficiency  engineers  and 
chemists  under  governmental  direction  and  supervision  than  by 
indifferent,  personal,  selfish  effort. 

A  conspicuous  possibility  in  illustration:  Compression  of  nat- 
ural gasoline  from  casinghead  gas  referred  to  above  is  a  new  and 
only  slightly  developed  branch  of  the  oil  business.  Casinghead 
gasoline  is  of  very  high  gravity  and  a  valuable  product.  Scant 
knowledge  has  been  acquired  concerning  it  and  how  to  handle  it 
to  best  advantage.  At  the  present  time  from  30  to  50  per  cent 
of  this  rich  product  is  lost  in  what  is  known  as  "weathering."  It 
can  be  held  under  high  pressure,  but  the  moment  it  is  released  it  is 
beyond  control.  At  the  present  time  it  escapes  into  the  air  a  total 
waste,  amounting  unquestionably  to  millions  of  dollars,  and  of  still 
greater  importance  when  it  is  taken  into  consideration  this  is  the 
best  part  of  "natural  gasoline,"  used  so  extensively  in  "lengthening 
out"  naphtha  and  low  gravity  gasoline  for  motor  fuel.  Surely 
efficiency  engineers  could  find  some  device  for  arresting  this  loss, 
and  my  notion  is  the  Bureau  of  Mines  should  do  it  for  the  benefit, 
not  of  a  few,  but  the  profit  of  all.  At  least  they  could  develop 
some  method  of  capturing  in  high  pressure  tanks  to  be  used  for 
illuminating  the  millions  of  American  farm  homes  now  dark  and 
gloomy  after  nightfall  and  making  them  attractive  and  pleasant 
places  of  abode  as  never  before  and  at  comparatively  little  expense. 

What  the  Oil  Men  Ask. 

For  many  years  oil  men  advocated  a  bureau  of  petroleum  or 
a  cabinet  portfolio  representing  petroleum  and  other  mining  inter- 
ests. Then  came  the  creation  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines  and  later 
the  establishment  within  the  bureau  of  a  department  of  petroleum. 
This  department  has  been  in  operation  but  a  comparatively  short 
time  and  yet,  by  reason  of  the  comprehensive  understanding  of  the 
oil  industry  by  Director  Manning  and  his  very  able  and  broad- 
minded  attitude  toward  petroleum,  together  with  the  co-operation 
of  so  capable  a  man  as  Superintendent  Williams,  has  won  the  con- 
fidence of  the  oil  fraternity  who  will  be  pleased  to  see  all  petroleum 
matters  at  Washington  concentrated  under  the  single  direction  of 
this  bureau  instead  of  in  the  present  confusing,  inefficient  and  inef- 
fective manner  in  numerous  departments. 

Up  to  this  year  the  bureau  has  had  approximately  $100,000  to 
spend  for  petroleum  and  natural  gas.  The  appropriation  for  the 
year  ending  June  30,  1917,  is  $70,000.  At  the  same  time  an  appro- 
priation of  $65,000  has  been  given  to  the  Navy  Department  for 


498         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

practically  the  same  work  the  Bureau  of  Mines  is  attempting  to  do. 
The  Bureau  of  Standards  is  also  taking  up  certain  work  in  con- 
nection with  petroleum.  Appropriations  are  made  to  the  Geological 
Survey  for  the  gathering  of  oil  statistics.  In  addition  to  these  the 
Federal  Trade  Commission  has  spent  a  large  sum  of  money  "delv- 
ing into  the  mysteries  of  petroleum."  If  all  these  appropriations 
were  combined  and  all  matters  pertaining  to  petroleum  were  cen- 
tered in  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  there  is  no  question  in  the  minds  of 
those  who  have  studied  the  situation  that  it  would  be  better  for 
both  the  industry  and  the  public  at  large.  I  have  no  criticism  of 
the  men  in  these  other  departments.  I  am  criticizing  the  system 
which  is  not  comprehensive.  Oil  requires  intimate  knowledge. 
Messrs.  Manning  and  Williams  know  the  oil  country.  They  could 
do  all  the  work  that  these  various  other  departments  do  at  less 
expense  and  to  the  far  greater  good  of  the  industry. 

W hat  the  Bureau  of  Mines  Has  Done  for  Petroleum. 

It  has  pointed  the  way  to  hidden  values  and  quickened  a  deep 
interest  in  conservation  policies  and  constructive  research. 

It  has  justified  its  creation. 

In  the  course  of  three  years  and  with  less  than  $100,000  to 
carry  on  its  work,  it  has  rendered  to  both  oil  producer  and  public 
service  of  incalculable  value. 

In  the  matter  of  gas  conservation  alone  it  has  been  the  means 
of  saving  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars.  The  experts  of  the 
Bureau  of  Mines  originated  the  "mudding  process,"  by  which  great 
volumes  of  gas,  encountered  in  drilling  oil  wells  and  which  formerly 
had  been  permitted  to  flow  into  the  air  a  complete  and  irrevocable 
loss,  are  now  sealed  up  in  the  original  stratum  for  future  use. 
Losses  in  the  past  have  amounted  to  millions  of  dollars.  Wells 
testing  twenty,  forty  and  sixty  million  cubic  feet  a  day  were 
allowed  to  blow  into  the  air  until  exhausted,  and  then  drilling 
would  be  continued  to  the  oil  sand.  When  the  Bureau's  repre- 
sentative said  this  fearful  waste  must  cease  and  that  it  would  have 
to  be  shut  in, 

"  Somebody  said  that  it  couldn't  be  done ; 

And  he  with  a  chuckle,  replied 
That  maybe  it  couldn't;  but  he  would  be  one 
Who  wouldn't  say  so  till  he  tried. 


FEDERAL  CO-OPERATION  WITH  OIL  INDUSTRY        499 

So  he  buckled  right  in,  with  a  trace  of  a  grin 

On  his  face — if  he  worried,  he  hid  it. 
He  started  to  sing,  as  he  tackled  the  thing 

That  couldn't  be  done— AND  HE  DID  IT." 
And  now  every  time  gas  is  encountered  in  a  well  drilling  for 
oil,  the  owner,  if  he  wishes  to  continue  to  the  oil  sand,  shuts  the 
gas  off  by  the  mud  process,  that  was  a  joke  and  couldn't  be  done, 
and  this  valuable  resource  is  reserved  in  its  natural  reservoir  for 
future  use. 

It  is  submitted  that  if  the  Bureau  never  did  another  thing,  it 
has  justified  its  existence  and  repaid  all  it  will  cost  the  tax  payer  for 
years  to  come. 

But  the  department  has  done  more.  Two  years  ago  when  the 
oil  industry  was  confronted  with  a  possible  shortage  of  crude  to 
meet  the  demands  of  the  public  for  motor  fuel,  Director  Manning 
"turned  loose"  a  young  man  named  Rittman  to  inquire  into  the 
possibilities  of  making  more  gasoline  from  crude  oil.  Hundreds 
of  men  had  tried  for  years  to  do  the  same  thing;  the  congress  had 
fostered  a  scheme  to  provide  a  substitute  in  the  form  of  dena- 
tured alcohol ;  the  Standard  Oil  Co.  had  built  many  expensive,  high 
pressure  stills  to  this  end  and  had  reconstructed  them  and  spent 
money  like  a  drunken  sailor  to  develop  this  growing  idea  and  with 
only  partial  success ;  the  Bureau  of  Patents  revealed  a  mute  tale  of 
Llasted  hopes  in  scores  of  devices  and  schemes  for  advanced  dis- 
tillation ;  and  quite  naturally  when  young  Rittman's  ambitions  be- 
came known, 

"  Somebody  scoffed,  'Oh,  you'll  never  do  that — 

At  least  no  one  ever  has  done  it.' 
But  he  took  off  his  coat  and  he  took  off  his  hat 

And  the  first  thing  we  knew  he'd  begun  it, 
With  a  lift  of  his  chin  and  a  bit  of  a  grin, 

Without  any  doubt  or  quiddit. 
He  started  to  sing  as  he  tackled  the  thing 

That  couldn't  be  done— lAND  HE  DID  IT." 
The  idea  of  cracking  was  not  new.  It  had  been  attempted 
before  Rittman  was  born ;  but  that  was  all  that  came  of  it.  Both 
the  effort  and  the  men  had  long  since  been  forgotten.  But  this 
young,  unpretentious  chemist  in  the  Bureau  of  Mines  had  a  service 
to  render  a  great  industry.  He  discovered  that  after  the  "free" 
gasoline,  if  you  please,  had  been  removed  from  crude  petroleum, 
that  which  remained  could  be  "cracked"  and  reconstructed  into 


500         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

what  has  come  to  be  known  as  synthetic  crude  and  from  which  a 
greater  per  cent  of  motor-fuel  gasoline  could  be  distilled  than  was 
precipitated  by  present  processes.  Oil,  declared  Rittman,  is  made 
up  of  molecules,  the  smaller  ones  being  gasoline  and  the  larger 
ones,  according  to  their  size,  kerosene,  fuel  oil,  tar,  etc. ;  that  after 
the  gasoline  molecules  are  removed,  the  next  larger  ones  can,  by 
heat  and  pressure,  be  broken  up  into  other  gasoline  molecules,  and 
the  still  larger  ones  cracked  into  kerosene,  fuel  oil,  etc.  By  adding 
more  crude  from  time  to  time  this  process  might  be  carried  on 
indefinitely  with  a  constantly  increasing  amount  of  gasoline  refrac- 
tionation.  It  was  only  a  question  of  cost  as  to  how  far  the  process 
could  be  carried  on. 

This  was  an  entirely  new  idea.  It  makes  little  or  no  difference 
whether  the  Rittman  still  has  been  a  success  or  not;  it  is  not  a 
reflection  upon  Rittman  how  great  a  success  the  Standard's  Burton 
method  has  since  become;  it  is  immaterial  what  has  come  of  the 
mechanical  feature  of  applying  his  discovery — he  originated  a  new 
idea  that  is  being  developed  and  is  bearing  fruit.  Hundreds  of  men 
are  putting  his  idea  into  practice,  and  since  his  pronunciamento 
petroleum  refining  has  witnessed  its  greatest  evolution.  It  might 
be  added  that  today  refiners  in  the  east,  the  Mid-continent  and  far 
west  are  installing  Rittman  process  plants ;  they  are  getting  results. 
Rittman,  still  modest  and  unhurt  by  fame,  is  known  throughout 
the  petroleum  world  for  what  he  has  done.  Refiners  everywhere 
are  getting  vastly  more  gasoline  from  the  same  amount  of  crude 
than  they  were  getting  before  their  attention  was  turned  by  this 
young  man  to  his  new  theory  of  distillation.  I  am  not  attempting 
to  give  to  him  undue  credit,  but  I  do  say  that  he  made  the  discovery 
which  directed  refiners  into  new  and  broader  channels  and  brought 
them  greatly  increased  results.  He  gave  them  new  confidence  and 
spurred  them  to  greater  action  than  ever  before. 

My  deduction  is  this:  That  if  Dr.  Rittman,  by  his  work,  gave 
a  suggestion  to  the  petroleum  refiner  that  resulted  in  adding  only 
15  per  cent  of  gasoline  precipitation  from  crude  oil,  he  performed 
a  tremendous  service  to  the  public.  It  is  unnecessary  for  me  to 
show  in  concrete  figures  what  this  would  mean.  If  it  had  not  been 
for  the  added  amount  of  gasoline  it  is  now  possible  to  extract  from 
petroleum,  the  world  would  be  suffering  a  famine  of  this  wonder- 
ful product  upon  which  we  depend  for  the  greatest  industrial  power 
in  the  world. 


FEDERAL  CO-OPERATION  WITH  OIL  INDUSTRY        501 

Long  before  Dr.  Rittman  was  thought  of,  before  the  motor  car 
had  become  an  acknowledged  necessity,  the  late  President  Moffitt 
of  the  Standard  Oil  Co.  of  Indiana  declared  the  great  concern  of 
oildom  was  how  to  meet  the  future  demand  for  gasoline.  High 
grade  crude  was  being  exhausted;  attempted  increased  refractiona- 
tion  had  failed;  no  successful  substitute  had  been  found.  Mr. 
Moffitt  took  a  dismal  view  of  the  future.  He  believed  petroleum 
had  reached  the  limits  of  its  .output.  That  was  ten  years  ago.  The 
greatest  high  grade  oil  pools  ever  known  have  since  been  devel- 
oped. Motor  vehicles  have  increased  by  millions.  Let  me  show 
you  what  the  Rittman  idea  put  into  operation  means.  Last  year 
in  this  country  we  produced  over  300,000,000  barrels  of  crude.  If 
Rittman  can  get  30  per  cent  more  gasoline  from  crude  by  his 
process  than  we  formerly  got  (and  we  believe  he  will),  and  all 
of  the  300,000,000  barrels  were  distilled  by  his  process,  then  we 
would  have  produced  3,780,000,000  gallons,  nearly  two  hundred 
per  cent  more  than  we  actually  did  produce,  or  a  sufficient  amount 
to  supply  7,560,000  cars  at  500  gallons  each  per  year.  The  figures 
are  bewildering  when  one  considers  this  is  several  times  as  many 
cars  as  were  in  use  last  year.  Fully  one  half  the  great  petroleum 
production  of  California  produces  no  gasoline  at  all,  and  the  other 
half  only  produces  about  5  per  cent.  Dr.  Rittman  expects  to  revo- 
lutionize this  condition.  Prior  to  two  years  ago  the  average  reduc- 
tion of  gasoline  from  crude  was  not  over  12  per  cent,  if  indeed  it 
was  that. 

I  say  the  petroleum  division  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines  has  justi- 
fied its  creation. 

Why  a  More  Efficient  and  Better  Equipped  Petroleum  Division  of 

the  Bureau  of  Mines. 

First :  Because,  though  only  meagerly  equipped,  it  has  demon- 
stated  its  great  value  to  the  oil  industry  itself  and  the  public  in 
general. 

Second:  Because  there  is  no  question  of  the  invaluable  re- 
sults from  a  more  extensive  development  of  the  work. 

Third :  Because  under  present  conditions  there  are  great 
losses  in  a  rich  resource  that  might  be  arrested  to  meet  an  insistent 
demand. 

Fourth:  Because  if  this  is  not  done  and  conservation  policies 
are  not  more  extensively  introduced,  the  supply  of  gasoline  and 
other  products  of  petroleum  must  inevitably  become  scarce  and 
prices  higher. 


502         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

Fifth:  Because  the  manufacturer  is  so  occupied  and  intent 
upon  creating  a  sufficient  supply  to  meet  the  demand  that  he  is 
unable  to  give  time  or  concentrate  on  experimental  research. 

Sixth:  Because  if  this  work  is  left  to  individuals  to  perform, 
it  will  be  unavoidably  delayed,  and,  when  finally  accomplished,  will 
be  for  the  benefit  of  the  few  only;  whereas,  if  done  by  the  gov- 
ernment, it  may  be  done  at  once,  at  the  expense  of  all  and  for  the 
benefit  at  once  of  the  entire  people. 

The  plans  of  the  petroleum  division  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines 
are  worthy  of  universal  approval.  They  are  comprehensive  and 
intelligent.  Already  the  division  has  created  an  official  lodgement 
of  inquiries  and  source  of  investigation  concerning  drilling  for 
petroleum,  preparation,  treatment  and  utilization  of  both  petroleum 
and  natural  gas,  with  a  view  to  greater  economic  development, 
more  thorough  conservation  through  prevention  of  waste,  and  a 
more  intelligent  and  profitable  inquiry  into  economic  conditions 
affecting  the  industry,  including  equipment  and  supplies,  scientific 
research  and  experimentation,  and  study  of  the  most  efficient 
methods  of  drilling  for  and  producing  oil  and  gas. 

The  division  naturally  segregates  itself  into  four  sections: 
technology  of  production,  technology  of  engineering,  technology  of 
chemistry,  and  compilation  and  dissemination  of  statistical  and  in- 
dustrial information. 

The  purpose  of  the  production  section  is  to  devise,  demonstrate 
and  urge  the  adoption  of  improved  drilling  methods  for  the  pro- 
duction of  oil  and  gas,  especially  the  production  of  natural  gas  en- 
countered in  wells  drilling  for  oil ;  to  study  scientifically  methods  of 
excluding  water  from  oil  sands,  with  a  view  to  improving  present 
methods ;  to  study  means  of  dehydration  of  oil  where  oil  and  water 
have  become  so  intimately  mixed  that  their  separation  is  difficult 
or  even  impossible  with  present  knowledge ;  to  study  advanced 
methods  of  skimming  or  topping  oil,  with  a  view  to  increasing 
efficiency  of  such  plants ;  to  provide  refinery  efficiency  engineers 
now  so  greatly  needed  in  the  industry. 

This  department  should  supervise  and  inspect  the  operation  of 
leases  on  lands  under  the  control  of  the  Department  of  the  Inte- 
rior; co-operate  with  the  Indian  Office  and  other  bureaus  of  the 
government  as  may  become  necessary  in  matters  pertaining  to 
petroleum ;  see  that  the  terms  of  these  leases  are  carried  out  so  as 
to  prevent  waste  or  damage,  and  at  the  same  time  intelligently  safe- 
guard the  interests  of  the  producer  while  representing  the  interests 


FEDERAL  CO-OPERATION  WITH  OIL  INDUSTRY        503 

of  the  allotee,  give  expert  advice  and  assistance  to  the  operators  of 
these  leases,  so  that  both  they  and  the  lessors  may  receive  maximum 
returns;  co-operate  with  the  Navy  Department  in  matters  regard- 
ing navy  fuel  oil  and  fuel  oil  reserves;  and  in  general  assist  any 
branch  of  the  government  in  engineering  matters  relating  to  oil  and 
gas,  the  importance  of  which  grows  more  apparent  with  each  suc- 
ceeding session  of  the  congress. 

The  division  of  engineering  technology  is  engaging  in  a  study 
of  the  most  efficient  methods  of  transporting  and  storing  crude 
petroleum.  It  is  inquiring  into  various  methods  of  fire  protection 
with  a  view  to  reducing  fire  losses.  The  losses  of  crude  petroleum 
from  lightning  in  new  fields,  where  the  oil  is  heavily  impregnated 
with  gas,  have  been  exceptionally  large,  and  in  this  direction  expert 
investigation  may  prove  of  great  importance.  It  is  proposed  in 
the  engineering  division  to  make  special  inquiry  into  methods  of 
storing  oil  with  a  view  to  reducing  evaporation  losses  to  the  mini- 
mum, to  advise  with  licensees  as  to  the  construction  and  operation 
of  Rittman  process  plants,  and  for  co-operation  with  refiners  and 
others  in  the  establishment  of  experimental  plants  for  the  purpose 
of  working  out  tests  on  various  petroleums  produced  in  different 
parts  of  the  country. 

In  the  division  of  chemical  technology  experts  are  investigating 
the  most  modern  and  efficient  means  of  refining  and  treating 
petroleum  and  its  products.  They  are  doing  research  work  in 
cracking  of  oils  and  converting  less  valuable  products  into  more 
valuable  products  thereof,  including  the  production  of  gasoline 
from  heavier  distillates.  In  the  chemical  division  it  is  also  pro- 
posed to  delve  into  the  possibilities  of  increasing  the  yield  of  lighter 
and  more  valuable  products  of  petroleum.  In  this  department  it 
will  become  more  and  more  important  as  petroleum  becomes  ex- 
hausted, to  investigate  the  possibilities  of  a  supply  of  oil  from 
shales  and  devise  the  best  methods  of  treating  them.  It  will  also 
be  the  purpose  of  this  division,  if  it  is  properly  financed  and 
equipped,  to  co-operate  with  refiners  throughout  the  country  in  im- 
proving technologic  methods  and  in  disseminating  information  re- 
garding refinery  problems,  and  also  to  devise  uniform  methods  of 
testing  petroleum.  They  propose  to  prepare  specifications  for  the 
purchase  of  petroleum  and  petroleum  products,  and  in  general  to 
endeavor  to  eliminate  refinery  wastes,  prevent  improper  utilization 
and  increase  the  production  of  petroleum  products  most  valuable 
to  the  public. 


504         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

It  would  be  difficult  to  estimate  the  benefits  of  work  conducted 
on  this  scale  by  the  petroleum  division  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines. 
The  department  is  now  contemplating  an  experimental  station  to 
be  established  next  year  somewhere  in  the  western  oil  fields,  which 
will  devote  attention  to  the  treatment  of  oils,  and*  its  possibilities 
will  depend  very  largely  upon  the  appropriation  given  for  its  main- 
tenance. So  many  possibilities  open  up  when  the  chemist  bursts 
the  petroleum  burr  of  investigation  that  he  must  have  the  means 
to  carry  his  work  to  its  ultimate  conclusion  if  he  would  find  all  the 
kernels  inside  and  bring  the  greatest  possible  results  to  the  industry 
from  its  research.  It  is  proposed  to  establish  this  station  in  an  oil 
producing  state  which  can  provide  a  site  and  the  greatest  assistance 
in  equipment  and  maintenance. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  it  is  necessary  to  hamper  or  to  limit 
a  federal  enterprise  of  this  character  and  of  this  importance  by  de- 
pendence upon  public  assistance. 

In  exemplification  of  the  foregoing,  it  may  be  said  that  the 
engineers  of  the  petroleum  division  with  present  limited  funds  have 
investigated  underground  wastes  of  oil  and  gas  resulting  from 
improper  operating  methods  and  will  soon  impart  this  information 
for  the  benefit  of  the  industry.  At  the  present  time  the  division  is 
investigating  the  use  of  compressed  air  and  water  in  oil  recovery, 
which  is  of  much  importance.  The  properties  of  commercial  gaso- 
line and  methods  of  analyzing  petroleum  and  petroleum  products 
and  the  analytical  distillation  of  petroleum  have  been  investigated 
and  studies  carried  on  of  traps  for  separating  oil  and  gas  produced 
from  petroleum  wells.  One  of  the  engineers  of  the  Bureau  is  now 
engaged  in  investigating  the  production  of  gasoline  from  casinghead 
gas.  Another  has  already  entered  upon  the  problem  of  a  mechanical 
device  for  controlling  oil  fires  and  methods  of  extinguishing  such 
fires,  as  well  as  the  prevention  of  the  same.  The  navy  department 
is  vitally  interested  in  an  investigation  how  to  determine  the  best 
designs  and  specifications  for  earthen  storage  reservoirs,  concrete 
line  reservoirs  and  steel  tanks.  A  bibliography  of  petroleum  and 
allied  substances  is  being  prepared  for  the  year  1915,  and  it  is  hoped 
that  a  similar  compilation  will  be  made  for  every  calendar  year  in 
the  future.  This  work  will  be  greatly  improved  if  funds  are  pro- 
vided for  the  gathering  of  statistics  on  the  distribution  of  petroleum 
relating .  to  refined  products  and  an  investigation  of  conditions 
affecting  the  supply  and  demand,  together  with  the  disposal  of  oils 
in  times  of  overproduction,  with  a  view  to  keeping  the  producer 


FEDERAL  CO-OPERATION  WITH  OIL  INDUSTRY        505 

and  consumer  informed  as  to  market  conditions  by  means  of  press 
bulletins. 

I  think  it  will  be  admitted  the  Bureau  is  doing  a  splendid  work 
for  petroleum,  but  it  is  being  done  in  a  hampered  and  restricted 
manner.  There  can  be  no  doubt  but  if  all  matters  pertaining  to 
petroleum  at  Washington  were  centered  under  one  head  with  ade- 
quate appropriation,  far  more  could  be  accomplished — and  a  work 
too  that  is  imperative.  Larger  financial  assistance  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  extend  the  work  to  its  fullest  and  logical  possibilities. 
I  have  no  doubt  that  oil  men  would  be  willing  to  contribute  liberally 
toward  the  expense  of  such  an  enterprise  if  there  were  a  legal  way 
for  them  to  do  so.  Since  there  is  not,  there  should  be  no  hesitancy 
on  the  part  of  congress. 

Today  if  a  member  of  congress,  a  producer  or  other  interested 
citizen  desires  information  concerning  vital  questions  pertaining  to 
petroleum,  there  is  no  place  to  obtain  it.  It  is  impossible  to  secure 
anything  like  reliable  data  concerning  the  manufacture  of  petroleum 
in  the  United  States.  There  is  not  a  bureau  at  Washington  to 
which  to  appeal  for  statistics  concerning  petroleum  after  it  leaves 
the  well.  The  industry  and  the  government  are  working  very 
largely  in  the  dark.  It  is  an  unjustifiable  condition.  It  is  not  the 
fault  of  department  officials  at  Washington.  It  is  simply  because 
Congress  has  strewn  this  work  through  many  departments,  left  them 
short  of  funds  and  failed  to  appreciate  the  importance  of  the 
industry.  Certain  statistics  are  gathered,  but  they  are  superficial, 
inadequate  and  delayed  until  they  become  almost  valueless.  Be- 
sides this,  there  is  no  law  to  compel  co-operation  on  the  part  of 
unthinking  individuals  with  department  officials.  The  petroleum 
statistical  department  of  the  Geological  Survey  ought  to  be  united 
with  the  Bureau  of  Mines.  The  statistics  ought  to  show  the  daily 
production  of  crude  petroleum,  amount  daily  consumed,  quantity 
in  storage,  what  products  are  made  from  certain  crude  oils  and  the 
amount,  the  varying  contents  of  various  crudes,  number  of  refineries, 
ability  of  the  industry  to  meet  growing  demand,  etc.  The  official 
statement  issued  each  June  that  so  many  barrels  of  crude  were 
produced  the  previous  year  in  the  United  States  is  of  no  impor- 
tance whatever.  That  information  was  given  in  January  by  the 
trade  journals.  The  government  ought  to  have  this  data  before  the 
general  public  knows  it.  After  that  the  important  question  to  the 
consumer  is  "The  Supply  of  Gasoline."  What  is  the  grade  of 
crude  being  produced;  is  it  richly  impregnated  with  gasoline,  or  is 


506         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

it  an  inferior  quality?  The  crude  of  different  fields  vary  and  the 
crude  of  a  given  field  may  not  be  the  same  this  year  as  last.  We 
might  have  50,000,000  barrels  more  crude  this  year  than  last  and 
still  be  able  to  produce  less  gasoline.  What  about  distillation  proc- 
esses? Are  we  getting  more  or  less  gasoline  from  crude  than 
formerly?  The  more  detailed  information  we  can  secure  along 
these  lines,  the  more  intelligently  the  oil  operator  and  manufac- 
turer is  going  to  work.  This  information  ought  to  be  produced  dis- 
interestedly by  the  government.  It  would  be  invaluable. 

I  wrote  to  Washington  for  information  concerning  the  petro- 
leum industry,  and  this  is  the  reply  I  received : 

"Your  inquiry  relating  to  the  total  investment  of  capital  in 
the  petroleum  industry,  including  producing  properties,  refining 
plants,  pipe  lines,  tank  cars  and  storage  tanks,  and  to  the  total 
payroll  per  annum  of  the  petroleum  industry,  has  been  referred 
to  the  Bureau  of  the  Census  and  the  Federal  Trade  Commission, 
as  no  first-hand  information  on  these  subjects  is  available  in  this 
department. 

"Your  inquiry  concerning  number  and  character  of  products 
made  from  petroleum  and  the  quantities  of  each  product  made  in 
the  United  States  in  1915,  has  been  referred  to  the  Bureau  of 
Mines  and  the  Federal  Trade  Commission. 

"The  portion  of  your  request  relating  to  the  miles  of  pipe  line 
in  the  United  States  has  been  referred  to  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission.  Information  concerning  the  pipe  lines  in  California 
is  available  in  Bulletin  69  of  the  California  State  Mining  Bureau, 
San  Francisco,  which  includes  interesting  data  on  the  unit  cost  of 
pipe  line  construction." 

And  to  this  date  I  am  no  wiser  on  these  points  than  I  was. 

Similar  comments  were  made  with  reference  to  other  data 
requested.  I  am  not  criticising  the  bureau  from  which  this  letter 
came.  It  is  doing  the  best  it  can  under  the  circumstances.  I  am 
making  an  argument,  not  a  criticism. 

Foreigners  coming  to  this  country  are  amazed  at  our  lax  ways. 
In  Russia,  which  is  America's  greatest  petroleum  competitor,  the 
oil  operator  must  report  to  the  governor  of  the  province  when  he 
moves  a  rig  on  the  ground  to  drill  a  well,  giving  full  description 
of  location ;  within  ten  days  after  the  completion  of  the  well,  he 
must  file  a  log  of  the  well ;  and  every  month  thereafter  he  must 
report  the  gross  production  of  each  individual  well.  The  govern- 
ment issues  two  reports: 


FEDERAL  CO-OPERATION  WITH  OIL  INDUSTRY       507 

First:  A  monthly  statement  of  the  gross  pi  eduction  of  each 
district. 

Second :  A  quarterly  analytical  field  report  which  contains,  in 
addition  to  production  information,  the  individual  history  of  all 
wells. 

What  would  be  the  result  of  completed  statistical  records  of 
petroleum  in 'all  its  branches  in  this  country? 

Markets  established  by  legitimate  economic  conditions,  not  by 
a  few  men  of  large  capital. 

An  elimination  of  expensive,  distracting,  incriminating  and  in- 
effective investigations. 

Steady  and  dependable  quotations,  reliable  information  upon 
which  to  base  future  calculations. 

An  intelligent,  constructive  and  prosperous  industry,  with 
minimization  of  loss  and  waste. 

Publicity  has  a  marked  quieting  and  stabilizing  effect  upon 
business.  The  Standard  Oil  Co.,  recognizing  this,  issues  regular 
bulletins  of  information,  whereas  formerly  it  was  as  secretive  as  the 
proverbial  clam.  I  would  call  to  your  attention  that  during  the 
agitation  over  advancing  gasoline  prices,  the  Secretary  of  the  Inte- 
rior called  upon  the  Director  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines  for  a  report 
of  petroleum  conditions.  Within  a  few  days  a  statement  was 
issued  which  was  at  once  recognized  as  conservative,  comprehensive 
and  reliable,  and  immediately  it  had  effect.  Not  a  single  state- 
ment in  that  report  has  ever  been  questioned.  Subsequently  an 
extensive  and  expensive  investigation  was  held,  no  report  of  which 
has  yet  been  made.  I  submit  that  comprehensive  and  reliable  re- 
ports on  petroleum,  just  as  we  have  concerning  wheat,  corn,  copper, 
zinc,  etc.,  would  prove  invaluable. 

California  has  caught  the  idea.  That  state  has  a  law  requir- 
ing producers  to  report  every  new  well  drilled  and  every  old  well 
deepened,  its  complete  log,  its  initial  flow,  etc.  Monthly  reports 
must  be  filed  with  the  State  Mining  Bureau  at  Sacramento,  show- 
ing wells  drilled,  total  gross  production,  shut  in  production,  amount 
stored  in  tanks,  runs,  etc. 

There  is  a  growing  sentiment  for  federal  supervision  of  inspec- 
tion, now  carried  on  loosely  but  expensively  by  states.  Most  refin- 
ing business  is  of  an  interstate  character  and  should  be  under 
federal  authority.  Conflicting  state  laws  touching  interstate  busi- 
ness retard  industrial  progress,  are  uneconomical  and  fail  largely 


508         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

of  their  purpose.  The  expense  of  state  inspections  would  abun- 
dantly finance  a  fully  equipped  petroleum  division  of  the  Bureau 
of  Mines  of  inestimable  value  to  all  concerned.  It  is  difficult  to 
understand  why  anything  so  patent  is  permitted  to  go  indefinitely 
unembraced. 

The  field  of  usefulness  for  the  petroleum  division  of  the 
Bureau  of  Mines  is  limitless.  The  possibilities  of  petroleum  re- 
f ractionation  are  so  vast  that  no  one  would  dare  venture  a  prophecy. 
There  can  be  no  question  of  the  need  of  a  competent  corps  of 
research  chemists,  engineers  and  geologists,  provided  with  adequate 
means  and  apparatus  for  carrying  on  the  work. 

I  am  not  an  advocate  of  government  rules  and  regulations  to 
control  the  oil  business.  I  do  not  believe  in  government-made 
prices  of  manufactured  articles.  I  am  opposed  to  Federal  meddling 
with  industrials.  What  I  do  want  is  to  protect  and  safeguard  busi- 
ness with  just  laws,  sufficient  encouragement  to  develop  our  great 
national  resources  and  enough  restriction  to  bring  to  the  ultimate 
consumer  all  that  is  due  him.  To  this  end  I  would  give  expert 
assistance  to  business  involving  the  scientific  secrets  of  national 
resources.  Then  I  would  "Federalize"  all  interstate  matters  pertain- 
ing to  the  industry.  I  would  ask  that  the  Director  of  the  Bureau 
of  Mines,  familiar  with  oil  country  usages  and  conditions,  or  the 
Federal  Trade  Commission,  if  that  be  more  desirable,  be  author- 
ized to  approve  or  disapprove  plans  on  business  action  prior  to 
their  execution  and  that  so  long  as  the  holder  of  such  permit  com- 
plied with  its  provisions,  he  should  not,  for  the  sake  of  politics  or 
through  prejudice,  be  subjected  to  hostile  litigation;  that  before  any 
action  for  violation  of  the  provisions  of  the  permit  could  be  pos- 
sible, a  thirty  days'  notice  to  desist  should  be  given,  and  failure  to 
comply  with  such  notice  would  render  the  holder  subject  to  prose- 
cution. There  should  be  some  tribunal  for  business  advice  and 
direction,  removing  the  disturbing  and  often  vicious  attacks  upon 
honest  business.  What  the  oil  industry  needs  is  the  co-operation 
of  the  government  in  placing  it  on  a  strict  business  basis  with  like 
obligations  and  treatment  in  all  branches,  with  wholesome,  con- 
structive, progressive  policies  governing.  We  can  afford  in  these 
United  States  to  assume  just  as  encouraging  an  attitude  toward 
business  interests  as  do  foreign  nations  toward  their  business  enter- 
prises, and  when  we  assume  anything  but  a  just  attitude,  we  not 
only  do  industry  an  injustice,  but  in  a  reflectory  way  we  do  a 


FEDERAL  CO-OPERATION  WITH  OIL  INDUSTRY        509 

greater  harm  to  the  consuming  public  for  in  the  final  settlement 
of  all  business  matters  the  consumer  pays  the  bill. 

Today  business  is  harassed  by  its  inability  to  secure  prompt 
correction  of  wrongs.  There  should  be  no  wrong  without  a  prompt 
remedy,  and  there  should  be,  in  my  humble  opinion,  some  tribunal 
to  which  even  the  popularly  despised  master  of  industry  could  go 
with  his  grievances  with  full  assurance  that  he  would  have  an 
unprejudiced  hearing  with  immediate  results. 

In  view  of  what  has  been  set  forth  herein,  am  I  not  justified 
in  declaring  that  the  Bureau  of  Mines  has  vindicated  its  creation 
and  placed  upon  Congress  an  obligation  to  foster  its  ambition  to 
reach  out  into  greater  fields  of  usefulness,  which  every  man  familiar 
with  it  admits  are  boundless;  and  may  I  not  be  pardoned  in 
forcibly  asserting  that  the  congress  has  apparently  shut  its  eyes  to 
the  splendid  work  this  department  has  been  rendering  or  else  it 
would  not  be  necessary  to  plead  for  financial  assistance  which  ought 
to  come  after  such  performance  without  pleading.  Surely  we  must 
millions  are  appropriated  for  less  meritorious  causes. 


OIL    FLOTATION. 
By  Henricus  J.  Stander,  Chicago,  111. 

At  the  last  meeting  of  the  American  Institute  of  Mining  Engi- 
neers held  in  Arizona,  quite  a  good  deal  of  discussion  took  place 
with  reference  to  certain  of  the  flotation  phenomena.  From  the 
accounts  I  have  read,  it  appears  as  if  certain  extremely  valuable 
points  were  brought  out  by  those  who  took  part  in  the  discussion. 
I  shall  not  here  attempt  to  comment  on  or  criticize  any  of  the 
statements  made  at  that  meeting,  as  I  trust  to  be  able  in  the  near 
future  to  give  the  mining  fraternity  some  definite  empirical  as  well 
as  practical  data  on  certain  of  the  questions  raised  on  that  occasion. 

Before  proceeding  on  any  definite  theme,  I  want  to  call  your 
esteemed  attention  to  an  article  by  Mr.  Will  H.  Coghill,  in  the 
September  2nd  issue  of  the  Mining  &  Scientific  Press  of  this  year. 
He  writes :  "So  far  as  I  can  learn,  not  more  than  two  of  the  great 
number  of  recent  contributors  of  articles  on  flotation  have  had  an 
opportunity  for  a  deliberate  study  of  the  related  sciences.  The 
rest  of  us  have  a  job  to  look  after  and  are  busy  enough  attending 
to  it.  Advancement  is,  therefore,  slow.  The  papers  of  O.  C.  Ral- 
ston and  E.  E.  Free  are,  of  course,  excellent."  I  believe  Mr. 
iCoghill  is  quite  correct  in  what  he  says,  but  the  point  I  wish  to 
emphasize,  judging  from  an  experience  in  which  I  came  in  contact 
with  .not  only  most  of  the  practical  flotation  men  in  this  country 
and  Canada,  but  also  with  most  of  the  scientific  investigators  of 
flotation,  is  that  the  practical  man  in  charge  of  the  flotation 
machines  plays  a  far  more  important  part  in  the  actual  develop- 
ment of  the  process  than  we  give  him  credit  for.  To  give  you  an 
illustration:  In  a  i,oooton  per  day  flotation  plant,  in  which  a 
special  flotation  expert  was  employed,  who  had  the  very  best  co- 
operation of  his  assistant  and  of  the  chief  assayer,  I  found,  after 
spending  seven  days  in  their  laboratories  and  plant,  that  the  man 
who  could  give  me  the  best  information,  without  any  doubt  in  his 
mind  as  to  what  his  answers  implied,  was  the  flotation  man  on  the 
morning  shift.  He  knew  exactly  what  to  expect  under  any  given 
condition.  His  knowledge  came,  of  course,  only  from  experience. 
It  is  the  help  of  such  men  that  the  scientific  investigator  needs  more 
than  anything  else.  I  myself  have  put  a  year  on  flotation  in  a 


OIL  FLOTATIONS  511 

laboratory,  and  have  carried  on  numerous  physical  and  chemical 
experiments  in  relation  to  this  subject.  Yet  I  must  admit,  after 
having  come  in  touch  with  numerous  of  these  practical  men,  and 
having  taken  note  of  what  they  had  to  say,  and  giving  them  full 
credit  for  their  practical  views  gained  perhaps  by  hard  experience, 
that  many  points  seem  far  clearer  to  me  now  than  when  I  was 
trying  to  solve  it  all  in  the  laboratory. 

I  am  not  trying  to  discourage  any  type  of  investigation  in  the 
flotation  field,  for  we  need  as  much  as  we  can  get  and  especially 
at  this  time,  but  I  am  trying  to  show  that  the  scientific  investigator 
can  gain  a  whole  lot,  in  all  cases,  when  he  keeps  in  close  touch 
with  the  practical  flotation  man  and  his  views.  Simply  because  a 
man  cannot  talk  to  you  in  terms  of  particles,  occluded  gas,  elec- 
trical theory,  surface  tension,  oil  film,  etc.,  is  no  reason  in  the  world 
why  you  should  not  give  him  full  credit  for  what  he  knows,  for  in 
most  cases  he  knows  his  subject  from  a  practical  viewpoint  better 
than  you.  It  is  only  through  a  co-operation  of  all  parties  con- 
cerned that  we  can  ever  expect  to  reach  a  final  and  perfectly  satis- 
factory solution  of  the  problem. 

Those  of  you  familiar  with  the  flotation  process  will  agree  with 
me,  I  believe,  that  this  subject  has  been  credited  with  an  undue 
amount  of  phenomenal  and  unexplainable  obstacles.  That  those 
principles  upon  which  the  very  existence  of  the  process  depends 
are  not  to  be  explained  by  any  one  law  is  perfectly  clear  to  most 
of  us.  Yet  the  number  of  flotation  pessimists  form  too  large  a 
group;  for  upon  a  careful  step-by-step  analysis  of  the  actual  facts 
in  the  case,  it  does  not  seem  as  if  we  are  so  very  far  beyond  our 
depths  when  trying  to  formulate  the  causes,  not  cause,  of  flotation. 

In  this  brief  talk,  it  is  impossible  to  touch  on  all  the  points,  but 
I  should  like  to  direct  your  attention  to  some  of  the  very  essential 
ones. 

One  of  the  first  things  that  draws  our  attention  is  the  fact 
that  sulphides  are  peculiarly  suited  for  flotation  treatments.  What 
is  it  about  the  sulphide  that  makes  it  so  different  from  the  silica? 
Applying  a  process  of  elimination,  we  find  that  gravity  cannot 
enter  into  this  discussion.  What  else  do  we  know  about  the  sulphide 
and  silica  bodies,  respectively?  We  know  that  a  silica  particle 
absorbs  water  much  more  readily  than  does  the  sulphide.  This  is 
due  partly  to  the  property  of  porosity  as  manifested  by  these  two 
respectively.  The  sulphide  seems  to  constitute  a  much  more  com- 
pact and  solid  body.  The  very  fact  that  the  silica  gets  wet  or 


512         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

absorbs  the  water  so  readily  explains  why  it  should  break  the  water 
film  and  become  literally  "soaked"  with  water.  The  sulphide,  on 
the  other  hand,  behaves  differently,  and  even  when  in  suspension  in 
the  water,  it  appears  to  have  more  of  a  film  of  water  around  itself 
than  having,  like  the  silica,  the  liquid  throughout  its  entire  system. 
This  may  seem  fairly  theoretical,  but  we  cannot,  of  course,  con- 
ceive of  so  small  a  particle  of  either  silica  or  sulphide,  but  that  it  is 
made  up  of  an  extremely  large  number  of  molecules  of  either  SiO2 
or,  say,  PbS,  respectively.  The  particle  of  silica  that  passes 
through  200  mesh  is  far  from  presenting  as  compact  a  body  or 
system  as  is  the  particle  of  sulphide  crushed  to  the  same  mesh.  This 
to  me  is  one  of  the  very  important  factors  in  the  flotation  process. 
Going  back  to  the  old  surface  tension  flotation  process,  we  find  that 
the  separation  depended  on  the  fact  that  the  silica,  as  soon  as  it 
strikes  the  water  film,  sinks  into  the  liquid,  whereas  the  sulphide 
particle  does  not.  Now  why  should  the  silica  particle  sink?  First 
of  all,  it  is  necessary  for  the  silica  to  pierce  the  surface  of  the 
water.  Although  much  attention  has  been  paid  here  to  the  so- 
called  "Angle  of  Contact,"  I  believe  the  fact  that  the  silica  absorbs 
water  so  readily,  plays  the  main  role  here. 

The  porosity  of  the  silica  particle,  its  exterior  outline  (embody- 
ing its  so-called  angle  of  contact),  its  lack  of  presenting  a  solid, 
compact  body,  will  all  help  it  in  breaking  the  surface  film  of  the 
water,  and  furthermore  allow  the  liquid  to  enter  its  very  pores. 
And  this,  as  you  saw,  is  not  the  case  with  the  sulphides. 

I  am  not  going  to  bother  you  here  with  the  duty  of  oil  or  acid 
in  this  process,  for  we  have  been  shown  that  a  truly  flotation  sepa- 
ration can  be  effected  without  the  use  of  either  or  both  of  these. 
The  oil  and  acid  both  will  have  their  respective  effects  on  the  sur- 
face tension  of  the  liquid  and  on  the  materials  in  the  liquid,  but  in 
this  case  foreign  substances  are  employed  to  get  as  near  as  possible 
perfect  conditions.  So  the  discussion  of  these  and  their  functions 
is  at  present  outside  of  my  subject,  as  I  am  trying  to  analyze  the 
actual  essentials  in  the  so-called  flotation  phenomenon.  To  see 
what  these  essentials  are,  it  appears  as  if  it  is  only  necessary  for 
us  to  study  the  case  where  this  strange  process  actually  takes  place 
in  virtue  of  the  properties  of  the  substances  in  the  ore  and  the 
water  employed.  Such  is  the  case  in  the  purely  surface  tension 
process.  To  show  you  that  oil,  acid  or  chemicals  are  what  we  can 
call  accessories,  and  very  important  accessories  indeed,  when  we  are 
trying  to  perfect  the  process,  I  need  only  remind  you  of  the  present 


OIL  FLOTATIONS  513 

Wood  flotation  machines  and  others  of  the  same  nature.  I  had 
the  opportunity  to  watch  the  machines  of  Mr.  Henry  E.  Wood  in 
operation  in  his  testing  laboratory  at  Denver.  With  regard  to  this 
machine,  I  can  say  that  I  believe  that  Mr.  Wood  has  succeeded, 
perhaps  better  than  anyone  else,  in  making  a  machine  in  which 
the  sulphides  get  an  almost  perfect  chance  to  stay  on  the  surface 
and  sink  into  the  water;  but  the  biggest  thing  for  the  inventor  to 
overcome  in  this  particular  process  is  to  make  his  machine  such  that 
the  sulphides  get  as  small  a  chance  as  possible  to  become  wet. 

In  the  agitation  process  (mechanical  or  pneumatic)  the  sul- 
phides are  already  in  the  liquid,  when  they  enter  the  flotation 
machines,  and  in  this  case  the  inventor  tries  to  make  a  machine, 
with  perhaps  the  use  of  outside  help,  by  employing  oil,  acid  or 
some  foreign  substance,  in  which  the  sulphide  will  again  get  a 
chance  to  come  on  the  outside  of  a  water  surface,  although  this 
water  surface  may  take  the  shape  of  an  enclosing  wall  around  an 
air-bubble  in  the  liquid,  either  beaten  in  by  mechanical  agitation 
or  passed  in  by  means  of  what  we  call  pneumatic  agitation.  The 
use  of  oil  in  this  case  may  help  to  strengthen  these  numerous 
spherical  water  surfaces  around  the  gas  bubbles,  or  may  enable  the 
sulphides  better  to  withstand  the  tendency  of  the  water  to  wet  them. 
The  silica  particles  are  drenched  with  the  liquid,  and  so  the  oil 
may  have  a  rather  slight  effect  on  them ;  yet  I  believe  the  effect  of 
the  oil  on  these  numerous  water  surfaces  (or  what  I  called  in  an 
article  "water-air  interfaces")  is  far  more  important  in  the  process 
than  its  effect  on  the  silica  and  sulphide  as  individual  particles. 

Whatever  methods  we  may  be  using  or  whatever  improvements 
in  the  process  we  may  employ,  they  all  seem  to  tend  to  accomplish 
one  thing,  viz.,  to  give  the  sulphide  particle  the  best  chance  pos- 
sible to  rest  on  a  water-surface,  whatever  slope  this  surface  may 
take.  We  create  such  surfaces  by  agitation,  mechanical  or  pneu- 
matic by  the  production  of  gas  in  the  liquid  through  the  action  of 
an  acid  on  some  material  in  the  ore,  such  as  carbonates,  or  by 
freeing  dissolved  gas  through  a  decrease  in  pressure  (vacuum 
action).  In  some  cases  we  use  only  the  exposed  water-surface,  in 
which  case  it  is 'necessary  to  pay  supreme  attention  to  the  way  in 
which  the  ore  particles  enter  on  to  the  water  surface.  But  in  all 
cases,  the  sulphide  must  be  given  a  good  chance  to  assert  its  prop- 
erty of  floating  on  a  water-air  or  water-gas  surface. 

That  the  principles  of  many  of  the  advanced  theories  play  a 
part  and  help  in  the  procuring  of  this  desired  condition,  I  firmly 


514         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

believe.  I  do  not,  however,  believe  that  any  one  principle,  such  as 
"occluded  gas"  explains  the  existence  of  the  process.  Different 
means  may  be  used  to  attain  the  same  end,  and  consequently  dif- 
ferent factors  will  enter  into  these  different  means  employed;  yet 
to  understand  why  flotation  takes  place,  it  is  necessary  for  us  to 
lay  bare  only  those  very  essential  things  necessary  to  produce  a 
flotation  action.  This  we  find  in  the  very  simple  surface-tension 
process.  Coming  down  as  far  as  this,  we  are  then  confronted  with 
the  question,  "Why  does  the  sulphide  float  on  the  water  surface?" 
And  I  repeat  that  to  me  the  following  properties  of  the  sulphide 
partly  explain  its  behavior: 

1.  Its  slight  degree  of  porosity,  or  its  obstinacy  to  let  water 
enter  its  system. 

2.  The  compactness  of  the  molecules  comprising  the  sulphide 
particle  as  compared  with  that  of  the  SiO2  molecules.     And  this 
would,  of  course,  favor  the  above  mentioned  obstinacy. 

3.  The  exterior  form,  shape  or  outline  of  the  finely  crushed 
sulphide  particle  being  such  as  not  to  be  near  so  liable  to  pierce 
a  water-gas  film  as  is  the  silica  particle. 

I  must  again  repeat  that  the  very  fact  that  the  silica  seems 
so  eager  to  get  wet,  in  other  words,  absorbs  water  so  very  readily 
in  its  pores,  contrary  to  the  behavior  of  the  sulphides,  that  this 
property  is  of  utmost  importance  in  the  flotation  process. 

Some  of  you  may  be  eager  to  ask:  "But  why  is  it  that  some 
sulphides  are  more  flotative  than  other  sulphides,  since,  according 
to  this,  they  would  then  all  come  under  one  class?"  Well,  it  is  only 
necessary  for  us  to  recollect  that  the  molecules  of  one  sulphide, 
say,  galena,  will  not  be  exactly  as  compact  in  comprising  the  par- 
ticle of  galena,  as  are,  say,  the  molecules  of  MoS2  in  the  particle 
of  molybdenite.  The  sulphides  will  fall  in  the  same  group  as  far 
as  their  porosity,  compactness  of  molecules  and  exterior  surfaces 
are  concerned,  but  the  slight  variations  in  these  properties  as  man- 
ifested by  the  different  sulphides,  would  warrant  different  degrees 
of  amenability  to  the  flotation  process  for  the  different  sulphides. 

The  behavior  of  the  different  sulphides  as  lar  as  these  proper- 
ties are  concerned  would  also  make  it  necessary  that  a  definite  sul- 
phide ore  should  be  crushed  to  a  definite  degree  in  order  to  obtain 
the  best  results  in  flotation. 

I  believe  you  have  heard  enough  on  the  theoretical  end  of  the 
subject,  and  it  may  interest  some  of  you  to  hear  about  a  few  of  the 
most  interesting  things  I  saw  in  visiting  the  flotation  plants  in  North 


OIL  FLOTATIONS  515 

America.  Perhaps  some  of  you  do  not  as  yet  know  that  a  i,ooo-ton 
flotation  plant  is  in  operation  in  Alaska.  Should  you  care  to  read 
an  account  on  Alaska  flotation,  I  refer  you  to  the  Alaska-Flotation 
Article  that  appeared  in  the  November  nth  issue  of  the  Mining 
World. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  case  I  saw  was  up  in  the  Cobalt 
district,  Ontario,  Canada.  Most  of  the  companies  are  treating  their 
old  tailing  dumps.  The  concentrate  may  run  as  high  as  from  250 
to  300  ounces  in  silver.  The  concentrate  will  also  carry  approxi- 
mately 

2.%  copper, 

0.5  to  1.0%  nickel, 

2.0  to  2.5%  cobalt, 

9.0  to  10%  arsenic, 
17  to  18%  iron. 

Most  of  these  companies  never  knew  that  their  ore  contained 
any  traces  of  copper,  but  when  flotation  was  started  to  make  a 
3OO-OZ.  silver  concentrate  from  a  lo-oz.  tailings,  many  were  sur- 
prised to  find  copper  appear  in  the  concentrate.  The  concentrate 
is,  of  course,  sold  only  for  the  silver  values,  as,  according  to  the 
composition  of  the  concentrate,'  the  other  metals  are  of  no  value  in 
such  a  combination.  Perhaps  it  may  be  made  clearer  by  directing 
your  attention  to  the  Mond  Nickel  Co.'s  problem.  I  warn  you  all 
not  to  ask  me  any  detailed  questions  with  regard  to  the  nature  of 
the  ore  and  the  troubles  encountered  in  the  flotation  experiments, 
as  it  is  not  the  policy  of  this  and  most  of  the  other  companies  up 
there  to  allow  detailed  results  to  be  given  out.  Yet  I  may  state 
what  their  problem  is.  The  object  is  to  bring  about  a  separation  of 
nickel  from  the  other  metals,  particularly  the  copper.  Should  any 
flotation  investigator,  whether  a  University  research  man  or  an 
employee  of  the  state  or  government,  ask  me  to  express  my  views 
on  the  best  and  most  interesting  topic  to  work  upon,  I  would  imme- 
diately suggest  the  study  and  attempt  to  solve  this  problem:  The 
separation,  by  flotation,  of  nickel  from  an  ore  carrying  the  sulphides 
of  nickel,  copper  and  iron.  The  problem  would  of  course  resolve 
itself  into  a  preferential  process.  Preliminary  roastings,  the  use  of 
a  chemical  and  the  effect  of  oils,  acid  and  alkali  would  all  be 
points  that  would  come  under  this  work.  The  solution  of  this  par- 
ticular problem,  and  similar  preferential-flotation  ones,  would  be 
far  more  valuable  than  most  of  the  theoretical  problems  that  some 
of  the  investigators  are  now  trying  to  solve. 


ORGANIZED  CAPITAL  AND  ORGANIZED  LABOR  AND 

THEIR  RELATION  TO  SAFETY,  EFFICIENCY  AND 

CONSERVATION  IN  THE  MINING  INDUSTRY. 

Col.  George  Pope,  Hartford,  Conn. 

Gentlemen  of  the  American  Mining  Congress:  I  esteem  it  a 
pleasure  and  privilege  to  convey  to  this  assembly,  on  behalf  of  the 
directors  and  members  of  the  National  Association  of  Manufac- 
turers, expressions  of  our  friendly  interest  and  regard.  Permit 
me  also  to  acknowledge  the  honor  I  feel  in  being  invited,  as  the 
representative  of  the  National  Association  of  Manufacturers,  to 
address  your  interesting,  important  and  useful  gathering.  Let  me 
briefly  state  that  the  National  Association  of  Manufacturers  is  an 
organization  made  up  of  miscellaneous  American  manufacturing 
industries.  We  know  that  nearly  all  industry  is  organized,  not 
only  geographically  through  local,  state  or  national  associations,  but 
also  by  groups  of  the  same  kind  of  industries.  Our  association, 
both  in  its  geographical  character — for  we  have  members  in  prac- 
tically all  states  of  the  Union — and  in  the  varied,  miscellaneous 
character  of  the  manufacturers  who  constitute  its  members,  is  in 
many  respects  a  unique,  commercial  body.  Our  scope  of  operation 
is  along  national  lines.  We  co-operate  cordially  with  local  and 
state  organizations  and  with  other  commercial  associations  through- 
out the  Union ;  for  we  recognize  the  distinct  and  important  func- 
tions which  such  organizations,  from  the  nature  of  their  objects 
and  purposes,  are  called  upon  to  perform.  So  that  I  am  not  over- 
stating a  description  of  the  structure  and  purpose  of  the  National 
Association  of  Manufacturers  when  I  say  that  it  is  typical,  repre- 
sentative and  national.  It  attempts  to  reflect  helpful  industrial 
opinion,  not  for  the  exclusive  benefit  of  employers  and  employees, 
but  for  industrial  development  in  its  largest  and  noblest  sense.  We 
proclaim  and  we  believe  in  patriotic,  nationalized  American  industry. 

The  character  of  industry  reflected  by  our  membership  shows 
that  the  interests  of  the  miner  and  the  manufacturer  are  closely 
interwoven.  As  soon  as  the  miner  changes  the  form  of  the  product 
dug  from  the  earth,  he  becomes  a  manufacturer.  Each  is  de- 
pendent upon  the  other.  Deep  in  the  pockets  of  the  earth,  the 
miner  starts  the  elaborate  process  of  manufacture.  Coal,  iron, 


RELATION  OF  CAPITAL  AND  LABOR  TO  INDUSTRY    517 

copper,  petroleum — all  these  subterraneous  products  are  the  basic 
necessities  for  productive  manufacture.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
miner  could  not  conduct  his  operations  without  the  furnaces,  mills 
and  factories  of  the  manufacturer.  Among  the  members  of  the 
National  Association  of  Manufacturers  are  representatives  of  every 
manufacturing  industry  of  the  country.  Forty-one  of  our  mem- 
bers make  some  kind  or  class  of  mining  machinery,  and  if  we 
counted  those  who  make  other  supplies  for  miners,  such  as  pipes, 
timber  and  metal  supports,  drills,  hammers  and  special  machine 
tools,  the  list  would  be  much  greater. 

So  that  there  is  a  very  close  commercial  kinship  between  the 
general  manufacture  and  general  mining  industry.  You  know  bet- 
ter than  I  do  how  remarkable  has  been  the  increase  in  the  produc- 
tion of  the  metals  and  useful  minerals  the  world  over.  Nowhere, 
I  am  told,  has  this  advance  been  more  pronounced  than  in  the 
United  States,  which  is  the  foremost  of  mining  nations,  leading  in 
the  -production  of  iron,  steel,  copper,  gold,  silver,  coal,  salt  and 
petroleum. 

It  is  at  once  clear  to  all  students  of  industrial  and  social  condi- 
tions that  we  are  living  in  a  highly  organized  period  of  develop- 
ment. All  phases  and.  departments  of  modern  business  are 
efficient  and  successful  in  direct  ratio  to  the  perfection  of  their 
organization.  We  need  not  dwell  upon  this  obvious  fact,  except 
to  wonder  at  our  organizing  genius.  Labor  is  organized  upon  a 
peculiarly  effective  scheme  for  associated  action.  Associations  for 
the  improvement  of  safety  devices ;  for  health,  hygiene,  the  eco- 
nomical administration  of  industrial  enterprise;  mining,  transporta- 
tion, farming — in  short,  our  network  of  industries  of  every  kind  and 
description  illustrate  the  successful  application  of  the  spirit  of 
organization. 

But  out  of  these  highly  specialized  and  organized  systems  a 
new  principle  engages  and  commands  our  earnest  attention,  a  prin- 
ciple which  heretofore  has  not  been  either  recognized  or  applied 
to  any  great  extent,  but  a  principle  which  is  even  more  important 
if  we  are  to  compete  with  the  other  nations  of  the  world.  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  I  refer  to  both  the  spirit  and  the  principle  of 
co-operation.  I  think  we  will  all  agree  that  co-operation  is  both 
desirable  and  necessary.  I  cannot  conceive  of  anybody  opposing 
co-operation.  But  the  serious  and  difficult  problem  consists  in 
interpreting  what  we  mean  by  co-operation,  and  applying  the  mean- 


518         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

ing  to  the  concrete  conditions  and  problems  confronting  all  phases 
of  our  industrial  development. 

Inefficiency,  poor  wages,  poor  living  conditions,  lawlessness, 
strike  disorders  and  industrial  discord,  are  the  proof  of  either  the 
failure  or  the  absence  of  intelligent  and  scientific  co-operation. 
When  we  stop  and  analyze,  without  passion  or  prejudice,  we  know 
full  well  that  these  disorders  and  complications  in  our  industrial 
commonwealth  prove  that  some  thing  -is  wrong,  rather  than  that 
some  perspn  is  wrong.  I  have  lived  long  enough  to  believe  that 
causes  rather  than  individuals  explain  the  faulty  adjustments  of 
social  order.  Never  in  the  history  of  our  country  has  there  been 
such  imperative  necessity  for  scrutinizing  the  forces  which  are  at 
work  in  our  body  politic  and  industrial  than  at  the  present  time. 
Heretofore  businessmen  have  been  to  a  large  extent  responsible, 
through  inaction,  for  the  vagaries  of  dangerous  legislative  ten- 
dencies. To  put  it  plainly,  the  average  businessman  has  been  too 
exclusively  concerned  in  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  his  particular 
product  or  in  the  extension  of  his  own  affairs.  He  has  been  too 
willing  to  banish  from  his  mind  the  obligation  which  he  and  his 
industry  bear  to  the  common  good.  He  has  been  reluctant  or  neg- 
ligent in  the  performance  of  the  maximum  duties  of  citizenship. 
You  know,  and  I  know,  that  many  men's  conception  of  citizenship 
consists  in  registration  and  in  voting.  When  these  duties  have 
been  performed  we  often  feel  that  we  have  discharged  every  obliga- 
tion imposed  upon  us  as  citizens.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  know 
in  our  deeper  consciousness  that  however  important  the  act  of 
voting  may  be,  it  consumes  on  the  average  of  one  hour  per  year. 
The  truth  is,  American  businessmen  have  been  deficient  in  appre- 
ciating, realizing  or  performing  the  many  exacting  and  difficult 
functions  of  citizenship.  We  have  been  too  busy.  We  have  been 
too  much  engaged  in  our  particular  business  or  enterprise.  We 
have  not  watched  the  processes  of  change  which  are  taking  place, 
nor  have  we  studied  deeply  enough  the  agencies  and  methods  by 
which  industrial  forces  are  advancing.  We  have  been  too  inclined 
to  delegate  public  duties. 

Co-operation  is  the  shibboleth  of  citizenship.  In  social  disorders, 
in  industrial  strikes  and  disordered  conditions,  responsibility  can 
always  be  fixed.  The  human  quality  compels  us  to  pass  the  re- 
sponsibility to  someone  else  other  than  ourselves.  Show  me  a 
town  or  city  in  our  country  where  there  is  a  healthy  and  friendly 
relationship  existing  between  the  industries  and  their  men,  where 


RELATION  OF  CAPITAL  AND  LABOR  TO  INDUSTRY    519 

there  are  clean  streets  and  fine  public  schools,  and  where  there 
is  a  pride  of  locality,  and  you  will  find  in  such  places  the  co-opera- 
tive spirit  in  full  play.  Efficiency  and  conservation,  better  wages 
and  better  living  conditions  are  merely  the  dividends  of  practical 
co-operative  effort.  I  do  not  like  the  word  "class"  as  applied  to 
American  industrial  or  social  life.  I  dislike  the  use  of  the  words 
"working  class"  or  "employers'  class."  Such  words  intensify  class 
consciousness  and  suggest  a  hostile  attitude  of  mind.  The  antithesis 
of  class  consciousness  is  co-operation,  by  which  we  mean  all  work- 
ing together  for  the  benefit  of  all. 

To  bring  about  a  higher  plane  of  co-operation  requires  not  only 
a  proper  attitude  of  mind  but  a  considerable  degree  of  personal 
disinterestedness.  Co-operation  is  corrective  as  well  as  construc- 
tive, and,  above  all,  co-operation  is  education,  expressed  in  terms 
of  the  average  man's  conscience. 

The  National  Association  of  Manufacturers  has  been  deeply 
interested  in  a  campaign  carried  on  to  promote  industrial  con- 
servation. This  propaganda  is  absolutely  non-ipolitical,  non- 
sectional  and  non-partisan.  It  is  an  attempt  to  bring  to  the  atten- 
tion of  employer  and  employee,  merchant,  banker,  clerk,  and  all 
persons  constituting  community  life,  the  necessity  of  more  cordial 
relations  between  each  other,  of  greater  local  pride  in  their  industrial 
and  civic  development,  and  a  unity  of  purpose  which  spells  lawful, 
legitimate  and  sound  prosperity.  Conservation  does  not  mean 
reactionaryism.  It  does  not  mean  going  back  to  old  forms,  condi- 
tions or  circumstances.  By  industrial  conservation  we  mean  not 
only  the  preservation  of  what  we  have,  but  its  development  by  the 
united  impulses  of  all  engaged  in  industry,  regardless  of  political 
creed,  religious  faith,  racial  distinctions,  or  anything  else.  This 
campaign  for  the  promotion  of  industrial  conservation  has  been 
conducted  thus  far  throughout  the  New  England  States.  Over 
thirty  meetings  have  been  held.  The  local  employer  and  employee 
the  bankers,  storekeepers,  merchants  and  newspaper  editors  have 
joined  enthusiastically  in  their  reception  of  the  idea  underlying 
this  movement.  It  is  brought  to  their  attention  how  closely  corre- 
lated the  network  of  business  and  industry  is.  If  there  was  a  full 
performance  of  civic  duties  on  the  part  of  everyone  in  a  community, 
lawlessness,  strikes,  poor  living  conditions,  would  gradually  become 
minimized  to  almost  a  vanishing  point.  You  can  no  more  separate 
an  industry  from  its  locality  than  you  can  the  workers  from  their 
own  factory. 


520         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

In  the  topic  which  has  been  assigned  to  me  by  your  secretary, 
he  includes  the  topic  of  industrial  freedom.  How  can  the  indi- 
vidual, under  highly  organized,  highly  specialized  systems,  work  out 
his  own  individual,  personal  destiny?  That,  indeed,  is  one  of  the 
solemn  problems  of  a  democracy.  What  must  be  the  feeling  of  the 
individual  who  is  one  of  fifty  to  a  hundred  thousand  co-workers  in 
one  large  industrial  plant  ?  What  must  be  the  thoughts  of  the  indi- 
vidual miner,  when  he  realizes  his  sense  of  detachment  in  the  vast 
organization  of  which  he  is  but  a  humble  member?  How  about  his 
feelings  of  democracy  and  his  rights,  as  he  views  them  from  his 
standpoint?  Are  his  sentiments  of  personal  liberty  as  real  as  the 
manager  or  president  of  the  concern  for  which  he  works?  When 
disorders,  strikes  and  strife  occur,  what  must  be  his  sentiments, 
feelings  and  thoughts?  In  this  problem  we  have  one  of  the  most 
profound  questions  possible  in  any  industrial  society.  I  do  not 
attempt  to  offer  a  solution  of  such  complex  questions;  but  I  will 
say  that  I  do  not  think  this  problem  can  be  solved  either  by  legisla- 
tion, dictation  or  despotism,  either  benevolent  or  malevolent.  I 
undertake  to  affirm  that  organization  and  co-operation  are  not  in- 
tended so  much  to  help  one  another  as  to  make  each  man  appreciate 
his  personal,  individual  sense  of  duty.  This  is  not  Sunday-school  or 
high-brow  talk,  nor  a  flabby,  ethical  point  of  view.  I  grow  weary 
of  legislative  tactics.  I  am  but  faintly  convinced  that  you  can 
prescribe  a  man's  duty  to  his  fellowman  or  to  his  business  or  to 
his  country,  by  statute.  You  cannot  make  a  man  patriotic  by  giv- 
ing him  naturalization  papers.  A  man  is  not  necessarily  a  good 
citizen  because  he,  is  a  successful  businessman.  Many  of  the  wild 
claims  of  social  legislation  of  foreign  paternity,  of  questionable 
economic  value  and  of  dubious  application  in  our  industrial  life, 
have  arisen  from  a  frenzied  impulse  to  enact  law.  Laws  hav^  their 
legitimate  function.  Laws  are  necessary ;  but,  excessive  legislation, 
absurd  statutes,  inoperative  legislation,  is  a  sure  indictment  of  the 
people  themselves  who  permit  such  results. 

My  belief  in  the  fulfillment  of  the  industrial  destiny  of 
America  is  calm  and  undisturbed.  But  we  must  constantly  build 
for  the  future.  Some  of  us  are  often  inclined  to  assign  one  single 
cause  for  industrial  mal-adjustments  and  to  particularize  one 
single  solution  for  the  exclusive  remedy.  I  do  not  believe  in  such 
homeopathic  methods.  Our  population  is  over  one  hundred  millions 
of  persons.  Our  industrial,  agricultural,  transportation  and  min- 
ing investments  are  incredibly  vast,  and  the  number  of  workers  in 


RELATION  OF  CAPITAL  AND  LABOR  TO  INDUSTRY    521 

this  gigantic  commonwealth  of  enterprise  is  over  30,000,000  human 
beings.  A  self-controlled,  democratic  from  of  government  is  the 
basis  and  bulwark  for  the  safe  conduct  of  these  mighty  forces. 
To  keep  these  forces  well  ordered,  to  maintain  a  steady  equilibrium 
of  progressive  and  humane  action,  to  preserve  our  liberties  of 
thought  and  action,  to  develop  the  highest  types  of  citizenship,  to 
build  for  our  descendants  so  that  their  heritage  may  be  secure  and 
safe — these  are  the  big  and  vital  questions  that  go  to  the  very  quick 
of  industrial  society  in  America. 

Better  living  conditions,  lawlessness,  strike  disorders,  better 
wages — these  are  the  mere  surface  indications  and  the  ebb  and  flow 
of  the  tremendous  problems  awaiting  our  combined  genius,  intel- 
ligence and  patriotism  for  wise,  just  and  permanent  solution.  We 
must  co-ordinate  our  resources,  our  duties  and  our  responsibilities. 
You  in  the  mining  world  have  your  own  inherent  problems  to  face 
and  solve.  We  in  manufacture  have  our  distinctive  issues.  But 
there  must  be  bonds  of  sympathetic  and  co-operative  action.  We 
must  address  ourselves  to  the  broad  survey  of  our  industry  as  a 
whole.  We  must  assemble  our  parts  into  a  united  and  harmonious 
industrial  government. 

Co-operation,  therefore,  is  the  goal  we  should  strive  to  reach. 
Not  merely  co-operation  among  the  members  of  an  individual  in- 
dustry, but  among  all  industrial  and  commercial  organizations,  for 
in  the  last  analysis  their  interests  are  mutual.  These  interests  are 
not  merely  for  the  benefiting  of  immediate  interests  of  the  employ- 
ers, but  extend  to  the  interest  of  the  employees,  for  each  is  de- 
pendent upon  the  other  for  efficiency,  better  wages,  better  living 
conditions  and  industrial  freedom,  and  these  conditions  being  ob- 
tained we  have,  I  believe,  the  best  protection  against  strikes  and 
lawlessness. 

Co-operation  between  employers  and  employees  must  exist  to 
promote  the  conditions  industrially  which  we  all  desire,  not  in  a 
paternal  attitude  but  in  the  establishing  of  a  spirit  of  confidence  that 
the  material  welfare  of  employees  is  truly  the  object  and  care  of  the 
employer.  This  is  not  an  altruistic  thought,  for  in  individual  cases 
it  has  been  proved  practical  and  successful. 

There  are  many  industrial  and  commercial  organizations,  local, 
state  and  national,  but  in  a  large  majority  these  organizations  are 
composed  of  members  of  an  individual  industry.  They  are  capable 
of  and  do  accomplish  a  great  deal,  but  could  accomplish  still  greater 
good  if  individual  members  more  generally  would  merge  their  single 


522         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

interests  into  the  interests  of  the  whole,  realizing  that  which  benefits 
the  community,  also  benefits  the  individual.  It  is  the  community 
which  we  wish  to  be  successful  and  contented,  and  that  means  the 
individual  as  well.  Unfortunately,  there  are  too  many  employers 
whose  apathy  and  neglect  and  even  antagonistic  attitude  towards 
movements  and  industry  now  demanded  by  the  enlightened  spirit  of 
the  times  seriously  retard  progressive  work. 

But  this  co-operative  effort  must  be  carried  still  further  to 
accomplish  the  successful  results  desired.  As  I  have  already  stated, 
there  are  a  large  number  of  national  associations  of  employers,  each 
one  acting  independently  of  the  other,  no  co-operative  effort  having 
been  heretofore  successfully  made  to  utilize  as  a  unit  the  work  of  all. 
As  a  result  of  a  series  of  conferences  during  the  last  eighteen 
months  of  a  body  of  gentlemen  without  organization  but  represent- 
ing, finance,  industry,  and  commerce,  an  organization  known  as  the 
National  Industrial  Conference  Board  has  been  organized.  The 
membership  is  composed  of  national  associations  of  employers. 
Each  organization  being  represented  on  the  conference  board  by 
two  of  its  members.  Twelve  of  these  national  organizations  are 
already  members  of  the  Board  and  the  membership  will  be  extended 
to  others.  Its  object  is  to  provide  a  clearing  house  for  informa- 
tion, a  forum  for  constructive  discussion  and  machinery  for  co- 
operative action  on  matters  that  vitally  affect  the  industrial  develop- 
ments of  the  country. 

To  stimulate  the  keen  interest  and  active  assistance  of  employ- 
ers toward  constructive  study  and  equitable  solution  of  industrial 
problems. 

To  foster  the  maintenance  of  harmonious  relationship  between 
employer  and  employees  and  between  both  and  the  government. 

To  assist  in  the  formulation  and  enactment  of  sound  and  con- 
structive legislation  to  oppose  the  passage  of  unsound  and  unfair 
laws  and  to  urge  the  amendment  or  repeal  of  impracticable  and 
unjust  statutes.  To  secure  the  proper  co-operation  between  the 
government  and  industry.  To  create  a  general  realization  of  the 
national  benefits  of  industrial  prosperity  to  employer,  employee  and 
consumer  and  a  better  understanding  of  industrial  questions  and 
their  relationship  to  the  public  welfare. 

To  carry  on  this  work  the  Conference  Board  proposes  to  estab- 
lish a  fund  of  $100,000  a  year  for  three  years.  Subscriptions  to  this 
fund  by  organizations,  corporations  and  individuals  so  nearly  aggre- 
gate the  amount  desired  that  its  success  seems  to  be  assured. 


RELATION  OF  CAPITAL  AND  LABOR  TO  INDUSTRY    523 

In  his  recent  article  in  the  "Atlantic  Monthly,"  Mr.  John  D. 
Rockefeller,  Jr.,  describes,  with  great  candor,  his  idea  of  the  part- 
nership of  labor  and  capital,  evolved  from  the  so-called  Industrial 
Constitution  which  formed  the  basis  of  a  working  arrangement 
between  the  Colorado  Fuel  &  Iron  Company  and  its  employees.  I 
do  not  attempt  to  go  into  the  merits  of  the  industrial  plan  to  which 
he  refers,  but  there  is  one  striking  paragraph  in  his  article  with 
which  I  most  cordially  agree  and  to  which  I  call  your  particular 
attention.  He  says : 

"Because  evils  have  developed  and  may  develop  as  a  result  of 
these  increasing  complexities  in  industrial  conditions,  shall  we  deny 
ourselves  the  maximum  benefit  which  may  be  derived  from  using 
the  new  devices  of  progress?  We  cannot  give  up  the  corporation 
and  industry  on  a  large  scale ;  no  more  can  we  give  up  the  organ- 
ization of  labor;  human  progress  depends  too  much  upon  them. 
Surely  there  must  be  some  avenue  of  approach  to  the  solution  of  a 
problem  on  the  ultimate  working  out  of  which  depends  the  very 
existence  of  industrial  society.  To  say  that  there  is  no  way  out 
except  through  constant  warfare  between  labor  and  capital  is  an 
unthinkable  counsel  of  despair ;  to  say  that  progress  lies  in  eventual 
surrender  of  everything  by  one  factor  or  the  other,  is  contrary,  not 
only  to  the  teachings  of  economic  history,  but  also  to  our  knowledge 
of  human  nature." 

It  seems  to  me  that  Mr.  Rockefeller  has  well  summarized  the 
essence  of  the  spirit  of  industrial  progress  when  he  says,  in  the 
quotation  I  have  just  made: 

"Shall  we  deny  ourselves  the  maximum  benefit  which  may  be 
derived  from  using  the  new  devices  of  progress?" 

This  epitomizes  the  thought  I  would  leave  with  you  today, 
namely,  let  us  study,  apply  and  utilize  the  new  devices  of  progress ; 
for  by  this  is  clearly  meant  the  application  of  our  minds  toward  in- 
telligent, scientific  and  tolerant  agencies  whereby  industrial  society 
may  become  bettered,  more  humane  and  more  enlightened. 


DYES  AND  EXPLOSIVES  FROM  COAL  AND 

PETROLEUM. 
Dr.  Walter  F.  Rittman,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen :  The  annual  consumption  of 
dyes  in  America  is,  approximately,  75,000  tons.  In  terms  of  sub- 
marine cargoes,  this  would  mean — allowing  one  thousand  tons  per 
submarine — about  seventy-five  submarine  cargoes  per  annum.  Of 
this  total  amount  90  per  cent  is  made  up  of  two  colors.  We  usu- 
ally do  not  realize  that  fact.  Sixty  per  cent  of  all  the  colors  used 
in  this  country  are  black,  30  per  cent  blue,  and  the  numerous  other 
colors  make  up  the  remaining  10  per  cent. 

We  hear  various  opinions  and  estimates  regarding  the  impor- 
tance of  the  dye  industry.  Some  believe  that  the  very  founda- 
tions of  our  country  depend  upon  it.  Others,  again,  believe  that 
in  terms  of  dollars  and  cents  it  is  no  more  important  than  Wool- 
worth's  candy  item.  True,  it  doesn't  amount  to  more  than  that, 
but  it  is  wrong  to  consider  it  in  that  light. 

The  importance  of  the  dye  industry  is  more  in  its  relation  to 
other  industries,  such  as  the  leather,  textile  and,  more  particularly, 
the  explosives  industry.  The  world  has  learned  the  military  sig- 
nificance of  Germany's  wonderful  dye  industry. 

It  is  very  natural  that  these  two  industries  should  be  parallel, 
because  they  use  identically  the  same  materials  to  start  with,  and 
the  processes  of  manufacture  are  practically  the  same  up  to  the 
very  end. 

Therefore,  we  have  the  close  relation  between  these  two  indus- 
tries :  first,  because  they  use  the  same  materials ;  second,  because 
they  are  manufactured  by  much  the  same  processes.  The  same 
equipment  that  makes  the  dye  materials,  makes  the  explosives,  and 
it  is  a  matter  of  a  week  or  two  to  convert  a  plant  from  one  into 
the  other. 

It  is  said  that  modern  warfare  is  a  problem  of  chemistry  and 
physics.  Explosives  in  the  old  country  are  being  shot  off  at  the 
rate  of  several  thousand  tons  a  day.  At  the  battle  of  Ypres,  which 
was  early  in  the  war,  there  was  consumed  more  explosives  than 
was  used  in  the  whole  Boer  war.  If,  therefore,  the  progress  in 
the  use  of  explosives  continues  to  be  as  rapid  as  in  the  past  fifteen 
years,  it  is  hard  to  comprehend  the  quantities  or  volume  that  will 
be  necessary  in  our  next  war.  And  therefore  it  is  of  primary 


DYES  AND  EXPLOSIVES  FROM  COAL  AND  PETROLEUM  525 

importance  to  recognize  whether  or  not  we  can  supply  ourselves 
with  the  raw  materials  for  handling  these  situations. 

The  interest  displayed  by  foreign  governments,  and  I  have 
been  in  touch  with  a  number  of  them,  in  dyes  and  explosives  pro- 
duced from  petroleum  is  considerable.  In  a  country  like  Argen- 
tine, for  example,  there  is  no  coal;  therefore  there  is.no  benzol 
from  coal,  and  oil  must  be  used  for  its  production.  Argentine 
has  a  commission  in  America  today.  The  government  of  Japan, 
likewise,  is  tremendously  interested  in  the  petroleum  dye  industry 
for  much  the  same  reason. 

The  little  republic  of  Cuba  is  interested  in  developing  a  dye 
industry  from  its  own  petroleum,  and  they  are  just  finding  petro- 
leum down  there.  This  shows  the  close  relations  between  these 
two  materials,  and  how  in  certain  parts  of  the  world  oil  furnishes 
the  only  way  out. 

That  is  not  true  in  the  United  States.  It  is  possible  to  make 
benzol  and  toluol  from  the  by-product  coke  ovens  for  from  three 
to  seven  cents,  and  it  is  impossible  to  make  benzol  and  toluol  from 
petroleum  for  less  than  fifty  cents.  Therefore,  the  two  methods 
of  manufacture  are  not  on  a  competitive  basis,  except  under  con- 
ditions such  as  have  maintained  the  last  two  or  three  years. 

The  steps  in  making  either  dyestufTs  or  explosives  are  not  so 
intricate  as  one  would  expect.  I  will  make  a  statement  which  is 
not  at  all  mine — i.  e.,  that  all  of  our  dyestuffs  and  practically  all 
of  our  explosives,  excepting  nitro-cellulose,  are  made  from  less 
than  six  materials,  six  basic  compounds:  as  benzene,  toluene, 
naphthalene  and  anthracene.  Practically  all  the  patents  under 
which  dyes  are  manufactured  have  expired. 

Therefore,  in  considering  the  problem  of  dyes  and  explosives, 
we  come  back  to  the  materials  from  which  they  are  produced,  i.  e., 
the  hydrocarbons. 

One  problem  involves  the  other,  and  it  is  a  consideration  of  the 
hydrocarbons  that  I  wish  to  dwell  upon  in  this  Oil  and  Gas 
Section. 

The  old  idea  of  separating  oil  problems  from  gas  problems  is 
wrong.  It  is  just  as  wrong  as  the  old  organic  chemistry  that  made 
part  one,  aliphatic  hydrocarbon,  part  two,  aromatic  hydrocarbons. 
Modern  chemistry  merges  one  into  the  other,  and  in  the  same  way 
modern  chemistry  and  science  recognize  the  absolutely  close  rela- 
tion between  coal,  peat,  shale,  oil,  gas  and  whatever  other  hydro- 
carbon materials  one  considers.  It  is  possible  to  make  the  same 


526         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

things  from  coal  that  we  make  from  oil,  that  we  make  from  peat, 
from  lignite  or  from  gas,  a  common  basis  of  material.  They  are 
not  always  made  in  identically  the  same  way.  Instead  of  dividing 
our  many  initial  substances,  we  must  divide  our  products,  and 
there  again  we  find  a  close  relationship. 

A  few  years  ago  a  statement  that  benzene  and  hexane  are. 
close  cousins  would  have  been  fatal  to  one's  scientific  standing. 
Today  you  can  make  it  with  impunity;  in  fact,  you  are  supposed  to 
know  it. 

The  point  I  wish  to  bring  out  in  my  talk  today,  and  I  will  have 
only  one  point  to  make,  is  this,  that  there  is  a  common  type  of 
initial  substances  disregarding  whether  they  are  solids,  liquids,  or 
gas,  because  all  substances  are  so  closely  related. 

Coal  does  not  contain  benzene  or  toluene.  The  benzene  and 
the  toluene  from  coal  is  made  by  high  temperature  distillation.  It 
is  the  result  of  the  temperature  that  prevails  in  the  retort.  That 
was  found  out  to  the  sorrow  of  a  lot  of  people  who  took  large 
orders  for  benzene  and  toluene  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  and 
then  used  low  temperature  distillation  processes.  Of  course,  there 
was  no  benzene  or  toluene  formed.  In  the  same  way,  if  we  subject 
oil  to  the  temperature  that  maintains  in  the  by-products  coke  oven 
we  get  benzene  just  as  surely  as  we  get  it  from  the  coke  oven. 

Again,  another  evidence  of  this  close  relationship  is  indicated 
in  the  various  commercial  phases  of  the  hydrocarbon  industry,  such 
as  the  artificial  gas  industry,  the  liquid  fuel  industry,  the  solid  fuel 
industry.  I  want  to  show  by  example  how  we  can  never  consider 
one  of  these  without  at  the  same  time  considering  the  others. 

Two-thirds  to  three-quarters  of  the  gas  used  in  this  country 
today  is  carburetted  water  gas.  In  that  process  from  three  to  six 
gallons  of  gas  oil  are  used  per  thousand  cubic  feet  of  gas  pro- 
duced. We  used  to  pay  two  and  a  half  cents  for  gas  oil.  The 
price  has  since  gone  from  two  and  a  half  to  three,  to  four,  to  five, 
to  six  and  it  hasn't  stopped.  Why  ?  Because  a  fellow  had  an  idea 
of  making  gasoline  out  of  that  gas  oil,  with  result  that  the  gas 
industry  today  is  in  straits  for  its  oil  supply.  This  shows  the 
relation  between  the  gas  and  oil  industry.  The  gas  man  today  is 
thriving  because  of  the  high  price  of  his  by-products.  The  gas 
situation  must  change.  It  will  change.  But  what  will  it  be?  The 
carburetted  water  gas  man  will  find  some  way  of  using  any  kind 
(of  oil  in  his  machine.  That  is  one  way  out  for  him  to  use  his 
present  equipment. 


DYES  AND  EXPLOSIVES  FROM  COAL  AND  PETROLEUM  527 

Another  very  pronounced  tendency  in  the  gas  industry  today 
is  the  by-products  coke  oven.  It  is  increasing  at  a  tremendous 
rate.  We  last  year  produced  in  this  country  something  like  13,- 
000,000  gallons  of  light  oil.  This  year  we  will  produce  twice  that 
much.  Of  a  hundred  thousand  tons  of  coal  coked,  less  than  half  of 
it  was  coked  in  by-product  ovens.  Within  another  year  three- 
fourths  of  it,  and  the  time  will  come  when  coal  burnt  in  the  kitchen 
stove  will  be  coked  in  some  way  or  other,  making  smokeless  fuel. 
That  means  two  things,  gentlemen:  it  means  a  clean  America,  and 
it  means  an  economical  America,  because  we  are  now  throwing 
out  of  the  stack  the  most  valuable  constituents. 

The  objection  to  the  by-products  coke, oven  of  today  is  that 
it  is  not  rich  enough.  The  answer  is  to  make  a  rich  gas  and  bolster 
it  up.  I  think  these  various  vertical  retorts  and  other  retorts  con- 
nected with  the  coal  gas  distillation  are  of  very  great  importance. 
My  point  here  is  to  show  how  the  gas  man  has  been  stimulated  to 
new  procedures  and  methods  through  the  gasoline  consumption, 
showing  the  relation  between  the  two. 

Now,  let  us  proceed  to  the  liquid  fuel.  First  of  all,  we  run 
into  the  internal  combustion  engine,  the  chief  user  of  which  is  the 
automobile.  We  have  in  this  country  today  three  and  a  quarter 
million  machines.  Ford  alone  is  turning  out  2,200  a  day.  His 
output  together  with  the  others  constitutes  between  seven  and  eight 
thousand  every  time  the  sun  rises.  That  means  that  from  July  I, 
1916,  to  July  i,  1917,  there  will  have  been  produced  in  this  coun- 
try over  two  million  automobiles.  The  life  of  the  average  auto- 
mobile is  five  years.  Speaking  of  Ford,  I  recall  a  rather  interest- 
ing thing.  I  have  just  come  back  from  Cuba.  The  word  "automo- 
bile" is  not  universally  used  in  their  language,  that  is,  in  the  inte- 
rior parts,  but  the  word  "Ford"  is.  And  you  will  hear  some  people 
speak  of  a  Studebaker  Ford  or  a  Maxwell  Ford. 

Yesterday  we  heard  a  lot  of  talk  about  fuel  for  the  navy. 
I  am  not  alarmed  over  that  problem,  because  I  believe  in  the 
ingenuity  and  in  the  progress  of  the  American  to  solve  it,  just  as  he 
has  solved  the  gasoline  problem  which  was  ten  times  more  formid- 
able than  the  present  fuel  demands  of  the  navy.  Where  are  we 
going  to  get  this  fuel?  We  will  get  it  first  from  oil,  and  when 
our  natural  oil  has  run  out  we  will  start  in  with  the  shales.  And 
in  the  meantime  we  will  distill  all  of  the  coal  and  we  will  make  it 
from  that. 


528         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

We  are  using  in  this  country  per  annum,  roughly,  500,000,000 
tons  of  coal.  It  is  possible  to  get  from  that  coal  10  gallons  of  oil 
per  ton,  which  means  5,000,000,000  gallons  of  oil  right  there.  The 
theory  of  today  is  the  practice  of  tomorrow.  The  luxury  of  today 
is  the  necessity  of  tomorrow.  That  is  our  theory  of  working  in 
these  developments. 

Now,  the  solid  fuel :  There  has  been  a  gradual  change  in  it. 
You  would  be  astonished  to  learn  how  coke  is  replacing  hard  coal 
in  America.  And  it  is  right  that  it  should.  An  investigation  is 
being  made  by  the  Bureau  of  Mines  right  in  this  city  of  Chicago, 
and  the  consumption  of  coke  in  place  of  hard  coal  is  tremendous. 
What  does  that  mean?  It  means  that  if  we  start  in  that  way  we 
shall  become  a  more  economical  country.  Chicago  is  not  the  smoky 
city  it  is  commonly  supposed  to  be,  because  several  years  ago  every- 
body got  busy  on  the  smoke  problem.  It  has  resulted  in  two 
things  in  Pittsburgh:  a  cleaner  city  and  a  more  efficient  city.  I 
speak  of  these  things  from  an  economical  point  of  view,  because 
when  a  thing  pays  people  will  do  it ;  when  it  doesn't  pay  they  won't 
do  it. 

Today  in  this  very  hotel  there  is  a  man  talking  about  making 
coke  from  Illinois  coal  at  two  and  a  half  dollars  a  ton.  A  couple 
of  years  ago  that  would  have  been  absurd.  Today  it  is  practical. 
What  does  that  mean,  gentlemen?  It  means  that  all  this  bunk,  if 
you  please,  about  coking  coal  and  non-coking  coal,  and  so  forth, 
is  not  true,  but  it  is  a  result  of  our  lack  of  understanding  the 
problem.  Several  of  us  made  coking  coal  from  non-coking  coal 
by  adding  heavy  hydrocarbon  constituents,  and  we  hope  to  know 
what  those  constituents  are.  Having  that  information,  the  ques- 
tion arises:  where  can  we  get  more  of  them?  If  we  get  more  of 
them  we  can  add  them  to  those  materials  where  they  are  lacking. 
The  test  was  to  simply  harmonize  this  heavy  material,  and  it  coked. 
That  may  be  commercially  correct;  it  may  be  wrong. 

Now,  then,  coming  back  to  the  subject  in  hand,  the  source  of 
materials  for  making  dyes,  which  automatically  carries  with  it  drugs 
and  explosives  and  chemical  solvents  such  as  are  used  in  the  rubber 
industry  and  leather  industry,  it  is  very  gratifying  for  me 'to  tell 
you  that  America  is  making  splendid  progress  in  her  manufacture 
of  dyes.  In  another  two  years  the  dye  industry  will  no  longer 
be  a  serious  problem. 

Today  we  make  large  quantities  of  blacks,  but  black  is  very 
easily  made,  because  if  you  make  a  mistake  it  is  still  black.  A 


DYES  AND  EXPLOSIVES  FROM  COAL  AND  PETROLEUM  529 

beautiful  orange,  and  the  delicate  shades,  present  greater  difficul- 
ties. The  line  of  attack  that  I  look  for  from  Germany  after  the 
war,  is  on  this  other  ten  per  cent,  and  they  have  shown  splendid 
business  judgment  by  bringing  over,  if  you  will  notice,  not  blues  and 
blacks,  but  the  delicate  colors.  Later  they  may  say,  "If  you  want 
the  ten  per  cent  colors  you  better  buy  the  90  per  cent  from  us." 
So  it  is  rather  important  that  we  do  develop  those  other  colors. 

Now,  to  recapitulate  my  talk.  There  is  no  fundamental  divis- 
ion scientifically  between  coal,  lignite,  peat,  shale,  oil,  gas,  etc., 
which  materials  furnish  the  raw  materials  for  the  manufacture  of 
dyes,  drugs  and  explosives.  It  is  a  question  of  volatile  matter  or 
a  question  of  hydrocarbon  content,  because  hard  coal  is  the  one 
extreme,  methane  is  the  other  extreme.  Twenty-five  per  cent  of 
the  methane  is  hydrogen ;  practically  none  of  the  coke  is  hydrogen. 
None  of  the  hard  coal  is  volatile,  or  all  of  the  methane  is  volatile. 
It  is  a  case  of  getting  proper  blend  and  combinations. 

The  solution  of  the  problem  will  come  by  a  careful  study  of 
the  laws  of  physics,  chemistry  and  nature,  and  by  a  sympathetic 
and  harmonious  co-operation  with  these  laws. 


COMPULSORY  INVESTIGATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL  DIS- 
PUTES—COLORADO'S NEW  INDUSTRIAL  LAW. 

Wayne  C.  Williams,  Industrial  Commissioner  of  Colorado. 

The  one  overshadowing  internal  problem  confronting  the  Fed- 
eral Government  and  the  forty-eight  states  is  presented  by  the  dis- 
putes between  employers  and  employees.  It  involves  the  recon- 
ciliation of  the  hitherto  conflicting  interests  of  capital  and  labor. 
It  is  the  most  important,  the  most  fundamental  and  the  most  vexing 
problem  that  has  ever  confronted  public  officials  and  the  citizen- 
ship of  a  state.  It  is  closely  analogous  to  the  one  overshadowing 
international  problem,  which  is  reconciliation  of  the  conflicting 
interests  of  sovereign  nations;  the  establishment  of  world  peace; 
the  institution  of  an  international  tribunal  of  justice  to  do  away 
with  war.  To  the  former  problem,  the  one  involving  industrial 
peace  in  this  nation,  the  State  of  Colorado  offers  a  new  solution 
and  invites  her  forty-seven  sister  states  and  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment to  consider  the  law  and  the  methods  and  recommendations 
that  are  being  worked  out  under  that  law,  as  offering  a  new  solu- 
tion for  this  difficult  problem,  and  we  invite  the  attention  of  the 
nation  and  the  patient  sympathetic  consideration  of  all  thoughtful 
American  citizens  to  the  operation  of  this  law,  as  developments 
are  made  under  it.  The  State  of  Colorado,  by  House  Bill  No.  177, 
Chapter  188  of  the  Laws  of  1915,  offers  as  a  solution  of  industrial 
troubles  the  principle  of  compulsory  investigation  of  industrial 
disputes,  and  I  invite  your  attention  to  a  consideration  of  what 
that  law  is  and  the  results  of  one  year's  administration  under  it. 

It  is  true,  and  unfortunately  true,  that  most  communities  and 
governments  do  not  awaken  to  a  consideration  of  the  seriousness 
of  industrial  warfare  nor  of  the  solution  of  the  problem  presented 
until  some  ghastly  tragedy  or  some  bitter  private  warfare  burns  it 
into  the  common  mind  of  the  people  of  that  commonwealth.  So 
it  was  in  Colorado,  so  it  has  been  and  will  be  in  other  states  of  this 
union.  Colorado  has  suffered  from  serious  industrial  disturbances, 
so  have  other  states.  We  are  not  one  whit  worse  than  other  states, 
but  the  press  of  the  nation  has  given  us  undue  prominence  when- 
ever a  dispute  has  arisen  within  our  borders.  We  have  a  peaceful, 


COLORADO'S  NEW  INDUSTRIAL  LAW  531 

happy  American  population  of  1,000,000  people,  with  resources 
hardly  scratched,  and  fertile  valleys  that  help  to  feed  the  world. 
We  have  less  industrial  trouble  to  the  square  mile  than  most  any 
other  industrial  state  in  the  union.  Nevertheless,  the  good  name 
of  the  state  has  suffered  from  the  disputes  of  the  past,  but  we  have 
one  advantage  over  the  other  states :  We  have  learned  a  sobering 
lesson  from  this  bitter  struggle;  we  have  taken  a  leaf  out  of  the 
book  of  experience,  and  have  inaugurated  a  constructive  method  of 
avoiding  and  eliminating  such  disputes  in  the  future.  If  we  fail 
in  this  method,  we  shall  at  least  have  the  merit  of  having  tried  to 
do  our  best.  If  we  succeed,  as  we  confidently  believe  we  shall, 
we  invite  all  other  states  and  the  national  government  as  well  to 
adopt  this  plan  and  to  institute  the  principle  of  compulsory  investi- 
gation of  labor  disputes. 

The  bitter  industrial  strife  in  Colorado  caused  thinking  men  to 
see  that  the  state,  representing  society  in  its  organized  form,  was : 

1.  A  necessary  party  in  all  industrial  disputes. 

2.  That  the  state  must,  by  some  constructive  method,  enter 
into  and  handle  the  disputes    before    they  spread    beyond    legal 
restraint  into  the  arena  of  warfare. 

To  those  who  say  that  the  state  has  no  right  to  participate  in 
industrial  troubles  and  that  it  is  too  large  an  extension  of  the 
functions  of  government,  I  answer,  that  question  is  foreclosed ;  that 
it  is  too  late  to  discuss  academically  -the  functions  of  the  state ;  that 
the  state  always  has  been  a  party  and  always  has  interfered  with 
industrial  disputes,  but  usually  too  late  to  accomplish  anything. 
Every  American  ^citizen  is  familiar  with  the  usual  course  of  a 
strike.  It  begins  with  the  walkout,  it  lingers  through  the  early 
stages,  it  assumes  an  angry  mood  when  nonunion  workers  are 
brought  in,  and  then,  too  often,  it  results  in  violence  and  disorder, 
when  the  passions  of  men  are  aroused  and  bitter  hatred  has  taken 
the  place  of  calm  reasoning.  The  state  stands  idly  by  with  folded 
hands,  awaiting  the  gathering  storm-clouds,  until  warfare  is  actn-  • 
ally  threatened  or  breaks  out.  Then  the  state  gets  into  the  con- 
troversy; troops  are  called  out;  guns  are  brought  into  use;  there 
is  bloodshed,  death,  more  bitterness,  charges  and  counter-charges, 
suspicions,  and  the  seeds  are  sown  for  future  industrial  discontent. 
Now,  if  the  state  is  going  to  get  into  the  controversy  at  all,  why 
not  get  in  earlier?  Why  not  enter  the  dispute  at  the  beginning 
instead  of  at  the  end?  This  is  the  practical  question,  which  the 
lawmakers  of  Colorado  faced,  and  under  the  leadership  of  our 


532         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

brilliant  Governor  Carlson,  the  compulsory  investigation  law  was 
enacted.  This  law  creates  an  Industrial  Commission  of  three 
members,  and  confers  upon  it  several  broad  industrial  powers  hav- 
ing to  do  with  the  administration  of  the  Workmen's  Compensation 
Law,  with  the  enforcement  of  all  labor  laws,  with  the  general 
investigation  of  labor  questions  and  the  inspection  and  fixing  of 
standards  of  safety.  The  law  then  imposes  upon  the  Commission 
the  general  voluntary  duty  of  promoting  conciliation  in  industrial 
disputes.  This  is  section  27,  which  reads  as  follows : 

"The  Commission  shall  do  all  in  its  power  to  promote  the 
voluntary   arbitration,   mediation  and   conciliation   of   disputes 
between  employers  and  employes,  and  to  avoid  the  necessity 
of  resorting  to  strikes,  lockouts,  boycotts,  blacklists,  discrim- 
inations and  legal  proceedings  in  matters  of  employment.  *  *  *" 
This  section  is  found  in  many  of  our  States  and  provides  noth- 
ing new.     The  vital  sections  of  this  law  are  Sections  29,  30,  31, 
32  and  33,  which  are  as  follows: 

"Sec.  29.  Employers  and  employes  shall  give  at  least 
thirty  days'  notice  of  an  intended  change  affecting  conditions 
of  employment  with  respect  to  wages  or  hours;  and,  in  every 
case,  where  a  dispute  has  been  made  the  subject  of  an  investi- 
gation, hearing  or  arbitration  by  the  Commission,  or  the  board, 
until  the  dispute  has  been  finally  dealt  with  by  such  Commis- 
sion, or  board,  neither  of  the  parties  nor  the  employes  affected 
shall  alter  the  conditions  of  employment  with  respect  to  wages 
or  hours,  or  on  account  of  the  dispute,  do,  or  be  concerned  in 
doing  directly  or  indirectly,  anything  in  the  nature  of  a  lockout 
or  strike,  or  a  suspension  or  discontinuance  of  work  or  em- 
ployment; but  the  relationship  of  employer  and  employe  shall 
continue  uninterrupted  by  the  dispute,  or  anything  arising  out 
of  the  dispute ;  but,  if  either  party  uses  this  or  any  other  pro- 
vision of  this  act  for  the  purpose  of  unjustly  maintaining  a 
given  condition  of  affairs  through  delay,  such  party  shall  be 
guilty  of  a  misdemeanor  and,  upon  conviction  thereof,  shall  be 
punished  by  a  fine  of  not  more  than  one  hundred  dollars." 

"Sec.  30.  It  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  employer  to 
declare  or  cause  a  lockout,  or  for  any  employe  to  go  on  a  strike, 
on  account  of  any  dispute  prior  to  or  during  an  investigation, 
hearing,  or  arbitration  of  such  dispute  by  the  Commission,  or 
the  board,  under  the  provisions  of  this  act ;  provided,  that 
nothing  in  this  act  shall  prohibit  the  suspension  or  discontinu- 


COLORADO'S  NEW  INDUSTRIAL  LAW  533 

ance  of  any  industry  or  of  the  working  of  any  persons  therein 
for  any  cause  not  constituting  a  lockout  or  strike,  or  to  pro- 
hibit the  suspension  or  discontinuance  of  any  industry  or  of 
the  working  of  any  persons  therein  which  industry  is  not 
affected  with  a  public  interest;  provided  further,  that  nothing 
in  this  act  shall  be  held  to  restrain  any  employer  from  declar- 
ing a  lockout,  or  any  employe  from  going  on  strike  in  respect 
to  any  dispute  after  the  same  has  been  duly  investigated,  heard, 
or  arbitrated,  under  the  provisions  of  this  act." 

"Sec.  31.  Nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  construed  to  make 
any  findings,  determination  of  the  rights  of  said  parties, 
decision  or  award  of  said  Commission  or  of  any  board  of  arbi- 
tration appointed  thereby  upon  the  facts  of  such  controversy, 
binding,  conclusive  or  enforcible  upon  any  of  the  parties 
thereto,  or  affected  thereby,  unless 

(1)  Such  parties   have  agreed  in  writing  prior  to  the 
commencement  of  any  such  investigation  or  arbitration,  or  dur- 
ing the  continuance  thereof,  to  accept  and  be  bound  by  the 
terms  of   such  findings,   determination   of   rights,   decision   or 
award,  and  then  only  to  the  extent  in  such  written  agreement 
provided;  or, 

(2)  Unless  said  parties  shall  agree  to  accept  and  be  bound 
by  such  action  of  the  Commission  or  board  of  arbitration  after 
the  same  has  been  made  known  to  them ;  provided,  however, 
that  in  either  such    instance,    the    findings,    determination  of 
rights,   decision  and  award  of   said  Commission  or  board  of 
arbitration,  when  confirmed  by  formal  order  of  said  Commis- 
sion, shall  be  and  remain  in  full  force  and  effect,  according  to 
the  terms  and  for  the  time  provided  in  such  formal  order  of 
the  Commission,  and  shall  be  binding,  effective  and  enforcible 
upon  the  parties  thereto,  as  any  finding,  order  or  award  of  the 
Gommission  under  the  provisions  of  this  act." 

"Sec.  32.  Any  employer  declaring  or  causing  a  lockout 
contrary  to  the  provisions  of  this  act  shall  be  guilty  of  a  mis- 
demeanor and  upon  conviction  thereof,  shall  be  punished  by  a 
fine  of  not  less  than  one  hundred  dollars  ($100.00)  nor  more 
than  one  thousand  dollars  ($1,000.00)  for  each  day  or  part  of 
a  day  that  such  lockout  exists. 

Any  employe,  who  goes  on  strike  contrary  to  the  provisions 
of  this  act  shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor  and,  upon  convic- 
tion thereof,  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than  ten 


534         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

dollars  ($10.00)  nor  more  than  fifty  dollars  ($50.00)  for  each 
day  or  part  of  a  day  that  such  employe  is  on  strike." 

"Sec.  33.  Any  person  who  incites,  encourages,  or  aids 
in  any  manner  any  employer  to  declare  or  continue  a  lockout, 
or  any  employe  to  go  or  continue  on  strike,  contrary  to  the 
provisions  of  this  act,  shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and, 
upon  conviction  thereof,  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  less 
than  fifty  dollars  ($50.00)  nor  more  than  one  thousand  dollars 
($1,000.00),  or  by  imprisonment  in* the  county  jail  for  a  term 
of  not  more  than  six  months,  or  both  such  fine  and  imprison- 
ment, in  the  discretion  of  the  court." 

Our  law  is  in  a  large  measure  a  copy  of  the  Canadian  Act, 
with  which  all  of  you  are  more  or  less  familiar.  Sections  56  and 
57  of  the  Canadian  Act  are  substantially  identical  with  Sections  29 
and  30  of  the  Colorado  Law,  except  that  the  Canadian  Act  applies 
only  to  public  utilities,  while  our  law  seems  to  have  a  broader  appli- 
cation, at  least  the  Commission  has  so  construed  it,  and  has  made 
it  apply  to  every  employer  of  four  or  more  persons.  For  the  con- 
venience of  the  student  on  this  question  I  will  quote  the  Canadian 
provisions  of  the  law: 

"Sec.  56.  It  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  employer  to  declare 
or  cause  a  lockout  or  for  any  employe  to  go  on  strike,  on 
account  of  any  dispute  prior  to  or  during  a  reference  of  such 
dispute  of  a  Board  of  Conciliation  and  Investigation  under  the 
provisions  of  this  act,  or  prior  to  or  during  a  reference  under 
the  provisions  concerning  railway  disputes  in  the  Conciliation 
and  Labor  Act:  Provided,  that  nothing  in  this  act  shall  pro- 
hibit the  suspension  or  discontinuance  of  any  industry  or  of 
the  working  of  any  person  therein  for  any  cause  not  constitut- 
ing a  lockout  or  strike:  Provided,  also,  that,  except  where  the 
parties  have  entered  into  an  agreement  under  Section  62  of  this 
act,  nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  held  to  restrain  any  employer 
from  declaring  a  lockout,  or  any  employe  from  going  on  strike 
in  respect  of  any  dispute  which  has  been  duly  referred  to  a 
board  and  which  has  been  dealt  with  under  Section  24  or  25 
of  this  act,  or  in  respect  of  any  dispute  which  has  been  the 
subject  of  a  reference  under  the  provisions  concerning  railway 
disputes  in  the  Conciliation  and  Labor  Act." 

"Sec.  57.  Employers  and  employes  shall  give  at  least  thirty 
days'  notice  of  an  intended  change  affecting  conditions  of  em- 
ployment with  respect  to  wages  or  hours,  and  in  the  event  of  such 


COLORADO'S  NEW  INDUSTRIAL  LAW  535 

intended  change  resulting  in  a  dispute,  until  the  dispute  has  been 
finally  dealt  with  by  a  board,  neither  of  the  parties  affected  shall 
alter  the  conditions  of  employment  with  respect  to  wages  or 
hours,  or  on  account  of  the  dispute  do  or  be  concerned  in  doing, 
directly  or  indirectly,  anything  in  the  nature  of  a  lockout  or 
strike,  or  a  suspension  or  discontinuance  of  employment  or 
work,  but  the  relationship  of  employer  and  employe  shall  con- 
tinue uninterrupted  by  the  dispute,  or  anything  arising  out  of 
the  dispute;  but  if,  in  the  opinion  of  the  board,  either  party 
uses  this  or  any  other  provision  of  this  act  for  the  purpose  of 
unjustly  maintaining  a  given  condition  of  affairs  through  delay, 
and  the  board  so  reports  to  the  Minister,  such  party  shall  be 
guilty  of  an  offense,  and  liable  to  the  same  penalties  as  are 
imposed  for  a  violation  of  the  next  preceding  section." 

"Sec.  58.  Any  employer  declaring  or  causing,  a  lockout 
contrary  to  the  provisions  of  this  act  shall  be  liable  to  a  fine  of 
not  less  than  one  hundred  dollars,  nor  more  than  one  thousand 
dollars  for  each  day  or  part  of  a  day  that  such  lockout  exists." 
"Sec.  59.  Any  employe  who  goes  on  strike  contrary  to 
the  provisions  of  this  act  shall  be  liable  to  a  fine  of  not  less 
than  ten  dollars  nor  more  than  fifty  dollars,  for  each  day  or 
part  of  a  day  that  such  employe  is  on  strike." 

"Sec.  60.  Any  person  who  incites,  encourages  or  aids  in 
any  manner  any  employer  to  declare  or  continue  a  lockout,  or 
any  employe  to  go  or  continue  on  strike  contrary  to  the  pro- 
visions of  this  act,  shall  be  guilty  of  an  offense  and  liable  to 
a  fine  of  not  less  than  fifty  dollars  nor  more  than  one  thousand 
dollars." 

It  has  been  said  that  the  State  of  Massachusetts  has  a  law 
similar  to  the  Canadian  and  Colorado  law  affecting  industrial  dis- 
putes, but  an  examination  of  that  law  shows  several  differences  that 
must  be  considered.  The  Massachusetts  law  does  not  provide  for 
compulsory  investigation  of  industrial  disputes  with  the  added  fea- 
ture of  restraining  either  side  from  going  on  a  strike  or  lockout 
during  investigation  to  fix  the  blame  as  to  who  started  the  strike 
without  just  cause.  The  Massachusetts  statute  is  as  follows: 

"Sec.  ii.  A  mayor  of  a  city  or  the  selectmen  of  a  town, 
having  knowledge  that  a  strike  or  lockout  such  as  is  described 
in  this  act  is  seriously  threatened  or  actually  occurs  in  such 
city  or  town,  shall  at  once  give  notice  to  the  State  Board. 
Notice  may  be  given  by  the  employer  or  by  the  employes  con- 


536         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

cerned  in  the  controversy,  strike  or  lockout.     When  the  State 
Board  has  knowledge  that  a  strike  or  lockout,  which  involves 
an  employer  and  his  present  or  former  employes,  is  seriously 
threatened  or  has  actually  occurred,  and  such  employer  at  that 
time  is  employing,  or  upon  the  occurrence  of  the  strike  or  lock- 
out, was  employing  not  less  than  25  persons  in  the  same  general 
line  of  business  in  any  city  or  town  in  the  commonwealth,  the 
State  Board  shall,  as  soon  as  may  be,  communicate  with  such 
employer  and  employes,  and  endeavor  by  mediation  to  obtain 
an  amicable  settlement,  or  endeavor  to  persuade  them  to  sub- 
mit the  controversy  to  a  local  board  of  conciliation  and  arbi- 
tration or  to  the  State  Board.     If  a  settlement  is  not  agreed 
upon  and  the  parties  refuse  to  submit  the  matter  in  dispute 
to  arbitration,  the  State  Board  shall  investigate  the  cause  of 
such  controversy  and  ascertain  which  of  the  parties  thereto  is 
mainly  responsible  or  blameworthy  for  the  existence  or  con- 
tinuance of  the  same,  and  shall,  unless  a  settlement  of  the 
controversy  is  reached,  make  and  publish  a  report  rinding  such 
cause  and  assigning  such  responsibility  or  blame.     *     *     *" 
I  am  informed  that  the  Massachusetts  law  is  working  well  and 
is  accomplishing  definite  and  tangible  results  and  it  is  pleasing  to 
hear  that  Massachusetts  is  solving  her  industrial  problems.     There 
may  be  room  for.  diversity  of  methods  and  statutes.    James  Bryce 
once  pointed  out  the  great  value  of  separating  this  Nation  into 
forty-eight  semi-sovereign  states,  because  it  afforded  an  opportunity 
for  each  state  to  work  out  different  methods  and  solutions  and  re- 
forms for  all  of  our  various  problems.   In  this  respect  we  may  look 
upon  our  forty-eight  states  as  great  social,  legal  and  industrial  lab- 
oratories, where,  under  our  free  American  institutions,  our  citizen- 
ship is  working  out  great  problems  that  affect  human  destiny. 

Colorado  is  the  first  state  in  the  Union  to  follow  the  Canadian 
law  and  to  provide  for  compulsory  investigation  of  industrial  dis- 
putes and  to  prohibit  both  sides  from  participating  in  either  a  strike 
or  lockout,  until  that  investigation  has  been  finished.  It  is  interest- 
ing to  note  that  this  principle  is  the  same  one  that  has  been  embodied 
in  the  peace  treaties  prepared  by  William  J.  Bryan,  while  Secretary 
of  State,  and  adopted  by  the  United  States  and  thirty  other  nations 
of  the  world.  These  treaties  provide  for  a  compulsory  public  investi- 
gation of  the  points  in  dispute  between  the  nations  and  for  a  wait- 
ing period  during  that -investigation,  in  which  neither  nation  shall 
prepare  for  war,  or  engage  in  war.  Thus  we  see  a  further  analogy 


COLORADO'S  NEW  INDUSTRIAL  LAW  537 

between  capital  and  labor  and  the  disputes  between  nations.  The 
plan  and  principle  involved  in  this  Colorado  Act  is  working  so  well, 
that  I  predict  the  same  principle  will  work  when  applied  under 
the  Bryan  peace  treaties.  This  method  may  not  always  work,  it 
may  break  down  here  and  there,  but  in  the  main,  it  will  work  well ; 
it  is  based  upon  sound  psychology  and  good  common  sense,  and 
upon  a  practical  realization  of  the  facts  of  life  and  the  way  in  which 
men  do  things. 

This  law  embodies  certain  fundamental  principles,  which  it 
will  be  well  to  state.  These  principles  make  clear  the  working 
theory  of  the  law  and  have  furnished  the  motive  for  its  enactment 
and  the  administration  of  the  law  itself,  brings  out  in  clear  light 
the  actual  operation  of  these  principles. 

In  brief  the  law  operates  in  the  following  manner:  The 
employes  of  a  manufacturing  plant  desire  a  raise  in  wages,  or 
shorter  hours.  Under  the  old  system,  they  could  or  could  not  give 
a  notice  to  their  employer  as  they  might  desire.  They  could  go  on 
a  strike  without  a  warning,  and  they  could  be  locked  out  without 
any  warning.  There  was  no  central  body  to  appeal  to,  no  one  to 
investigate  the  dispute  or  find  out  the  actual  merits;  there  were 
charges  and  counter-charges,  rumors  and  accusations,  and  more  or 
less  chaos  and  anarchy  generally;  the  plant  tied  up,  the  men  idle 
and  their  families  suffering,  bitterness  increasing  every  hour; 
importation  of  strike  breakers,  disorder  and  often  terrible  conse- 
quences. This  is  not  the  history  of  every  strike,  but  of  many  strikes. 
Under  the  operation  of  the  Colorado  law,  the  first  step  is  for  the 
employes  to  notify  the  employer  of  any  change  of  wages  or  hours 
which  they  desire.  This  is  made  in  writing,  and  a  copy  goes  to 
the  employer  and  to  the  Commission.  The  notice  is  for  thirty  days 
under  the  statute ;  during  which  period,  the  Commission  may  permit 
the  two  sides  to  privately  negotiate  with  each  other,  or  if  they  do 
not  want  to  do  so,  the  Commission  will  get  them  together  and 
endeavor  informally  to  adjust  the  dispute.  If  these  informal  efforts 
fail,  the  Commission  may,  upon  its  own  motion  or  upon  request  of 
either  side  or  both  sides,  start  a  formal  investigation.  The  investi- 
gation is  held,  witnesses  are  subpoenaed  and  put  under  oath,  com- 
plete and  exhaustive  testimony  is  taken  as  of  all  matters  in  dispute. 
When  the  investigation  is  completed,  the  Commission  makes  its 
findings.  These  findings  or  the  award  as  it  is  called,  are  not  binding 
upon  either  side,  although  either  or  both  sides  may  accept  the  find- 
ings, either  before  the  investigation  begins  or  at  its  conclusion,  in 


538         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN   MINING    CONGRESS 

which  event,  the  award  is  binding.  The  only  restraint  upon  the  two 
sides  is  that  prior  to  and  during  the  investigation,  the  employer 
cannot  lock  his  men  out,  or  change  the  conditions  of  employment, 
and  the  men  cannot  go  on  a  strike.  The  status  quo  is  preserved; 
the  men  must  remain  at  work  at  the  usual  scale  of  hours  and  wages, 
until  the  Commission  makes  its  findings.  After  the  findings  have 
been  made,  either  side  is  free  to  do  as  it  chooses.  The  old  weapons 
of  industrial  warfare  may  be  resorted  to,  there  may  be  strikes  and 
lockouts  or  any  other  legal  act  along  lines  of  force  and  coercion. 

Thus  we  see  how  the  law  operates,  and  we  begin  to  understand 
the  significance  of  a  restraining  period  of  this  character.  The  first 
object  and  result  of  such  a  law  is  that  it  provides  a  cooling-off 
period,  in  which  both  sides  have  an  opportunity  to  avoid  hasty  and 
precipitous  action,  and  to  think  over  calmly  the  responsibility  and 
grave  possibilities  of  the  situation.  Hasty  and  thoughtless  action 
has  never  helped  any  cause ;  it  has  never  moved  America  or  her 
institutions  forward  one  inch ;  it  will  never  aid  the  cause  of  indus- 
trial peace. 

The  second  object  and  result  of  the  operation  of  this  law  is 
to  compel  collective  bargaining.  Nearly  every  modern  thinker  on 
industrial  and  social  topics  endorses  the  theory  and  principle  of  col- 
lective bargaining.  It  is  a  practical,  wise  and  efficient  measure  of 
promoting  industrial  peace  and  justice.  It  is  urged  by  newspapers, 
magazines  and  thinkers  generally,  as  being  the  ultimate  hope  of  all 
those  who  long  for  industrial  peace,  as  being  fair  and  just  as 
between  employer  and  employe.  This  law  compels  the  very  thing 
that  is  declared  to  be  so  desirable ;  it  brings  the  parties  together, 
compels  them  to  sit  down  face  to  face,  to  look  each  other  in  the  eye 
and  talk  over  their  differences.  The  result  of  this  is  to  cool  both 
sides  down,  and  to  eliminate  a  large  number  of  the  points  of  dis- 
pute and  misunderstanding.  I  am  prone  to  believe  that  one-half  of 
all  disputes  between  men  could  be  amicably  settled  if  both  sides  met 
face  to  face  and  talked  things  over.  .  I  have  been  interested  and 
amazed  to  see  the  number  of  misunderstandings  that  exist  between 
employer  and  employe,  when  there  exists  no  way  of  compelling 
them  to  talk  things  over  together.  It  is  collective  bargaining  too 
in  the  sense  that  the  employer  or  employers  in  a  group  meet  either 
the  employes  of  a  single  plant  grouped  together,  or  the  employes  in 
an  entire  craft  to  be  dealt  with  together. 

The  third  object  and  valuable  result  of  this  law  is  that  it  pro- 
vides for  a  public  body  with  power  to  ascertain  the  facts  of  any 


COLORADO'S  NEW  INDUSTRIAL  LAW  539 

industrial  controversy.  This  lack  of  some  authoritative  body  to 
ascertain  the  exact  facts  of  a  controversy,  has  been  admitted  on  all 
sides  to  be  a  serious  handicap  to  a  clear  understanding  of  the  issues 
in  any  industrial  dispute.  Each  side  has  usually  contented  itself  by 
issuing  bulletins  and  charges,  stating  its  own  side  of  the  contro- 
versy. The  public  has  not  known  what  the  facts  were,  and  every 
man  has  read  those  facts  which  suited  his  own  prejudices  and  has 
shut  his  eyes  to  the  other  side.  The  Commission  has  power  to  sub- 
pcena  witnesses  and  put  them  under  oath,  and  it  exercises  this 
power;  it  has  power  to  go  into  the  accounts  and  books  of  the 
employer  and  employe;  to  inquire  into  the  cost  of  living,  cost  of 
production,  state  of  the  market,  the  effect  of  freight  rates  and  every 
other  factor  which  enters  into  the  question  of  wages  and  hours. 
There  are  no  limits  to  the  Commission's  power  to  get  at  the  real 
facts. 

The  fourth  and  final  valuable  result  from  this  law  is  that  the 
facts  when  once  gathered  by  an  authoritative  and  impartial  public 
body,  are  given  to  the  public,  and  there  results  the  widest  publicity 
of  all  the  facts  bearing  upon  the  controversy.  The  public  is  informed 
as  to  the  terms  of  the  dispute  and  the  conclusions  of  an  impartial 
body  as  to  the  merits  of  that  dispute.  Publicity  is  given  to  the  find- 
ings of  the  Commission,  and  it  remains  then  for  public  opinion  to 
do  its  work,  and  to  compel  both  sides  to  adjust  themselves  to  the 
award  which  the  Commission  found  to  be  just. 

In  the  operation  of  the  law,  certain  rules  of  procedure  have 
been  developed,  which  reflect  certain  angles  of  the  whole  labor  ques- 
tion, and  which  it  would  be  well  to  state  here.  These  rules  are  in 
brief  as  follows: 

1.  No  technical  rules  of  procedure  are  ever  followed  or  per- 
mitted.   The  statute  provides  for  a  liberal  construction  and  opera- 
tion of  its  terms  and  the  Commission  firmly  insists  upon  this. 

2.  No  technical  form  of  notice  is  ever  required.     It  is  suf- 
ficient if  there  be  actual  notice  to  each  side  that  the  Commission  is 
about  to  investigate. 

3.  The   Commission   may  not  wait   for   one  of  the   warring 
parties  to  invoke  its  powers  of  investigation,  but  may  voluntarily 
upon  its  own  motion,  investigate  and  invoke  its  own  powers. 

4.  Employes  may  appear  and  bargain  through  a  union  if  they 
so  desire,  and  the  union  may  appear  before  the  Commission  as  the 
representative  of  the  employes.     Employers  may  appear  by  agent 
or  attorney  or  through  an  employers'  association  if  they  so  desire. 


540         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

Both  kinds  of  organizations  have  appeared  before  the  Commission. 
While  the  law  speaks  of  employer  and  employe  and  seems  to  con- 
template a  dispute  between  a  single  plant  and  its  employes,  and 
while  in  the  last  analysis  each  rinding  of  the  Commission  is  a  finding 
as  to  each  plant  or  company,  yet  employes  may  appear  through  a 
union,  and  the  employer  through  his  association.  It  some  times 
happens,  too,  as  a  matter  of  practical  co-operation  that  the  employes 
in  a  dozen  plants  are  all  in  a  union,  and  that  the  heads  of  the  dozen 
plants  are  all  in  an  association  of  employers,  and  the  operation  of 
collective  bargaining  is  widened  in  such  a  case. 

5.  The  law  limits  the  thirty  days'  notice  exclusively  to  wages 
and  hours,  and  if  the  dispute  is  over  some  craft  or  trade  question, 
and  does  not  involve  wages  or  hours,  it  has  been  ruled  that  the  thirty 
days'  notice  need  not  be  given;  therefore  employes  could  strike  on 
any  question  except  that  of  wages  or  hours  and  not  give  thirty  days' 
notice,  with  this  one  exception  and  qualification ;  that  in  case  of  any 
industrial  dispute  involving  any  sort  of  a  question,  if  the  Commis- 
sion starts  an  investigation   (even  if  no  thirty  days'  notice  is  re- 
quired), there  can  be  no  strike  or  lockout  during  that  investigation. 
This  rule  is  a  wise  one,  and  prevents  many  disputes  from  reaching  a 
serious  stage. 

6.  Some  informal  pleadings  are  permitted,  such  as  a  motion 
to  strike,  or  in  relation  to  special  appearances  for  the  purpose  of 
quashing  the  proceedings.     Any  such  motion  as  may  challenge  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Commission  will  be  entertained,  and  the  Com- 
mission will  in  every  case  first  consider  and  decide  the  question  of 
its  jurisdiction  and  of  its  right  to  proceed.     If  it  determines  that  it 
has  no  jurisdiction,  the  case  ends  there;  if  jurisdiction  is  taken,  the 
investigation  proceeds.    But  while  informal  pleadings  are  permitted, 
they  are  never  allowed  to  control  the  Commission,  in  the  sense  that 
mere  pleadings  can  determine  the  status  of  the  parties  before  the 
Commission  or  determine  the  result  of  the  Commission's  hearings. 
If  the  pleadings  assist  in  the  preliminary  and  informal  questions 
which  first  arise,  they  are  permitted,  otherwise  the  Commission  does 
not  specially  regard  them.     In  other  words,  the  adjective  law,  as 
lawyers  call  it,  which  is  the  law  which  relates  to  procedure,  never 
controls  the  fundamental  rights  of  the  parties  before  the  Commis- 
sion. 

7.  The  Commission  has  no  one  set  mode  of  procedure  which 
is  followed  in  every  case.    While  the  general  lines  of  the  procedure 
are  very  much  the  same,  and  while  some  general  modes  of  operation 


COLORADO'S  NEW  INDUSTRIAL  LAW  541 

are  apparent  in  various  disputes,  the  Commission  has  adjusted,  yet 
the  Commission  finds  that  each  dispute  must  stand  on  its  own  basis 
and  be  determined  by  the  particular  conditions  which  arise  in  that 
particular  dispute.  The  Commission  does  not  begin  its  intercession 
in  a  dispute  by  a  firm  show  of  authority  if  it  can  be  avoided.  It 
intercedes  with  each  side  as  a  friend  and  well-wisher;  it  stands  for 
the  best  interest  of  society  as  a  whole ;  it  commences  informally ; 
and  throughout  all  its  proceedings  it  acts  on  the  theory  that  its 
policy  should  be  of  two-thirds  diplomacy  and  one-third  authority. 
When  a  notice  is  received  by  the  Commission  the  first  step  is  to  get 
in  touch  with  both  sides  and  find  out  what  has  been  done  or  is  being 
done  toward  negotiations.  If  the  two  sides  are  in  touch  with  each 
other  and  are  negotiating,  the  Commission  stands  aloof  and  watches 
negotiations.  If  the  two  sides  are  not  negotiating,  the  Commission 
calls  them  into  conference  and  endeavors  to  start  negotiations.  It 
is  sometimes  the  best  policy  to  call  both  sides  in  at  the  same  time 
before  the  Commission;  in  other  cases,  it  is  the  best  policy  to  call 
in  each  side  separately.  Often  more  can  be  accomplished  by  work- 
ing with  the  opposing  sides  in  private  conference  than  can  be  accom- 
plished with  them  together.  If  there  is  any  past  history  or  ancient 
bitterness,  it  is  sometimes  better  to  allow  these  differences  to  be 
thoroughly  talked  out  before  the  two  sides  settle  down  to  the  actual 
consideration  of  the  terms  of  a  constructive  agreement. 

In  addition  to  this  work  in  bringing  two  sides  together,  the 
Commission  has  had  one  capital  and  labor  banquet,  attended  by  a 
large  number  of  representatives  of  both  sides  of  the  industrial  world 
and  by  many  prominent  public  officials. 

The  Commission  has  also  assisted  in  bringing  representatives 
of  both  sides  of  a  craft  into  general  conference  for  the  purpose  of 
improving  general  craft  conditions.  These  conferences  have  been 
called,  not  when  there  was  a  dispute  or  hard  feelings,  but  at  a  time 
when  the  feeling  was  amicable,  and  when  both  sides  felt  the  need  of 
improving  general  conditions  in  their  craft. 

The  result  of  all  these  negotiations  has  been  to  strengthen  the 
bonds  which  unite  employer  and  employe,  to  produce  a  feeling  of 
harmony  and  co-operation  which  has  hitherto  not  existed,  and  a 
feeling  of  mutual  respect  and  self-restraint  in  all  dealings  between 
the  opposing  sides  of  industrial  disputes.  One  or  two  concrete 
cases  will  best  illustrate  the  method  of  administration  which  the 
Commission  employs.  The  first  situation  arising  under  the  new 
law  occurred  soon  after  it  went  into  force.  Early  one  morning  the 


542         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN   MINING    CONGRESS 

managers  of  a  large  cracker  factory  employing  225  people  in 
Denver,  began  calling  in  their  employes  one  by  one  and  reducing 
their  wages.  News  of  this  spread  rapidly  over  the  plant  and  within 
an  hour  the  entire  force  was  on  a  strike.  No  union  existed  among 
the  employes  of  the  factory.  The  Commission  at  once  got  in  touch 
with  both  sides  and  called  them  in  for  separate  private  hearings. 
While  the  Commission  had  the  right  to  request  the  district  attorney 
to  proceed  criminally  against  both  sides,  the  Commission  felt  that 
the  law  being  new,  they  should  first  be  given  a  chance  to  obey  it. 
The  law  was  read  and  each  side  asked  if  they  were  willing  to  obey 
it.  Both  sides  agreed  at  once  to  obey  the  law,  and  the  next  morning 
the  entire  force  went  back  to  work,  the  incident  was  closed,  and 
nothing  has  ever  occurred  in  that  plant  since  that  time. 

In  the  machinist  strike,  the  machinists  gave  the  usual  thirty 
days'  notice  and  following  the  failure  to  secure  a  conference  with 
their  employers,  the  Commission  arranged  a  number  of  informal 
conferences.  These  had  progressed  to  a  point  where  a  settlement 
seemed  assured,  when  the  employing  machinists'  representative  made 
a  bitter  speech  in  the  presence  of  both  sides  that  aroused  all  of  the 
ancient  passions  and  bitterly  inflamed  both  sides.  After  this  meet- 
ing an  agreement  by  informal  conference  was  impossible.  The 
union  machinists  asked  for  a  formal  investigation  which  was 
granted  and  held.  Some  of  the  employing  machinists  refused  to 
attend  the  hearing.  The  Commission  stood  ready  to  vindicate  its 
authority,  but  the  union  machinists  requested  that  we  hear  them 
without  attempting  to  test  our  powers.  The  Commission  rendered 
its  decision  and  after  further  conference  between  the  men  and  their 
employers,  a  strike  was  called.  This  strike  lasted  less  than  ten  days 
and  the  final  adjustment  was  made  on  the  basis  of  the  Commission's 
findings  or  award. 

In  the  tailor  dispute,  all  the  journeymen  tailors  in  Denver  were 
organized  into  a  union,  general  conditions  in  the  tailor  trade  had 
been  chaotic  for  years.  The  tailors  asked  for  a  formal  investiga- 
tion, which  was  granted  by  the  Commission  and  after  an  extensive 
hearing,  rendered  its  findings,  which  were  substantially  in  favor  of 
the  demands  of  the  union  tailors.  Within  two  days  after  the  find- 
ings were  announced,  every  merchant  tailor  in  the  city  but  one, 
had  agreed  to  accept  the  findings  of  the  Commission  and  put  the 
wage  schedule  into  force. 

One  day  without  any  warning  700  smelter  men  walked  out  of 
the  Arkansas  Valley  Smelter  in  Leadville,  one  of  the  great  mining 


COLORADO'S  NEW  INDUSTRIAL  LAW  543 

camps  of  Colorado.  Only  100  men  were  left  in  the  plant.  The 
men  had  not  been  organized  and  there  had  not  been  the  slightest 
intimation  that  trouble  was  threatened.  The  men's  grievances 
included  contract  system  of  labor,  assignment  of  wages  and  a 
demand  for  increased  wages.  The  Commission  went  at  once  to 
Leadville  and  found  a  hopelessly  confused  situation.  The  strikers 
were  composed  almost  entirely  of  recent  arrivals  from  the  Balkan 
States.  Out  of  the  entire  several  hundred,  there  probably  were  not 
a  dozen  men  who  were  naturalized  citizens,  or  who  knew  anything 
of  our  language,  institutions  or  laws.  The  men  had  no  real  leader 
and  were  simply  out  after  being  informed,  in  stubborn  defiance  of 
the  law  and  because  of  conditions,  which  they  found  it  difficult  to 
properly  describe.  The  Commission  felt  that  it  was  not  a  case 
where  there  should  be  prosecution  of  the  men.  Their  ignorance  of 
the  law  and  general  lack  of  understanding  of  American  institutions 
all  contributed  to  cause  the  Commission  to  deal  leniently.  The 
Commission  met  the  men  in  a  mass  meeting  and  explained  to  them 
through  interpreters  what  the  requirements  of  the  Industrial  law 
were.  The  men  at  first  protested,  but  reason  gradually  asserted 
itself  and  within  a  week  the  entire  force  had  returned  to  work. 
The  Commission  then  began  an  investigation  of  the  grievances  of 
the  men.  The  Smelter  Company  offered  to  adjust  every  grievance 
of  the  men,  except  wages,  on  any  terms  which  the  Commission 
thought  best.  The  smelter  managers  have  already  adopted  meas- 
ures to  prevent  the  contract  system  and  assignment  of  wages  and 
the  adequacy  of  these  measures  is  now  being  considered  by  the 
Commission.  The  Commission  will  not  halt  until  these  grievances 
are  absolutely  eliminated.  The  Commission  saw  that  the  question 
of  wages  was  a  very  broad  one,  involving  numerous  factors  affected 
by  conditions  throughout  the  nation.  The  preliminary  plans  were 
laid  for  a  broad,  thorough  and  exhaustive  investigation.  Recently 
the  smelter  has  raised  the  wages,  granting  a  part  of  the  demands 
of  the  men. 

A  summary  of  the  industrial  disputs  before  the  Commission 
shows  the  following: 

During  the  year  preceding  the  date  of  this  present  report  the 
Commission  has  passed  upon  over  seventy-five  industrial  complaints. 
Eight  of  these  have  resulted  in  formal  hearings  and  formal  awards 
by  the  Commission.  Probably  half  of  these  seventy-five  complaints 
threatened  serious  strikes,  but  most  of  them  were  adjudicated  in- 
formally through  conciliation  and  mediation.  The  formal  awards 


544         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

occurred  in  the  cases  of  the  tailors,  machinists,  waitresses,  biscuit 
makers',  mill  men,  mailers  and  various  plants  doing  business  with 
the  above  crafts.  In  these  awards  the  Commission  found  in  some 
cases  in  favor  of  ,an  increase  of  wages  and  in  other  cases  against 
the  increase.  The  principle  on  which  the  Commission  proceeds  is 
that  there  are  three  parties  in  every  industrial  controversy:  em- 
ployers, employes,  and  the  public.  The  Commission  has  declared 
for  an  eight-hour  day  and  for  a  minimum  wage  for  women  of  not 
less  than  eight  dollars  and  thirty-three  cents  per  week.  The  Com- 
mission has  before  it  two  complaints  for  formal  investigation  now 
pending  and  awaiting  future  adjustment.  These  are  the  wage  de- 
mands of  the  coal  miners  in  the  Huerfano  County  District  and  the 
metalliferous  miners  in  the  Leadville  District. 

During  the  two  years  the  Commission  has  been  administering 
this  law  there  has  not  been  a  strike  of  any  moment  or  consequence 
in  the  State  of  Colorado. 

Among  the  crafts  represented  in  these  disputes  before  the  Com- 
mission were,  cracker  makers,  tailors,  barbers,  machinists,  painters, 
maltsters,  bill  posters,  smeltermen,  dry  goods  clerks,  brewers,  street 
car  men,  carpenters,  sheet  metal  workers,  railroad  men,  sign  paint- 
ers, coal  miners,  granite  cutters,  cigar  makers,  horseshoers,  gar- 
ment makers  and  bricklayers. 

A  review  of  the  work  of  the  Commission  would  be  inadequate 
if  I  did  not  mention  the  part  prohibition  has  played  in  aiding  in- 
dustrial peace.  Prohibition  is  proving  a  great  success  in  Colorado 
and  the  absence  of  the  saloons  is  an  important  factor  in  preventing 
violence  at  the  time  of  a  strike.  This  is  particularly  marked  where 
foreigners  such  as  the  Leadville  smeltermen  are  involved. 

I  believe  profoundly  that  this  law  will  work  to  the  advantage 
of  labor  and  of  capital,  and  that  it  will  bring  a  larger  measure  of 
industrial  peace  than  our  State  or  any  other  State  has  hitherto 
enjoyed.  It  may  not  solve  the  whole  problem  of  industrial  disputes 
or  eliminate  all  strikes,  but  it  will  tend  to  solve  the  problem,  it  will 
lessen  the  number  of  strikes,  and  it  is  at  the  very  least  a  step  in 
the  right  direction. 

The  labor  unions  of  Colorado  generally  have  obeyed  the  law 
without  question.  Their  painstaking  care  to  comply  with  every  pro- 
vision has  been  a  source  of  gratification  to  the  Commission  and  has 
been  a  fine  example  of  the  best  type  of  American  citizenship  in  its 
obedience  to  law.  No  one  could  have  witnessed  the  general  con- 
formity of  the  trades  unions  in  Colorado  to  this  new  industrial 


COLORADO'S  NEW  INDUSTRIAL  LAW  545 

law,  and  say  that  labor  unions  do  not  obey  the  law.  The  State 
Federation  of  Labor  has  sent  out  a  letter  of  instructions  to  every 
union  affiliated  with  that  organization,  notifying  them  of  the  steps 
necessary  to  conform  to  the  law,  and  urging  them  to  keep  within 
the  law  in  all  disputes.  I  believe  that  the  great  majority  of  labor- 
ing men  in  Colorado  have  come  to  see  clearly  the  great  advantage 
this  law  brings.  There  are  some  individual  labor  leaders,  who 
have  not  yet  endorsed  the  law  nor  the  principles  behind  it ;  some 
of  them  are  in  a  mood  to  be  convinced,  but  have  not  accepted  it, 
fearing  that  it  is  some  new  and  strange  contrivance  designed  by 
the  selfish  power  of  capitalists  to  destroy  labor. 

Of  course,  the  law  is  nothing  of  the  sort  and  its  actual  opera- 
tion is  rapidly  dissipating  this  idea.  The  objections  offered  to  the 
law  are  these: 

That  the  law  abridges  and  restrains  the  right  to  strike  and  that 
any  such  form  of  compulsion  so  called,  is  un-American  and  is  a 
form  of  slavery. 

The  law  does  and  does  not  restrain  the  right  to  strike.  Con- 
sidered from  one  viewpoint,  it  does  restrain  this  right  in  a  limited 
and  temporary  manner,  and  by  this  means  it  prevents  sudden  vio- 
lence and  promotes  peaceful  negotiations ;  it  also  restrains  the  right 
to  lockout  working  men.  It  prevents  the  employer  from  cutting 
wages  and  lengthening  hours  and  discharging  his  men  while  the 
dispute  is  in  progress.  From  another  viewpoint,  the  law  does  not 
restrain  strikes.  Suppose  a  group  of  men  on  April  26th,  who  work 
for  a  common  employer,  meet  to  discuss  and  formulate  demands 
for  higher  wages,  and  suppose  it  is  urged  that  they  go  on  a  strike 
May  ist.  Some  one  suggests  that  it  would  be  better  to  postpone 
the  strike  one  month,  or  until  June  ist,  and  that  this  date  complies 
with  a  law  requiring  thirty  days'  notice.  Suppose  the  employees 
actually  agreed  to  comply  with  this  law  and  did  so  by  giving  the 
thirty  days'  notice.  This  is  a  concrete  example  of  how  the  law 
operates.  Can  it  be  said  that  such  action  and  such  continuance 
of  work  amount  to  slavery?  The  employees  have  simply  advanced 
the  time  at  which  they  will  put  their  demands  into  effect.  They 
have  merely  postponed  the  resort  to  force  in  the  hope  that  force 
will  not  be  necessary.  The  employer  knows  that  their  right  to 
strike  has  not  been  taken  away  from  them  and  that  back  of  their 
demands  is  this  potential  right  which  may  be  exercised.  Often 
the  knowledge  of  this  potential  right  to  strike  is  of  more  value  to 
workingmen  than  the  actual  resort  to  the  strike  itself.  The  public 


546         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

has  an  interest  in  the  matter  and  has  a  right  to  demand  that  all 
peaceful  means  be  exhausted  before  the  strike  or  lockout  is  re- 
sorted to.  If  this  be  slavery,  then  we  must  find  a  new  meaning 
for  that  term.  It  does  not  comprehend  a  single  element  of  slavery. 
Very  often  trade  agreements  provide  for  a  thirty  days'  notice  before 
going  on  a  strike,  which  would  bring  about  compulsory  work  just 
as  truly  and  effectually  as  this  law  brings  about  compulsory  work. 
The  only  compulsory  labor  the  American  nation  recognizes  or  ever 
will  recognize  is  a  compulsory  labor  imposed  upon  every  man  based 
upon  the  divine  law  that  man  shall  earn  his  bread  in  the  sweat  of 
his  brow. 

To  say  that  this  kind  of  restraint  is  un-American  is  to  make  a 
mere  rhetorical  objection  to  the  law.  The  law  was  passed  in  the 
wise  exercise  of  the  police  power  of  the  state,  to  protect  society 
from  sudden  and  violent  disputes  and  all  of  the  harmful  results 
which  so  frequently  flow  from  them.  If  this  kind  of  compulsion 
be  un-American,  then  the  same  thing  must  be  said  of  that  com- 
pulsion which  prohibits  any  man  from  using  violence  toward  his 
neighbor,  which  compels  capitalists  and  laboring  men  to .  observe 
certain  fundamental  rights  in  their  dealings  with  each  other,  which 
compels  men  generally  to  obey  the  law.  We  have  compulsion  on  all 
sides  of  us;  that  is,  a  government  of  laws,  not  a  government  of 
man,  or  whims  or  caprice.  It  is  not  surprising  that  some  employ- 
ers or  employees  chafe  under  the  restraint  of  compulsion.  The 
two  forces  of  capital  and  labor  have  been  almost  sovereign  in  their 
power.  Public  officials  have  been  afraid  to  deal  with  them.  They 
have  been  allowed  to  work  out  their  own  industrial  disputes,  but 
both  of  these  powerful  and  valuable  forces  in  American  life  must 
be  brought  under  complete  restraint  of  law. 

2.  Another  objection  has  been  that  the  law  interferes  with 
the  power  of  the  union  to  collectively  bargain  and  make  its  own 
terms.  There  are  three  answers  to  this  objection: 

(a)  The   Commission  never  uses  its  own  power  to   compel 
the  two  sides  to  bargain  together  if  they  themselves  will  volun- 
tarily get  together  and  bargain. 

(b)  The  right  to  independent  bargaining  collectively  is  not 
absolutely  taken  away  from  either  employer  or  employee ;  it  is  only 
temporarily  withheld  while  the  Commission  investigates. 

(c)  The  one  thing  the  Commission  does  is  to  actually  compel 
both  sides  to  bargain  collectively;  it  enforces  and  compels  the  exer- 
cise of  the  very  right  that  some  labor  leaders  say  has  been  taken 


COLORADO'S  NEW  INDUSTRIAL  LAW  547 

away  by  the  law.  Thus  their  objection  is  refuted  by  the  very 
terms  of  the  law  itself.  When  we  reflect  that  in  so  many  instances 
employers  have  refused  to  treat  with  their  employees  or  with  labor 
unions  and  have  said  "there  is  nothing  to  arbitrate,"  we  must  cer- 
tainly admit  that  if  there  was  anything  that  labor  needed,  it  was  this 
law,  which  compels  employers  to  arbitrate,  at  least  to  the  extent  of 
bargaining  collectively  before  the  Commission.  If  the  law  pro- 
vided for  compulsory  arbitration  then  indeed  could  men  say  that  it 
provided  a  form  of  compulsion,  which  took  away  the  right  of  inde- 
pendent bargaining,  but  the  law  does  not  do  this,  the  findings  of 
the  Commission  are  not  binding  unless  both  sides  choose  to  accept 
them  and  make  them  so.  The  findings  of  the  Commission  are 
merely  persuasive. 

3.  The  other  objection  made  to  the  law  is  that  it  will  operate 
in  favor  of  the  employer  by  enabling  him  to  bring  in  strikebreakers 
during  the  waiting  period  and  hold  them  in  readiness  for  an  antici- 
pated strike.  The  best  answer  to  this  objection  is  that  the  law  has 
not  worked  that  way.  On  the  contrary,  it  has  worked  the  very 
opposite.  It  has  done  more  to  keep  working  men  in  their  jobs 
than  anything  else  could  have  done.  The  conferences  before  the 
Commission  tend  to  draw  the  parties  together,  not  apart,  and  in 
all  of  the  disputes  which  have  occurred,  not  one  employer  has 
sought  to  offend  the  Commission  or  disregard  the  spirit  of  the  law 
by  bringing  in  strikebreakers.  But  there  is,  in  my  opinion,  a  better 
answer  to  this  objection,  which  is  that  there  was  nothing  which 
prevented  an  employer  from  bringing  in  strikebreakers  before  this 
law  was  passed.  The  situation  of  the  laboring  man  who  has  a 
job  is  no  worse  now  than  it  was  before;  on  the  contrary,  it  is 
better.  It  is  idle  to  say  that  an  employer  might  bring  in  strike- 
breakers during  the  thirty-day  waiting  period  provided  by  this  law 
when,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  could  bring  them  in  at  any  time  pre- 
ceding the  thirty-day  period  under  the  law. 

The  American  nation  must  not  withhold  the  power  of  the 
Government  in  regulating  these  two  great  forces  of  industry,  merely 
because  opposing  forces  will  seek  to  control  the  governmental  organ 
which  does  the  regulating.  Mr.  Commons  recommends  mere  volun- 
tary arbitration  and  friendly  mediation  with  no  coercive  powers 
whatever.  He  takes  the  position  that  there  should  be  laws  regard- 
ing the  general  relations  of  capital  and  labor,  and  that  within  these 
laws  the  two  sides  should  be  allowed  to  bargain  and  secure  what- 
ever advantages  they  can  over  each  other.  This  method  simply 


548         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

throws  the  whole  industrial  question  into  the  arena  of  force;  it 
reminds  us  of  that  paradoxical  and  absurd  farcical  situation  that 
exists  between  the  warring  nations  of  the  world  today,  in  which 
men  must  kill  each  other  by  certain  commonly  accepted  rules  of 
international  murder,  and  we  hear  generals,  prime  ministers  and 
governments  disputing  over  whether  men  were  killing  by  the  right 
rule  or  the  wrong  rule.  The  world  is  going  to  get  away  from  such 
legalized  warfares  as  quickly  as  it  can.  Society,  through  the  state, 
will  increase  its  regulating  control  of  these  two  great  forces,  and 
in  my  judgment,  unless  this  principle  is  accepted  and  lived  up  to 
by  the  opposing  sides  of  industrial  disputes,  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment and  all  the  states  will  some  day  provide  for  compulsory  arbi- 
tration, a  thing  to  which  a  portion  of  Labor  and  Capital  is  now 
opposed.  The  success  of  the  operation  of  this  law  in  Canada,  and 
the  continuation  of  its  success  in  Colorado,  will  be  the  very  best 
answer  to  the  objections  which  are  urged  against  the  law. 

Some  employers  have  urged  objections  against  the  law  also. 
Their  chief  objection  has  come  from  the  fact  that  the  law  gives 
the  Commission  the  right  to  examine  their  books  to  determine  in 
any  given  dispute  whether  they  are  making  such  a  reasonable  profit 
as  affords  just  grounds  for  an  increase  in  wages.  But  without  such 
power  the  Commission  could  never  pass  upon  a  wage  dispute. 

Speaking,  as  I  know  I  do,  for  my  colleagues  and  myself,  I 
declare  that  we  are  an  impartial  Commission,  and  that  we  stand 
squarely  between  the  opposing  sides  in  every  dispute ;  that  we  have 
a  high  sense  of  obligation  and  duty  to  the  State  of  Colorado,  that 
we  seek  to  deal  only  with  fairness  and  justice,  and  we  have  a  high 
and  honorable  ideal,  which  inspires  in  us  the  ambition  to  promote 
industrial  peace.  There  can  be  no  higher  ideal  for  any  man  than 
that  he  desire  peace.  Peace  with  justice.  And  it  must  be  forever 
true  that  what  is  right  and  what  is  fair  can  better  be  determined 
by  the  peaceful  processes  of  friendly,  calm  and  reasonable  negotia- 
tions than  by  the  bitter  processes  of  hate,  strife  and  industrial  war- 
fare. Working  men  and  employers  have  lost  more  by  the  bitter 
clash  of  warfare  than  they  have  gained.  Both  sides  will  gain  far 
more  in  the  future  by  reasonable  mediation  and  friendly  concilia- 
tion through  an  industrial  commission  than  they  can  ever  gain  by 
the  strike  or  by  the  lockout.  In  any  individual  dispute,  one  side 
or  the  other  may  feel  that  they  have  not  secured  by  bargaining  as 
much  as  they  would  have  secured  by  force  and  coercion.  They 


COLORADO'S  NEW  INDUSTRIAL  LAW  549 

are  probably  mistaken,  but  even  if  they  be  right,  in  the  long  run 
they  will  secure  more  by  bargaining  than  they  will  by  force. 

Is  it  too  much  to  expect  that  we  are  entering  upon  a  new 
industrial  era,  both  in  my  beloved  State  of  Colorado  and  in  every 
state  of  this  union?  I  think  all  signs  point  toward  a  new,  a  better, 
a  fairer  condition  in  industry.  I  believe  that  all  hopes  and  aspira- 
tions of  men  are  toward  peace ;  not  a  peace  of  mere  weakness  and 
negation,  but  a  constructive  peace,  a  peace  of  mutual  self  respect 
and  esteem ;  a  peace  based  upon  fairness  and  justice,  and  a  clear 
recognition  of  the  superior  value  of  resorting  to  reason  rather 
than  force  for  the  settlement  of  all  disputes.  I  look  to  a  future 
day  when  all  opposing  parties  in  industrial  disputes,  in  all  of  the 
states  of  this  union,  will  come  with  their  grievances  into  a  common 
council  chamber  to  adjust  and-  settle  every  controversy  by  the 
process  of  peaceful  negotiation,  and  I  look  to  see  the  nations  of 
the  world  arise  from  this  horrible  nightmare  of  war  and  turn  toward 
each  other  in  a  new  spirit  of  friendliness,  self-respect  and  fairness 
and  form  and  meet  in  a  common  council  in  a  league  of  world 
nations  to  enforce  peace,  where  there  will  be  compulsory  investiga- 
tion of  every  international  dispute,  and  public  opinion  behind  the 
findings  of  the  court  will  compel  the  opposing  nations  to  accept 
the  award  made  by  this  parliament  of  man.  Can  we  ask  for  any 
higher  ideal  or  seek  any  nobler  ambition  than  to  do  our  part  in 
hastening  the  arrival  of  such  a  day?  May  God  grant  that  such  a 
day  will  speedily  come. 


THE  ANTICLINAL  THEORY. 

Dr.  I.  C.  White,  West  Virginia. 

Mr.  White:  Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Oil  Section: 
It  is  seldom  that  a  prophet  lives  to  see  his  prophecy  fulfilled.  I 
am  an  exception  to  that  rule.  I  am  still  here  and  have  no  idea  of 
leaving  soon,  although  I  discovered  this  theory  back  in  1882,  thirty- 
four  years  ago — I  should  say  I  rediscovered  it.  After  I  had  pro- 
mulgated the  theory  and  published  it,  I  began  to  look  up  the  litera- 
ture on  the  subject  and  then  found  that  it  had  been  first  discovered 
and  promulgated  by  Dr.  T.  Sterry  Hunt,  a  Canadian  geologist,  back 
in  1859,  and  that  later,  in  1861,  probably  without  any  knowledge 
of  what  Hunt  had  done,  just  as  I  myself  was  ignorant  of  it,  Pro- 
fessor E.  B.  Andrews,  of  Marietta  College,  Ohio,  had  discovered 
the  same  thing  in  walking  over  a  region  in  West  Virginia  territory, 
which  we  call  the  Volcano  Uplift,  where  oil  was  first  discovered  in 
West  Virginia  and  utilized  many  years  before  it  was  utilized  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  before  Colonel  Drake  drilled  the  first  well  near 
Titusville,  Pennsylvania,  in  August,  1859,  expressly  for  oil.  Also, 
still  later,  Professor  Hofer,  the  celebrated  Austrian  geologist,  who 
visited  this  country  in  the  seventies  to  study  the  Pennsylvania  oil 
fields,  had  published  the  same  theory  in  his  notable  book,  "The 
Oil  Fields  of  the  World,"  printed  in  German,  which  I  didn't  have 
access  to  then.  So  that  three  men,  all  the  way  from  1859  to  1878, 
had  discovered  the  anticlinal  theory,  but  none  of  them  made  any 
effort  to  put  it  into  practical  operation.  When  I  discovered  anew 
the  anticlinal  theory,  I  began  at  once  to  make  practical  use  of  it 
in  the  location  of  oil  and  gas  wells.  One  of  the  first  locations  I 
made  on  this  theory  was  a  gas  well  near  Washington,  Pa.,  where 
coal  was  not  convenient  and  natural  gas  was  desired  for  domestic 
purposes  as  well  as  for  manufacturing.  Some  people  there  desired 
a  gas  well,  and  asked  me  to  make  a  location  for  them.  The  Penn- 
sylvania Geological  Survey  began  in  1875  and  lasted  until  1884, 
under  the  direction  of  Dr.  J.  P.  Lesley,  and  the  oil  and  gas  geology 
was  relegated  to  one  man,  the  late  Mr.  Jno.  F.  Carll,  who  was  born 
and  lived  in  the  Titusville  oil  region  of  the  state,  an  old  land  sur- 
veyor, and  who  apparently  could  not  grasp  the  anticlinal  theory  of 


THE  ANTICLINAL  THEORY  551 

oil  and  gas,  although  he  lived  in  the  midst  of  and  in  sight  of  the 
first  oil  well  drilled  by  Colonel  Drake. 

When  any  of  the  other  assistants  on  this  Survey  encountered 
any  oil  or  gas  territory  they  were  expected  to  turn  it  over  to  Mr. 
Carll  without  devoting  any  serious  study  to  the  subject.  We  were 
not  expected  to  study  oil  and  gas  questions  particularly  since  we 
would  be  trenching  on  the  department  of  a  man  who  was  devoting 
his  entire  time  to  it,  and  it  was  supposed  to  be  in  the  interest  of 
efficiency  to  leave  these  subjects  to  him,  so  that  the  rest  of  us 
devoted  our  attention  to  the  other  geological  features  connected 
with  coal,  limestone,  iron  ore,  and  other  minerals,  and  thus  it  hap- 
pened that  none  of  the  other  assistants  had  devoted  much  attention 
to  the  study  of  oil  and  gas  geology  up  to  the  time  I  undertook  this 
study  in  1882.  At  that  date  I  got  special  permission  from  the 
director  of  the  Pennsylvania  Survey  to  devote  a  month's  time  to 
the  study  of  oil  and  gas  geology.  I  was  then  connected  with  the 
West  Virginia  University,  and  was  doing  geologic  work  for  the 
Pennsylvania  Survey  during  my  summer  vacation,  in  order  to  eke 
out  the  magnificent  salary  of  eleven  hundred  dollars  a  year.  I  was 
to  undertake  this  study  for  the  Forest  Oil  Company.  The  gentle- 
man who  was  field  superintendent  of  that  company,  Mr.  Wm.  A. 
Earseman,  had  read  some  of  my  geological  reports  on  Western 
Pennsylvania,  and  in  looking  over  the  list  of  geologists  whom  he 
desired  to  interview,  to  see  if  they  could  do  anything  with  the 
problem  of  finding  oil  and  gas  from  surface  indications,  he  came 
across  my  name,  and  from  what  he  had  read  of  my  writings  he 
thought  I  would  be  the  proper  one  to  make  the  investigation.  So 
that  Mr.  Earseman  for  the  Forest  Oil  Company,  of  which  Captain 
J.  J.  Vandergrift  was  president,  with  the  concurrence  of  the  latter 
(whom  many  of  you  may  know  as  one  of  the  principal  men  in  the 
Standard  Oil  Company),  got  permission  to  have  me  take  up  the 
matter  to  see  if  geology  could  give  any  geologic  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion of  where  oil  and  gas  are  located.  He  had  gotten  tired  of  drill- 
ing water  wells  and  dry  holes  in  the  search  for  oil  and  gas,  and  he 
thought  it  was  possible  to  limit  greatly  the  area  to  be  searched  with 
the  drill. 

And  I  should  say  that  I  got  a  suggestion  from  him  in  the 
private  talk  that  he  had  with  me  when  he  came  to  engage  my  serv- 
ices for  that  study.  He  told  me  that  he  had  noticed  that  some  gas 
wells  were  located  near  the  points  on  the  maps  where  the  geologists 
of  the  Second  Geological  Survey  of  Pennsylvania  had  drawn  anti- 


552         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

clinal  axes.  He  said — he  wasn't  a  geologist,  he  didn't  know  any- 
thing about  the  rocks,  and  would  not  know  an  anticline  if  he  saw  it. 
That  is  what  he  wanted  me  to  do.  So  that  I  started  out  to  see 
about  it.  That  was  my  business,  to  be  able  to  locate  an  anticline 
as  well  as  a  syncline. 

The  first  thing  I  did  was  to  visit  the  regions  where  they  found 
oil  and  where  they  found  gas.  A  great  well  had  been  blowing 
into  the  air  for  many  years  near  the  town  of  Murraysville,  West- 
moreland County,  Pennsylvania,  known  as  the  Murraysville  gasser. 
I  went  to  see  that,  and  found  it  located  on  the  crest  of  what  was 
known  as  the  Murraysville  anticlinal.  The  gas  had  been  leaking  up 
there  for  ages,  coming  out  of  the  ground  on  this  anticline.  I  went 
to  St.  Joe,  in  Butler  County,  Pennsylvania,  where  large  gas  wells 
had  been  drilled.  I  went  to  Burning  Springs,  near  Charleston, 
West  Virginia,  and  to  Warfield,  Kentucky,  where  another  great  well 
had  been  blowing  into  the  air  for  years,  and  also  visited  many  other 
locations  of  large  gas  wells.  They  all  gave  the  same  answer.  I 
found  that  the  oil  and  gas  and  water  were  arranged  in  natural 
reservoirs,  as  they  would  be  arranged  had  you  put  them  all  into 
closed  vessels,  say  into  a  barrel  and  closed  the  aperture.  You 
would  then  find  the  gas  at  the  top,  the  oil  next,  and  water  at  the 
bottom,  or  in  the  order  of  specific  gravity.  It  seemed  perfectly 
simple,  after  making  all  those  studies  in  the  field,  where  the  wells 
had  already,  been  drilled.  The  anticlinal  theory  seemed  proven 
beyond  a  doubt,  but  I  desired  to  test  it  out  still  further  by  finding 
actual  gas  wells  on  this  theory.  One  of  the  early  locations  was 
made  on  the  Brown  farm,  twenty  miles  east  of  Pittsburgh,  beside 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  for  J.  M.  Guffey,  of  Pittsburgh,  and 
here  a  gas  well  was  drilled  on  the  crest  of  the  Murraysville  anti- 
clinal, that  produced  thirty-five  to  forty  million  cubic  feet  of  gas 
daily,  and  which  was  regarded  of  such  great  importance  by  Mr. 
Guffey  that  he  had  the  great  Pennsylvania  Limited  (probably  the 
only  time  in  its  history  that  it  was  stopped  between  Altoona  and 
Pittsburgh,  unless  by  accident)  flagged,  and  it  remained  at  Brown's 
Station  fifteen  minutes  while  this  well  was  lit  and  shown  to  Presi- 
dent Cleveland  during  the  first  trip  he  made  to  the  West  soon  after 
his  inauguration.  It  burned  to  a  height  of  135  feet  above  the 
derrick  floor. 

That  was  only  one  illustration  of  my  success  in  locating  gas 
territory  on  the  anticlinal  theory.  It  was  so  simple  that  I  couldn't 
get  many  of  the  oil  fraternity  to  believe  it.  Mr.  Guffey  did  believe 


THE  ANTICLINAL  THEORY  553 

in  it,  however,  and  he  authorized  me  to  have  several  hundred 
thousand  acres  of  land  leased  for  him  in  West  Virginia  on  this 
theory.  Mr.  A.  W.  Mellon,  of  Pittsburgh,  furnished  the  money  to 
pay  for  the  leasing.  Mr.  Guffey  was  not  a  capitalist  at  that  time. 
I  secured  the  600,000  acres  of  leases,  practically  all  the  oil  and 
gas  territory  that  has  since  been  developed  halfway  across  the 
state,  a  territory  which  has  since  that  time  produced  hundreds  of 
millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  value  in  oil  and  gas. 

Mr.  Guffey,  as  I  say,  couldn't  get  any  of  his  oil  fraternity 
people  to  go  in  with  him  and  put  up  the  money  to  test  this  great 
leasehold  for  oil  and  gas.  He  didn't  have  the  money  to  develop  it 
himself.  In  his  dilemma  he  turned  to  political  friends,  like  Wm. 
Flinn,  Robt.  Elliott,  Chris.  McGee,  and  several  of  that  type,  all 
"tenderfeet"  in  the  oil  business,  who  had  never  been  in  it  before. 
Men  of  that  character  seldom  succeed  in  any  new  business.  They 
got  "cold  feet"  too  soon,  just  as  they  did  in  this  case. 

These  politicians  would  not  drill  first  in  West  Virginia,  as  I 
wanted  them  to  do,  but  they  secured  some  gas  territory  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  formed  the  Wheeling  Natural  Gas  Company  to  take  gas 
to  Wheeling.  They  knew  there  was  money  in  the  gas  business,  but 
weren't  so  sure  about  oil,  so  I  could  not  get  them  to  go  down  into 
West  Virginia,  except  later,  after  the  company  had  gotten  into  the 
gas  business  in  Pennsylvania,  and  constructed  a  pipe  line  to  Wheel- 
ing from  the  gas  fields.  Mr.  Guffey  had  agreed  to  turn  over  400,- 
ooo  acres  to  this  Wheeling  Natural  Gas  Company  for  so  much  paid- 
up  stock.  They  didn't  pay  him  any  money,  and  the  other  200,000 
acres  he  didn't  think  that  he  should  turn  over  to  them,  and  hence 
he  kept  that  amount  of  acreage  of  leases  out  of  the  transfer,  and 
when  the  locations  were  made  he  had  instructed  his  field  men  to 
take  out  so  many  acres  to  make  up  something  near  200,000  at  various 
places  in  West  Virginia.  I  didn't  know  where  they  had  been  taken 
out,  but  as  it  happened  some  of  the  locations  were  near  where 
farms  had  been  reserved  from  the  transfer.  So  they  were  about 
to  get  into  a  row  among  themselves,  and  the  president  of  the  Wheel- 
ing Company  declaring  there  wasn't  a  drop  of  oil  in  the  state,  said 
to  Mr.  Guffey,  "We  will  give  you  back  the  entire  leasehold,"  and 
they  did,  and  although  there  was  only  ten  cents  rental  an  acre  on 
them,  he  got  frightened  because  it  meant  $40,000  a  year,  and  he 
didn't  have  the  $40,000  to  pay  the  rental.  So  he  rushed  around 
and  surrendered  them  at  a  cost  of  $6,000  to  get  them  off  the  books, 


554         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

and  just  as  he  got  his  record  cleared,  and  the  leases  returned  to 
the  farmers,  the  oil  developments  began  to  take  place. 

I  got  disgusted  in  dealing  with  oil  men  second  hand,  so  I  con- 
cluded I  would  do  some  development  myself.  So  I  formed  a  com- 
pany, and  we  started  in  the  leasing  business  and  took  up  some  of 
this  territory  that  they  had  surrendered.  We  didn't  go  very  far, 
because  we  didn't  have  very  much  money.  I  agreed  to  furnish  the 
geological  knowledge,  locate  the  territory  and  the  wells.  A  brother 
professor  in  the  university,  a  professor  of  engineering,  agreed  to 
make  the  levels,  run  the  necessary  lines  on  the  coal  beds,  and 
another  friend  who  was  clerk  of  the  county  court  said  he  would  do 
the  recording,  and  another  party  was  going  to  pay  for  taking  the 
leases,  the  actual  cost  of  leases,  so  that  we  divided  it  up  among 
ourselves.  And  then  when  we  got  the  land,  none  of  us  knew  any- 
thing about  drilling.  We  wanted  to  get  an  oil  man  to  drill  the 
well.  We  couldn't  get  one  of  them  to  do  it.  So  we  got  another 
"tenderfoot"  named  Jack  Montgomery,  of  Washington,  Pennsyl- 
vania, who  never  drilled  a  well  in  his  life,  but  who  believed  in  the 
anticlinal  theory  because  he  knew  I  had  located  a  gas  well  twenty 
miles  from  any  other  gas  field  on  the  path  of  an  anticline,  so  he 
thought  it  would  be  a  good  gamble.  He  had  some  money  and  he 
put  it  up  to  drill.  This  first  test  well  near  Mannington,  Marion 
County,  West  Virginia,  was  thirty-five  miles  in  advance  of  any 
other  oil  well,  thirty-five  miles  away  from  any  production.  It  is  a 
celebrated  well  and  I  have  given  its  history  in  the  publications  of 
the  Geological  Society  of  America.  It  was  located  ten  miles  west 
of  where  the  oil  fraternity,  on  the  "degree-line  theory"  that  Mr. 
McDowell  has  just  described,  would  have  located  a  test  well. 
Everybody  said,  "You  will  get  salt  water."  They  couldn't  see  the 
wrinkles  in  the  rocks  that  I  did.  I  should  say  that  I  think  they  all 
hoped  it  would  be  a  dry  well,  because  they  rather  resented  the  idea 
that  a  college  professor  or  geologist  should  break  into  their  pro- 
fession. They  wanted  some  "practical"  man.  They  didn't  believe 
that  a  man  who  had  taught  in  a  college  or  who  had  ever  been 
known  as  a  geologist  could  have  anything  "practical"  about  him.  In 
fact,  one  of  these  "practical"  oil  men  who  had  a  large  acreage  at 
the  time  projecting  down  into  West  Virginia  was  known  to  remark 
that  if  he  "wanted  to  be  absolutely  sure  of  getting  a  dry  hole  he 
would  employ  a  geologist  to  locate  it."  I  went  to  that  gentleman 
and  offered  my  services  to  him  to  put  him  right.  He  shook  his 
head.  He  stated  that  "others  might  follow  Prof.  White;  he  would 


THE  ANTICLINAL  THEORY  555 

follow  Prof.  Drill."  He  lost  the  fortune  he  had  already  won,  and 
the  potential  fortune  that  was  in  his  hands  at  the  time  had  he  acted 
on  the  anticlinal  theory  I  had  already  demonstrated  and  published. 

I  should  say  that  this  experiment  at  Mannington  was  watched 
by  the  oil  fraternity  with  great  interest,  and  they  had  their  scouts 
on  hand  when  the  well  was  completed  in  October,  1889,  and  proved 
to  be  a  productive  oil  well.  So  that  beginning  with  that  date  some 
of  them  began  to  take  notice.  But  it  has  been  a  long,  hard  fight. 
Some  of  my  brother  geologists  on  the  Pennsylvania  Survey,  who 
should  have  aided  me  in  the  work,  were  the  first  to  attack  the  anti- 
clinal theory  because  they  apparently  thought  my  discovery  was  a 
reflection  on  them  for  failure  to  discover  the  same  many  years 
before. 

I  should  say  that  one  man  in  this  country,  the  late  Dr.  Edward 
Orton,  was  of  great  service  in  the  battle.  I  had  to  convince  even 
most  of  my  geological  brethren,  to  say  nothing  of  the  oil  and  gas 
men,  who  were  naturally  inclined  against  me  because,  as  I  say, 
they  resented  the  fact  that  I  was  a  professor  of  geology  who  was 
not  supposed  to  know  much  of  practical  affairs  in  the  oil  business. 
They  had  been  in  the  business  too  long  to  learn  anything  of  value 
from  a  college  professor.  But  Dr.  Edward  Orton  rendered  very 
valuable  service  in  winning  the  fight  for  the  anticlinal  theory  by 
showing  its  application  to  Ohio  oil  and  gas  pools. 

On  this  theory  I  succeeded  myself  in  finding  some  oil  and  gas, 
but  as  soon  as  I  could  get  rid  of  it  at  a  fair  price  I  sold  my  produc- 
ing interests  and  got  out  of  the  business,  so  that  I  could  devote 
my  time  to  the  study  of  geology,  in  which  I  was  more  interested 
than  in  making  money.  And  I  will  say  that  I  am  probably  the  only 
state  or  government  official  in  the  world  that  is  serving  his  state 
as  "a  labor  of  love."  I  have  been  State  Geologist  of  West  Virginia 
since  1897,  and  my  salary  is  nil.  I  do  it  as  a  labor  of  love.  During 
the  period  of  my  oil  and  gas  demonstrations  of  the  anticlinal  theory 
I  accumulated  enough  money  so  that  I  don't  need  the  small  salary 
that  the  state  might  give. 

I  thought  you  would  probably  all  be  interested  in  hearing  some- 
thing of  the  way  in  which  this  anticlinal  theory  was  promulgated, 
and,  as  I  say,  I  am  not  the  first  author  of  the  theory,  but  I  knew 
nothing  of  these  prior  publications.  It  was  a  discovery  of  my  own, 
aided  by  Mr.  Earseman  and  Captain  Vandergrift,  who  gave  me  the 
opportunity,  so  that  Mr.  M.  R.  Campbell,  of  the  U.  S.  Geological 
Survey,  who  has  written  a  history  of  the  anticlinal  theory,  gives 


556         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

me  the  real  credit  for  promulgating  the  anticlinal  theory,  because 
I  made  it  practical  and  kept  working  on  it  until  it  has  finally  per- 
meated the  minds  of  the  oil  and  gas  men  who  make  the  production 
of  oil  and  gas  a  business.  I  thank  you  all  for  your  appreciative 
attention  to  this  story  so  largely  personal. 


THE    RESPONSIBILITIES    AND     DUTIES     OF    THE 

PUBLIC    IN    MINE    SAFETY    WORK. 
Dr.    F.    W.    McNair,    Houghton,    Michigan. 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen:  Since  my  name  is  not  on  the 
program  I  have  no  doubt  you  know  that  I  have  been  assigned  to 
represent  the  public  within  the  last  few  minutes.  In  spite  of  its 
unfairness  to  me  personally,  I  am  not  sure  but  that  this  assignment 
is  fair  to  the  public,  whatever  it  may  be  to  you.  I  have  not  been 
thinking  of  this  question  of  safety-first  and  the  responsibilities  of 
the  operator  and  the  responsibilities  of  the  miner.  I  have  thought 
of  it  for  only  a  few  moments  since  your  secretary  told  me  I  would 
be  called  upon,  and  perhaps  in  that  unpreparedness  to  face  the 
situation  I  very  well  represent  the  public.  If  you  think  back  upon 
the  public  attitude  in  regard  to  these  questions  you  will  see  that  as 
a  rule  the  public  does  not  think  about  them,  and  the  public  does 
not  care  about  them  until  some  frightful  accident  in  a  coal  mine,  or 
something  of  that  sort,  is  headlined  in  all  of  the  newspapers,  sud- 
denly arousing  the  public  until  it  is  ready  to  do  something  and  do 
something  very  radical.  What  it  then  wants  is  to  wipe  out  all  the 
corporations  over  night.  It  wants  to  penalize  all  of  the  mine  man- 
agers or  it  wants  to  penalize  all  of  the  mine  workers.  The  public 
is  very  apt  to  say  and  to  do  without  very  much  preparation  in  the 
way  of  thought. 

Now,  I  think  that  the  public  is  responsible  in  relation  to  this 
question,  just  as  it  is  in  relation  to  any  other  question  that  is 
before  the  people  of  the  United  States,  just  as  it  is  in  relation  to 
any  other  question  upon  which  the  public,  either  state  or  national, 
must  legislate.  We  say  that  the  public  ought  to  do  this  and  ought 
to  do  that.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  isn't  it  true  that  it  is  very  difficult 
to  arouse  public  interest,  and  to  keep  public  interest  aroused  in 
any  question  until  it  is  logically  and  safely  settled?  Whatever  I 
may  think  the  public  ought  to  do,  are  we  not  faced  with  the  fact 
that  the  public  will  act  only  as  it  has  acted  before.  The  public, 
after  long  education,  established  the  Bureau  of  Mines.  The  public 
is  pretty  apt  just  now,  when  questions  like  this  are  brought  up  for 
decision,  to  ask  what  is  recommended  by  such  an  organization  as 


558         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

the  Bureau  of  Mines  or  the  American  Mining  Congress,  and  to 
follow  such  recommendations.  Whatever  the  ideal  condition  ought 
to  be,  that  is  about  as  far  as  you  can  get  public  responsibility. 

I  do  not  live  in  a  coal  mining  country.  I  live  in  a  metal  min- 
ing district,  and  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  mines  where  consid- 
erable is  being  done  to  educate  the  men  in  first-aid  and  safety  work. 
The  public,  even  the  public  of  the  mining  district,  knows  nothing 
whatever  about  what  is  being  done.  It  is  not  news.  The  news- 
papers do  not  feature  it.  And  I  submit  that  about  all  we  can 
expect  from  the  public  is  to  read  the  pronouncements  of  the  Bureau 
of  Mines,  and  the  resolutions  adopted  by  the  American  Mining 
Congress,  and  when  next  it  is  called  upon  to  dictate  legislation, 
that  it  will  be  influenced  in  its  demands  by  such  resolutions  and 
such  pronouncements. 

•  The  public  does  get  interested  occasionally  in  some  things.  Just 
now,  for  instance,  it  is  interested  pretty  largely  in  the  matter  of 
workmen's  compensation;  and  I  suggest  to  you  that  perhaps  the 
most  effective  way  in  which  the  public  can  influence  the  mine  oper- 
ator and  the  miner  is  through  the  movement  for  workmen's  com- 
pensation. In  Michigan  we  have  a  workmen's  compensation  law 
which  I  am  happy  to  say  was  brought  about  by  actual  co-operation 
of  the  mine  operators  and  the  miners,  as  well  as  other  manufac- 
turing interests  and  laboring  interests  in  the  state.  I  am  persuaded 
that  this  workmen's  compensation  law  has  had  a  great  deal  to  do 
in  influencing  both  the  mine  operators  and  the  miners  in  this  matter 
of  safety-first. 

The  public  conscience  ought  to  be  aroused  all  the  time,  but 
there  are  so  many  questions  upon  which  it  ought  to  be  aroused, 
and  there  are  so  many  people  trying  to  arouse  it,  that  I  sometimes 
think  the  total  result  is  to  put  the  public  conscience  to  sleep.  Its 
conscience  once  aroused  on  this  subject,  the  public  would  no  doubt 
take  the  right  action,  and  I  am  glad  to  see  that  that  is  recognized 
not  only  by  the  representative  of  the  United  Mine  Workers  who 
has  just  spoken  to  you,  but  by  other  speakers.  When  aroused  I 
am  satisfied  the  public  will  do  right,  but  I  do  not  feel  like  holding 
the  public  responsible  for  any  very  direct  result  in  regard  to  this 
matter  until  the  facts  can  be  put  before  it  much  more  efficiently 
than  they  have  been  as  yet,  and  to  get  those  facts  before  it  is  the 
duty  of  such  organizations  as  the  American  Mining  Congress  and 
the  Bureau  of  Mines. 

I  thank  you.     (Applause.) 


THE     RESPONSIBILITIES     AND     DUTIES     OF     THE 
MINER     IN     MINE     SAFETY     WORK. 

Thomas  L.  Lewis,  West    Virginia. 

Mr.  President  and  Members  of  the  American  Mining  Congress : 
I  hardly  know  how  to  express  myself  on  this  occasion  for  the  rea- 
son that  the  late  David  Ross  was  assigned  the  subject  of  the  respon- 
sibilities of  the  miner  in  mine  safety  work.  I  always  spoke  of  Mr. 
Ross  as  Dave,  having  known  him  intimately  for  thirty-five  years, 
and  realize  the  splendid  work  that  he  did  for  the  mining  industry 
in  this  country.  Broadminded  in  every  sense,  capable  of  discussing 
the  mining  questions  from  an  impartial  standpoint,  David  Ross 
was  at  all  times  able  to  defend  any  position  he  took.  In  the  death 
of  David  Ross  the  mining  industry  of  the  country  has  sustained 
a  great  loss,  and  this  is  especially  true  of  the  mine  workers  of  the 
United  States. 

The  subject  which  I  know  that  he  could  have  handled  in  a 
masterly  manner,  if  it  had  been  his  privilege  to  be  here  with  you, 
I  have  been  assigned  and  shall  in  the  few  moments  allowed  me 
undertake  to  explain  to  you,  from  my  viewpoint,  the  duties  of  a 
miner  and  his  responsibility  in  mine  safety  work. 

Those  of  us  who  are  familiar  with  the  mines  and  the  sur- 
roundings of  the  mine  workers  understand  there  is  constant  danger 
surrounding  his  occupation.  I  undertake  to  classify  the  dangers 
into  two  classes,  i.  e.,  the  unknown  danger,  and  the  known  danger. 

The  unknown  danger  exists  in  those  mines  that  generate  any 
quantity  of  fire  damp  and  where  each  individual  mine  worker  is 
responsible  for  the  safety  of  every  other  person  working  in  the 
mine.  The  unknown  danger  includes  conditions  of  roof  where  it 
may  appear  to  be  perfectly  safe,  and  yet  something  in  the  earth 
itself  has  its  effect,  and  a  fall  may  take  place,  instantly  injuring  a 
mine  worker  or  causing  death.  There  is  an  unknown  danger  like- 
wise in  driving  mules  or  running  the  motors  and  trips  in  the  mine, 
for  the  reason  that  the  man  who  drives  the  motor,  runs  on  a  track 
that  he  presumes  has  been  made  perfectly  safe.  Yet  it  is  possible, 
under  the  most  careful  management,  and  under  the  direction  of 
the  most  efficient  track  layers  and  under  the  best  system  of  timber- 


560         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

ing  mines,  something  may  have  occurred  in  the  absence  of  the 
motorman,  in  traveling  the  passageways  of  the  mine,  unknown  to 
him  when  going  along  the  entires  at  a  very  high  rate  of  speed.  The 
roof  may  have  fallen,  a  defect  in  the  rail,  or  a  break  in  a  piece  of 
timber,  causing  something  to  be  on  the  track  that  would  throw 
the  trip  off,  which  would  injure  or  kill  the  motorman  or  the  trip 
rider. 

There  are  dangers  in  mines  known  to  everybody  who  under- 
stands anything  about  the  work.  For  instance,  the  different  kinds 
of  coal  in  which  men  work,  undermining  it,  under  the  old  system 
of  pick  mining,  there  were  certain  kinds  of  coal  that  we  could 
undermine  a  certain  distance  with  safety,  but  if  it  were  mined  any 
greater  distance,  it  became  very  unsafe.  We  might  work  under 
certain  kinds  of  slate,  hanging  over  our  heads  in  the  mine,  with 
perfect  safety,  understanding  and  realizing  the  character  of  it.  On 
the  other  hand,  we  know  that  any  considerable  quantity  of  slate 
hanging  over  a  man's  head  where  he  is  loading  coal  or  working  in 
the  face,  is  more  or  less  dangerous.  Many  of  us,  in  order  to 
avoid  the  extra  work  of  cleaning  the  coal,  would  take  the  chance 
of  loading  the  last  shovelful  of  coal  from  under  that  slate  rather 
than  pull  it  down  and  make  it  safe  while  laboring  at  the  face  of 
the  work.  The  danger  is  known  to  us  and  it  is  the  risk  that  we 
are  willing  to  take  in  order  to  avoid  the  necessity  of  doing  a  little 
extra  labor  in  cleaning  the  coal,  which  causes  many  accidents. 

The  point  that  we  want  to  bring  out  and  emphasize  is  this,  that 
the  operator  can  furnish  the  best  and  most  improved  safety  appli- 
ances that  the  human  mind  can  invent,  put  them  in  the  mine  to 
safeguard  the  lives  of  men  who  are  employed  there;  the  different 
branches  of  our  government  can  enact  laws  to  penalize  operating 
men  for  failure  to  furnish  the  very  best  safety  appliances  and 
everything  can  be  done  to  make  a  mine  as  perfectly  safe  as  human 
inventive  genius  and  knowledge  can  make  it,  and  yet,  in  the  last 
analysis,  the  responsibility  for  the  safety  of  the  man  who  works  in 
the  mine  rests  upon  himself.  It  is  not  even  a  collective  responsi- 
bility. There  may  be  ninety-nine  men  out  of  one  hundred  em- 
ployed in  the  mine  who  will  resort  to  the  best  methods  and  precau- 
tion and  do  everything  in  their  power  for  their  own  protection,  and 
yet  the  negligence  or  carelessness  of  one  man  in  that  mine  may 
cause  an  explosion,  and  this  is  especially  true  in  mines  generating 
fire  damp  where  it  will  sweep  the  one  hundred  men  into  eternity. 


RESPONSIBILITIES  OF  MINER  IN  MINE  WORK         561 

There  is  no  one  who  can  prevent  that  calamity  except  the  one 
hundred  men  who  work  in  that  mine. 

The  question  is,  how  are  we  going  to  make  it  possible  to  pre- 
vent the  numerous  accidents  that  take  place  in  the  coal  mining 
industry  of  the  United  States?  There  are  a  great  many  ideas 
advanced  in  regard  to  the  best  methods.  So  far  as  the  safety  first 
movement  in  itself  is  concerned,  a  wonderful  work  has  been  accom- 
plished. Operating  men  realize  the  necessity  of  furnishing  the 
greatest  possible  protection  for  the  lives  of  the  men  in  the  mine. 
Mine  workers  generally,  and  I  will  say  a  great  majority  of  them, 
are  co-operating  for  the  purpose  of  reducing  the  large  number  of 
accidents  and  the  large  number  of  fatalities  in  the  coal  mining 
industry;  but  there  is  a  minority  that  in  some  manner  must  be 
regulated. 

I  am  a  firm  believer  in  the  principle  of  appealing  to  a  man's 
intelligence  rather  than  his  prejudices  in  order  to  secure  the  very 
best  results;  but  I  have  long  ago  been  convinced  there  is  a  cer- 
tain number  of  men  in  the  mining  industry  who  will  not  be  con- 
vinced by  the  power  of  reason  and  intelligence.  There  must  be 
some  plan  adopted  whereby  we  can  compel  a  certain  minority  of 
mine  workers  to  protect  themselves,  whether  or  not  they  have  any 
desire  to  do  so.  I  do  not  mean  by  that  that  there  is  any  man  who 
wants  to  deliberately  become  injured  or  injure  himself.  I  don't 
believe  any  man,  if  you  would  ask  him  the  question,  if  he  would 
like  to  go  into  a  place  when  he  knows  that  he  is  standing  more  than 
an  even  change  of  being  killed  or  injured,  that  he  would  deliberately 
go  into  that  place.  Yet  I  know  positively  there  are  men  who  be- 
come indifferent  to  the  dangers  that  surround  them,  and,  if  you  will 
permit  the  word,  become  reckless  of  the  results  of  their  own  work. 

I  make  the  statement  without  fear  of  successful  contradiction 
that  fifty  per  cent  of  the  fatalities  in  the  mining  industry  of  the 
United  States  are  not  only  avoidable  but  preventable,  preventable 
by  the  acts  of  the  men  themselves  who  are  killed  in  the  mines.  I 
make  the  same  statement  with  reference  to  the  number  of  acci- 
dents that  occur  in  the  coal  mining  industry  of  the  United  States. 
If  this  be  true,  how  are  we  going  to  adopt  any  plan  or  any  method 
to  stop  this  wholesale  slaughter  of  human  lives  in  the  coal  mining 
industry?  Some  people  say  the  operators  are  to  blame.  There 
was  a  time  in  the  history  of  this  country  when  I  believed  the  oper- 
ators contributed  to  that  condition.  Others  claim  that  it  is  inef- 
ficient inspection  of  mines.  I  believe  there  was  a  time  in  this 


562         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

country  when  that  was  largely  true.  But  we  have  reached  the 
point  where  we  must  make  the  man  take  care  of  himself  when  he 
is  unwilling  to  do  so. 

The  question  is  how  are  we  going  to  do  it  ?  For  instance,  if  we 
have  a  man  running  around  the  streets  of  Chicago  endangering 
the  lives  of  people  of  this  community  we  have  a  way  to  stop  him. 
There  is  a  man  in  uniform  who  is  notified,  if  nobody  else  wants 
to  assume  the  responsibility,  who  takes  hold  of  that  man  and 
takes  him  away  and  puts  him  where  he  can  do  no  injury  to  anybody. 
And  while  it  may  be  a  radical  position  to  take,  so  far  as  I  am 
concerned,  and  it  is  no  new  idea  of  mine,  I  believe  in  applying 
exactly  the  same  remedy  to  those  men  in  the  mines  who  are  unwill- 
ing to  take  care  of  themselves  and  help  protect  their  fellowman. 
It  can  be  done  by  an  efficient  patrol  system  in  the  mine.  Where 
you  find  a  man  working  under  a  piece  of  slate  that  is  dangerous 
and  he  knows  it  is  dangerous,  but  rather  than  pull  that  slate  down 
for  his  own  safety,  he  keeps  on  loading  the  coal  from  under  the 
slate  in  order  that  he  will  not  have  to  do  a  little  extra  work,  and 
you  have  another  man  who  is  inspecting  the  mine  and  he  discovers 
a  mine  worker  doing  that  kind  of  work,  there  is  not  any  question 
about  what  ought  to  be  done.  The  miner  ought  to  be  taken  out. 
The  inspector  ought  to  have  the  authority  of  the  law  to  do  it. 
"Here,  you  have  violated  the  law  that  states  specifically  that  you 
must  not  work  in  a  place  of  known  danger."  Take  him  out  and 
give  him  from  two  to  five  days  in  jail  and  he  will  not  repeat  the 
violation  of  the  law.  If  he  knows  he  is  going  to  jail,  if  he  con- 
tinues that  kind  of  business,  he  will  refrain  from  the  practice. 
Some  people  say,  "Oh,  no ;  that  is  too  harsh.  The  thing  to  do  is  to 
fine  a  man  who  is  guilty  of  continuing  to  work  in  a  place  that  he 
knows  to  be  dangerous.''  I  do  not  take  any  stock  myself  in  penal- 
izing by  fines,  because  my  experience  has  been  that  coal  men  or 
any  men  would  rather  pay  a  thousand  dollars  fine,  if  he  could  do  it, 
than  spend  one  day  in  jail.  It  is  the  fear  of  the  punishment  for  the 
violation  of  the  law  that  makes  good  citizens  out  of  thousands  of 
people  who  otherwise  would  be  law  violators.  I  think  the  time  is 
coming  when  the  mine  workers  of  this  country  themselves,  whether 
they  are  organized  or  unorganized,  will  recognize  the  feasibility  of 
just  such  a  plan  to  prevent  accidents. 

iAn.d,  after  all,  who  is  it  that  the  law  will  reach  if  we  have 
such  legislation?  Not  the  man  that  is  going  to  protect  himself, 
not  the  man  who  wants  to  avoid  danger,  not  the  man  who  believes 


RESPONSIBILITIES  OF  MINER  IN  MINE  WORK         563 

in  the  safety  and  protection  of  the  lives  and  the  limbs  of  every 
other  man  working  in  and  around  the  mine,  but  the  individual  who 
has  no  regard  for  his  own  life  but  has  a  great  deal  less  regard  for 
the  lives  and  the  limbs  and  the  health  of  his  fellow  worker. 

I  may  not  be  in  accord  with  the  ideas  of  other  men  on  this 
question,  but  when  we  study  the  statistics,  when  we  learn  of  the 
number  of  men  who  are  killed  from  riding  motors,  who  get  into 
trips  where  they  haven't  any  business,  where  they  work  under  a 
roof  ready  to  drop  on  them,  when  we  know  there  are  men  who  are 
recklessly  drilling  holes  and  firing  shots,  when  they  don't  know 
what  the  results  are  going  to  be,  if  they  happen  to  be  windy  shots 
or  blown-out  shots,  from  which  all  our  dust  explosions  take  place, 
when  we  realize  we  have  a  certain  class  of  men  who  will  take  those 
risks  and  do  those  things,  then,  gentlemen,  it  seems  to  me  that  the 
American  Mining  Congress  can  do  no  better  work  along  that  line 
than  to  begin  an  agitation,  if  you  want  to  take  no  action,  begin 
the  agitation  of  a  new  movement,  a  new  method  for  preventing 
accidents  in  the  coal  mining  industry  of  the  United  States.  You 
have  carried  on  the  work  of  the  safety  first  movement  until  we  have 
reached  practically  the  climax  in  it.  The  operators  everywhere  are 
taking  the  initiative  without  any  reference  to  law  enforcement  and 
they  are  introducing  and  using  the  most  modern  safety  appliances 
that  money  can  purchase.  But  if  you  stop  to  think  that  after  you 
have  furnished  the  very  best  and  most  modern  safety  appliance, 
after  you  have  the  most  efficient  inspection  department,  after  you 
have  provided  your  fire  bosses  and  safety  patrolmen,  if  they  haven't 
got  the  power  to  enforce  their  orders,  then  the  entire  safety  move- 
ment becomes  a  farce  so  far  as  reducing  the  fatalities  and  the  in- 
juries in  the  coal  mining  industry  in  the  United  States  is  con- 
cerned. 

I  do  not  know  whether  it  is  a  new  thought  to  you  or  not,  but 
I  am  firmly  convinced  in  my  own  mind  now,  I  was  convinced  of  it 
when  I  had  other  responsibilities  resting  on  my  shoulders  and  I 
shall  continue  to  take  what  I  consider  a  positive,  if  it  is  not  a 
radical,  stand  in  compelling  a  certain  minority  of  men  in  the  mines 
to  protect  themselves,  whether  they  want  to  do  so  or  not. 

I  thank  you.     (Applause.) 


THE    VALUE    OF    STATE    MINING    ORGANIZATIONS. 
Prof.  C.  F.  Willis,  Tucson,  Arizona. 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen :  I  am  here  somewhat 
as  an  afterthought.  When  I  came  to  this  convention  I  came  to 
listen  and  learn,  but  after  I  arrived  here  Mr.  Gallbreath  told  me 
that  I  must  inflict  a  few  remarks  upon  you,  and  I  chose  as  my 
subject  the  Value  of  State  Mining  Organizations.  So  I  will  say 
to  you  a  few  words  on  organization  and  co-operation. 

Gentlemen,  we  sit  back  in  our  swivel  chairs  and  bewail  the 
fact  that  the  mining  industry  cannot  get  the  recognition  that  it 
should,  that  the  mining  industry  cannot  get  the  federal  and  the  state 
aid  that  it  should;  that  the  mining  industry  cannot  get  the  laws 
that  it  wants  and  should  have ;  that  the  mining  industry  gets  all  the 
worst  of  it  in  the  passing  of  state  laws.  I  want  to  say  to  you  that 
the  mining  industry  is  a  most  misunderstood  industry,  and  while  I 
regret  to  say  it,  it  is  regarded  by  the  layman  with  suspicion. 

Now,  we  all  know  that  the  farmer  gets  all  the  laws  he  wants, 
and  we  know  that  he  gets  good  ones.  As  we  all  know,  the  farmer 
gets  30  cents  per  capita  from  the  public  fund,  and  he  produces 
only  $900  per  capita,  while  the  miner  gets  only  2  cents  per  capita, 
and  produces  $1,800.  Just  think  of  that  comparison.  Now,  the 
farmer  gets  all  the  assistance  he  needs  and  most  of  the  assistance 
he  wants.  The  farmer  is  not  hampered  or  hindered  by  any  law,  but, 
rather,  he  is  assisted  by  the  laws.  Farming,  mind  you,  is  regarded 
as  a  clean,  open,  aboveboard  industry,  while  mining,  although  we 
know  it  to  be  just  as  clean,  is  not  so  regarded  by  the  public. 

You  are  aware  of  the  fact  that  the  mining  industry  as  a  whole 
is  not  treated  on  the  square.  We  are  not  fairly  treated.  We  know 
we  are  getting  the  worst  of  it,  but  I  ask  you,  why?  Let  us  just 
look  the  facts  straight  in  the  face  and  talk  plainly  to  ourselves, 
and  let  us  disabuse  ourselves  as  to  the  facts.  Why  does  not 
mining  get  what  is  coming  to  it?  Why  does  not  the  mining  indus- 
try demand  what  is  coming  to  it?  And  why  cannot  we  make  our 
demands  stick?  Gentlemen,  the  conditions  are  of  our  own  making; 
we  are  responsible  for  them,  and  when  we  face  them  squarely 
and  honestly,  we  must  admit  that  we  ourselves  are  at  fault.  Why 


VALUE  OF  STATE  MINING  ORGANIZATIONS  565 

are  we  at  fault?  We  lack  adequate  organization  and  co-operation. 
Why  does  the  farmer  get  his  laws  passed?  Simply  because  he  is 
organized.  Why  does  the  farmer  get  his  large  appropriations  from 
the  state  and  federal  government?  It  is  not  because  there  are  so 
many  farmers,  but  just  simply  because  they  are  organized.  Organ- 
ization is  the  reason.  Why  did  the  farmer  get  his  rural  credit  bill 
in  such  a  short  time,  while  the  revision  of  the  mining  laws  ended 
in  a  mixup  and  a  dispute  ?  Simply  because  the  farmers  are  so  well 
organized.  They  were  organized  and  they  agreed  on  just  exactly 
what  they  wanted,  while  the  miners  have  a  thousand  diverse  opin- 
ions as  to  what  they  want,  so  they  cannot  really  agree  on  what  they 
do  want. 

Gentlemen,  you  organize  your  business  into  its  component 
departments,  and  you  organize  your  individual  departments  still 
further.  You  continue  your  organization  right  down  to  the  indi- 
vidual, and  as  a  result  you  get  efficiency.  Why  does  not  the  nation 
need  such  organization?  The  nation  does  need  organization,  and 
mining  is  but  one  department  of  the  nation's  industry.  We  have 
the  general  organization,  the  American  Mining  Congress,  and  we 
have  the  privates,  the  mining  operators,  but  where  are  the  colonels, 
the  majors,  the  captains,  the  lieutenants,  the  sergeants  and  the 
corporals?  Gentlemen,  we  have  not  completed  our  organization. 
We  have  the  top  and  the  bottom,  but  we  have  not  the  intermediate 
steps  organized. 

Gentlemen,  let  us  learn  our  lesson  from  the  farmers,  and  I 
am  sure  we  all  envy  them  their  conditions.  When  once  their  organ- 
ization was  started  and  well  on  its  way,  the  national  government  took 
it  up  because  the  national  government  had  to, — because  the  farmers 
demanded  it,  and  now  in  every  state  leaders  are  appointed,  state 
leaders,  who  are  paid  out  of  the  federal  funds,  to  further  organize 
and  maintain  the  organization  of  the  farmers.  Yes,  more  than 
that,  leaders  are  appointed  in  each  state  to  organize  the  boys  and 
girls  into  clubs  and  bring  them  up,  imbued  with  the  ideas  and  ideals 
of  organization.  As  the  situation  stands  today,  almost  every 
farmer  within  communication  of  a  social  or  population  center  is  a 
member  of  a  farm  improvement  association ;  that  farm  improve- 
ment association  is  a  member  of  the  county  association;  the  county 
association  is  a  member  of  the  state  association;  the  state  associa- 
tion is  a  member  of  the  district  organization,  and  the  district  organ- 
ization is  a  member  of  the  national  association.  There  is  your 


566         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

organization  of  the  farmers,  gentlemen,  step  by  step  from  the  indi- 
vidual up  to  the  national  association. 

When  any  questions  of  state  affairs  or  candidates  for  state 
office  are  taken  up,  they  are  taken  up  to  the  state  organization,  or 
the  state  association  which  is  composed  of  delegates  from  the  county 
associations  which,  in  turn,  is  composed  of  individual  associations, 
and  the  individual  associations  are  composed  of  all  the  farmers. 
Now,  when  these  farmers  want  something  they  get  it.  They  get  it 
not  by  reason,  so  much,  of  their  numerical  strength,  as  from  the 
fact  that  they  know  what  they  want,  or  they  decide  what  they  want, 
and  then  they  ask  for  it.  They  enjoy  such  privileges  as  franking 
through  the  mails,  and,  in  fact,  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  is  now  paying  the  expenses  of  maintaining  and  further  organ- 
izing and  making  more  useful  the  organizations  which  they  them- 
selves inaugurated,  and  which  gave  them  what  they  wanted. 

Now,  those  are  not  the  only  advantages.  There  are  many 
others.  One  of  the  greatest  is  in  their  own  inter-communication. 
They  get  together.  They  hear  each  other's  problems.  They  dis- 
cuss the  economies  of  their  business.  They  learn  the  other  fel- 
low's problems.  They  learn  how  he  worked  out  his  problems  and 
they  learn  from  the  other  fellow's  experience. 

Gentlemen,  just  think  how  many  thousands  of  dollars  would 
have  been  saved  to  you  had  you  known  that  there  were  at  least  100 
other  people  grappling  with  the  same  particular  problems  that  had 
been  bothering  you.  You  spent  many  hundreds,  or  possibly  thou- 
sands of  dollars  in  the  investigation  of  your  particular  problem. 
Yet  you  did  not  know  that  that  expense  and  investigation  had  been 
duplicated  a  hundred  times.  Had  you  gotten  together  with  the 
other  fellow  and  exchanged  experiences  and  views,  you  would  have 
found,  perhaps,  the  other  fellow  was  further  along  with  his  investi- 
gation, and  you  would  have  been  content  to  wait  until  you  learned 
the  result,  and  thus  have  saved  for  yourself  and  ninety-nine  other 
individuals  the  expense  of  duplication. 

Just  take  this  thought  home  to  your  own  business.  You  cer- 
tainly would  consider  the  unit  system  of  organization  absurd  in 
your  own  affairs,  your  own  business  affairs,  and  yet  you  permit  it 
in  the  great  national  industry  of  mining. 

I  recently  heard  Ralph  Parsett,  the  well-known  lecturer, 
humorist  and  philosopher,  and  I  remember  one  illustration  he  made. 
He  said,  "As  the  circus  posters  would  say,  I  have  prepared  at  great 
expense  and  trouble  my  apparatus,  with  which  I  wish  to  illustrate 


VALUE  OF  STATE  MINING  ORGANIZATIONS  567 

my  point.  I  have  here  a  Mason  jar  with  a  Jnt  of  beans  represent- 
ing individuals.  Here  are  several  bunches  of  about  ten  beans  in 
each  bunch  glued  together.  They  are  still  individuals,  but  they 
are  banded  together.  They  are  fastened  together  by  means  of  glue." 
Then  he  illustrated  his  point.  He  took  the  beans  which  were  glued 
together  and  many  loose  beans,  and  putting  them  into  the  jar,  said, 
"In  they  go,  into  the  mill  wheel  of  the  nation's  progress,  which 
continually  stirs  them  up  and  shakes  them  back  and  forth  and  up 
and  down.  But  look,"  he  said,  "the  ones  which  are  banded  to- 
gether are  on  the  top.  They  demand  attention.  They  get  atten- 
tion. Let  us  push  them  down  again  and  shake  them  into  the  hustle 
and  the  bustle  of  the  hurly  burly  of  the  business  of  the  country 
again.  They  will  not  stay  down.  They  bob  up  again  and  demand 
and  receive  attention,  while  the  individual  beans  fall  to  the  bottom. 
They  demand  your  attention  before  you  can  ever  give  your  atten- 
tion to  the  affairs  of  the  individual.  Here  is  a  lonesome  little  fel- 
low down  at  the  bottom  crying  out,  'Help  me,  help  me ;  please  give 
me  a  boost/  Now,  we  will  be  kind  to  him,  and  I  will  put  him  on  the 
top,  where  he  will  receive  attention."  Then  he  shook  the  jar  of 
beans  and,  of  course,  the  individual  bean  sank  to  the  bottom.  The 
world  does  not  stand  still,  but  continues  to  shake  us  and  stir  us 
around,  and,  as  illustrated  by  Mr.  Parlett,  down  goes  the  individual 
to  the  bottom,  while  the  individual  beans  banded  together  by  and 
for  a  common  interest  come  to  the  top,  and  demand  and  receive 
attention. 

Now,  think  it  over.  You  can  try  that  experiment  yourself. 
Just  take  the  beans  that  are  banded  together  and  put  them  down  at 
the  bottom  of  the  jar,  with  the  individual  beans  on  top,  and  shake 
them,  and  up  to  the  top  again  will  come  the  banded  ones,  just  as 
when  the  affairs  of  our  great  nation  roll  on,  up  to  the  top  comes 
the  influence  of  organization  which  pushes  the  individual  out  of 
sight.  Try  this  yourself  and  then  think  about  it,  and  then  try  it 
again  and  you  will  convince  yourself  that  it  is  not  an  accident,  but 
one  of  the  surest  of  all  of  nature's  laws. 

Gentlemen,  you  spend  hours  and  days  and  weeks,  and  quite 
often  years,  and  many  thousands  of  dollars  in  trying  to  improve 
the  conditions  of  your  business.  You  spend  hundreds  and  thou- 
sands, and  often  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  trying  to  im- 
prove and  better  the  conditions  of  your  business.  But  let  me  ask 
you,  and  you  ask  yourself,  how  much  time  and  how  much  money 
and  how  much  organized  thought  and  effort  and  labor  do  you  spend 


568         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

in  endeavoring  to  improve  the  conditions  under  which  your  busi- 
ness is  run?  You  will  doubtless  say,  "I  give  it  a  great  deal  of 
thought  and  attention,"  but  let  me  ask  you  again,  if  you  keep  those 
thoughts  to  yourself  what  good  is  all  this  effort  going  to  do?  On 
the  other  hand,  however,  you  meet  over  the  dinner  table  with  a 
small  body  of  local  men  interested  in  the  same  line  of  business  and 
your  thought  and  experience  become  known.  Your  delegate 
passes  it  along  to  the  council  meeting,  and  so  on  it  goes  until  it  is  a 
component  part  and  parcel  of  the  detailed  information  at  hand  on 
file  in  the  national  office. 

I  can  imagine  many  of  you  are  saying  to  yourselves,  "That 
fellow  is  a  dreamer;  organization  will  not  accomplish  all  that  it 
thinks  it  will.  Organization  is  not  the  panacea  of  all  evil."  Quite 
true.  I  agree  with  you:  it  is  not,  but  let  me  just  tell  you  a  little 
story  of  my  own  observation,  if  you  will  pardon  my  going  into 
personalities,  as  it  were. 

As  you  doubtless  know,  it  was  but  a  few  years  ago  when  the 
State  of  Arizona  had  an  unenviable  reputation — I  may  say  a  bad 
reputation,  or  at  least  a  reputation  for  freak  laws,  a  reputation  for 
labor  dominance,  a  reputation  for  unfair  treatment  of  capital  and 
so  on.  I  know  that  much  of  this  was  not  true,  but  the  trouble 
lay  in  the  fear  of  what  might  be  done,  more  than  of  what  had 
already  been  done.  There  was  unrest  and  uncertainty  in  the  air. 
Then,  two  years  ago,  when  the  American  Congress  met  in  Phoenix, 
Arizona,  a  state  chapter  was  suggested,  arid  this  was  extended  to 
the  county  sections,  with  the  stimulation  and  enthusiasm  created  at 
the  meeting  in  Phoenix.  The  feeling  of  working  together  spread, 
the  influence  spread,  and  it  was  quite  natural  that  the  next  sugges- 
tion was,  "Why  not  pool  our  technical  problems,  as  well  as  our 
civic  and  economic  problems?"  The  result  of  that  feeling  and 
enthusiasm  was  the  formation  of  the  Arizona  Section  of  the  A.  I. 
M.  E.  Although  the  promotion  of  safety  work  was  a  part  of  the 
mining  congress  program,  it  did  not  fit  in  smoothly  with  the  work 
of  the  local  chapters,  and  the  direct  result  of  that  knowledge  was 
more  organization,  an  organization  called  the  Southwestern  Mine 
Safety  Association.  The  local  chapter  included  not  only  the  min- 
ing men,  but  those  men  whose  business  depended  upon  mines, 
machinery  men  who  sold  the  mining  machinery,  the  merchants  who 
sold  provisions  to  the  people  engaged  in  mining,  the  bankers  who 
handled  their  money,  the  farmer  who  disposed  of  his  product  in  a 
mining  camp,  the  consumer  of  total  production ;  in  fact,  everybody 


VALUE  OF  STATE  MINING  ORGANIZATIONS  569 

interested  in  mining,  and  let  me  ask  you  right  here,  what  business 
is  there  that  is  not  interested  either  directly  or  indirectly,  or  a 
larger  or  less  extent,  in  the  mining  industry?  It  is  true  that  it 
took  quite  some  time  to  show  them  and  convince  them  as  to  their 
relation  to  the  mining  industry,  and  much  time,  effort  and  expense 
was  expended  in  organization  work,  but  let  me  just  cite  to  you  a 
few  examples  of  what  has  been  the  result  of  but  two  short  years 
of  work  in  this  direction,  much  of  which  was  spent  merely  in  the 
men  getting  together. 

The  first  legislature  met  but  one  month  after  organization,  and 
found,  of  course,  that  the  local  chapter  was  quite  unprepared  to  deal 
with  the  situation.  It  was  active,  however,  and  although  no  real 
constructive,  helpful  legislation  was  obtained,  much  legislation 
which  seemed  destructive  was  balked.  At  that  time  one  of  the 
main  issues  was  mine  taxation,  and  you  won't  find  in  Arizona  today 
a  mining  man  who  will  not  tell  you  that  a  direct  result  of  the  work 
was  a  more  equitable  distribution  of  taxes.  Now,  this  was  about 
the  first  thing  accomplished,  accomplished,  mind  you,  without  much 
of  an  organization,  and  only  after  two  short  months  of  work. 

The  second  result  of  this  work  was  that  it  created  a  better  and 
more  unified  feeling  among  the  operators  in  the  State  of  Arizona. 
As  a  result  of  their  getting  together  in  these  organizations,  they 
have  realized  how  many,  many  things  they  have  in  common,  and 
that  are  in  perfect  harmony  .-and  accord  with  each  other's  interests, 
and,  as  a  result  thereof,  they  also,  the  individual  operators,  are  in 
perfect  harmony  and  accord. 

Another  thing  we  attribute  to  this  organization  work  it  was 
largely  responsible  for  the  establishment  of  the  Arizona  State  Bureau 
of  Mines,  and  for  the  bringing  into  the  State  of  Arizona  one  of 
the  first  three  federal  mining  experimental  stations.  This  latter 
accomplishment  would  have  been  quite  impossible,  had  it  not  been 
for  our  organization.  In  the  State  of  Arizona  there  were  the  cities 
of  Globe,  Douglas,  Bisbee,  Tucson,  Prescott  and  Phoenix,  all  clam- 
oring for  the  station,  but  when  the  organization  decided  that  Tucson 
should  have  it,  Globe,  Bisbee,  Douglas,  Prescott  and  Phoenix  all 
got  out  and  worked  for  Tucson ;  they  pulled  for  Tucson,  and  Tucson 
got  it,  and  from  now  on  the  whole  State  will  support  and  assist 
Tucson  in  the  maintenance  of  that  station.  It  is  not  like  the  situa- 
tion they  have  up  in  the  State  of  Washington  with  Spokane  and 
Seattle  flying  at  each  other's  throats,  and  as  a  result  of  the  factional 
fight  neither  one  getting  what  they  desire. 


570         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN   MINING    CONGRESS 

One  of  the  greatest  results  of  our  organization  work  is  that 
it  has  done  away  almost  entirely  with  these  sectional  jealousies  that 
invariably  hurt  a  State,  these  sectional  rivalries.  Down  there  now 
our  slogan  is  not  that  "I'm  for  Bisbee,"  or  "I'm  for  Prescott,"  but 
it  is,  "I'm  for  Arizona." 

Let  me  cite  to  you  another  instance  of  the  benefit  derived  from 
our  organization  work.  When  the  copper  tax  came  up  in  the 
revenue  bill  during  the  last  session  of  Congress,  then  it  was  that 
Arizona  organization  came  into  play,  and,  gentlemen,  in  less  than 
24  hours  after  that  came  up,  every  individual  or  local  chapter  of 
the  organization  was  writing  and  wiring  to  Washington,  and  let  me 
tell  you  our  senators  and  our  representatives  at  Washington  would 
never  have  dared  to  come  home  if  that  bill  had  passed.  Now,  it 
is  undoubtedly  true  that  many  other  states  did  their  share  in  this 
work,  but  the  fact  that  Arizona  was  organized,  unified  and  ready 
to  use  that  unified  organization,  gave  us  quick  action  with  a  min- 
imum of  trouble  and  with  direct  results. 

Now,  there  is  another  phase  of  this  matter  to  which  I  wish  to 
call  your  attention  with  regard  to  the  manner  in  which  organiza- 
tion is  helpful  to  the  mining  industry.  In  our  own  state  the  organ- 
ization played  an  important  part  in  the  recent  election,  particularly 
in  the  selection  of  better  and  more  able  men  to  run  for  office;  the 
organization  down  there  was  partially  responsible  for  the  overthrow 
of  the  Democratic  Governor,  who  has  been  in  office  for  five  years 
now,  and  who  was  considered  unbeatable,  his  position  impregnable 
from  a  political  standpoint.  However,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the 
State  of  Arizona  is  normally  two  to  one  Democratic,  a  member  of 
the  American  Mining  Congress,  and  a  Republican,  is  reported 
elected  Governor,  because  the  present  incumbent  was  considered  by 
many  to  be  Socialistic,  radical,  and  unfair  to  capital.  Whether  or 
not  those  accusations  are  true,  is  not  for  me  to  say,  but  I  do  know 
that  organization  is  the  reason  for  his  overthrow.  By  this  I  do  not 
mean  to  say  that  the  operators  have  gone  into  politics,  for  they  have 
not  gone  into  politics,  nor  have  they  made,  or  are  they  making,  any 
attempt  to  run  the  state  politically. 

Another  step  towards  the  goal  of  desired  conditions,  in  so  far 
as  organization  is  concerned  has  been  taken  by  the  formation  of  the 
State  Board  of  Trade,  which  consists  of  representatives  of  all  of 
the  organizations  in  the  state;  from  the  Cattlemen's  Association, 
the  Farm  Improvement  Association  and  the  Taxpayers'  Associa- 
tion, the  Chambers  of  Commerce,  local  section  of  the  Mining  Con- 


VALUE  OF  STATE  MINING  ORGANIZATIONS  571 

gress,  and  of  all  the  others.  This  Board  of  Trade  meets  four  times 
yearly.  The  main  object  of  the  State  Board  of  Trade  is  co-opera- 
tion. It  has  an  executive  board  of  five  men  who  represent  the 
cattle,  agricultural,  mining,  mercantile  and  banking  industries.  This 
carries  out  our  plan  of  organization  to  its  ultimate  conclusion  and, 
as  it  were,  caps  the  climax  down  there,  or  puts  a  fine  finish,  if  I 
may  say  so,  on  our  organization,  for,  as  you  know,  without  co- 
operation from  all  industries,  and  the  molding,  fostering  and  up- 
building of  a  spirit  of  everybody  working  for  one  cause,  the  cause 
of  the  State  of  Arizona,  organization  will  fail  in  its  main  purpose. 
Under  proper  organization  it  is  not  the  miner  against  the  farmer, 
or  the  farmer  fighting  the  cattleman,  or  labor  against  capital,  but  it 
is  the  farmer,  cattleman,  the  mine  operator  and  laborer  all  pulling 
together  for  the  good  of  the  state,  and  for  the  good  of  the  nation. 
Now,  we  do  not  expect  to  reach  or  come  anywhere  near  that  goal 
in  this  generation,  but  I  certainly  believe  that  the  old  saying  "hitch 
your  wagon  to  a  star''  holds  true  in  organization,  and  the  higher  we 
keep  our  aims,  the  higher  will  be  our  attainments. 

Gentlemen,  we  have  accomplished  all  of  this  in  two  short  years, 
with  an  organization  that  was  immature  in  its  component  parts,  but 
we  face  the  real  work  ahead  with  a  real  organization,  with  real  am- 
munition, real  breastworks  and  a  real  army,  organized  and  ready  to 
fight. 

I  know  that  you  will  all  say  that  you  are  too  busy  to  attend 
to  this  sort  of  thing,  but  let  me  ask  you,  when  you  have  a  job  in 
your  own  organization  that  you  are  too  busy  to  attend  to,  what  do 
you  do?  You  assign  it  to  some  one  else  who  is  under  you.  In  this 
case  you  can  assign  this  job  to  the  American  Mining  Congress. 
There  is  not  an  operating  mine  in  this  country  that  could  not  well 
afford  to  spend  $10,000  a  year  for  ten  consecutive  years  to  dupli- 
cate what  Arizona  alone  has  done,  and  what  Arizona  is  going  to  do 
in  that  time. 

Gentlemen,  let  me  say  to  you  in  conclusion,  join  the  company. 
Let  your  company  join  the  regiment;  let  the  regiment  join  the 
corps,  let  the  corps  join  the  army,  and,  under  the  able  generalship 
of  the  American  Mining  Congress,  it  cannot  and  will  not  be  said 
again  that  the  mining  industry  does  not  receive  the  consideration 
to  which  it  is  entitled.  It  will  demand  the  attention  which  is  its 
rightful  due,  and  will  receive  it.  I  thank  you. 

(Applause.) 


UNIFORM  COAL  MINING  LAWS. 
Jas.  W.  Paul,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

Standardization  of  mining  laws  has  been  discussed  by  a  num- 
ber of  organizations  and  institutes  but  as  yet  no  material  progress 
has  been  made  so  far  as  suggested  standards  apply  to  coal  mining 
laws. 

The  question  has  received  attention  by  the  Mine  Inspectors' 
Institue  of  U.  S.  A.,  at  several  of  its  annual  meetings  since  its  or- 
ganization in  June,  1908,  and  a  committee  was  appointed,  which 
submitted  a  report  recommending  the  preparation  of  statistical  data 
on  mine  accidents  with  a  view  of  securing  uniformity  in  the  pub- 
lication of  accident  statistics,  and  while  the  members  of  the  Insti- 
tute adopted  the  report,  practically  none  of  the  states  altered  their 
published  schedules  to  conform  with  the  recommendation. 

The  main  purpose  of  the  Inspectors'  Institute  was  to  promote 
uniformity  in  coal  mine  legislation,  but  in  this  work  the  Institute 
has  been  much  handicapped  by  the  frequent  changes  made  in  the 
personnel  of  the  state  inspectors  and  the  lack  of  co-operation  of 
the  states  in  not  providing  for  the  attendance  of  the  inspectors. 
Many  of  the  inspectors  are  of  the  opinion  that  it  is  practicable  to 
adopt  a  uniform  code  of  laws  covering  many  pivots  of  similiarity 
in  coal  mining,  while  some  inspectors  claim  that  the  effort  is  not 
worth  while  owing  to  the  dissimilarity  of  local  conditions. 

We  will  grant  the  contention  that  a  universal  code  covering 
mining  in  general  would  not  be  applicable  to  all  local  conditions, 
but  will  not  concede  that  uniformity  is  impracticable  in  many  fea- 
tures of  a  law  which  has  for  its  purpose  greater  safety  in  mining. 

The  work  of  unifying  and  standardizing  the  forms  of  reports 
in  mine  accidents  has  received  renewed  impetus  through  the  con- 
ference of  inspectors,  commissioners  of  labor  and  compensation 
chiefs  which  was  held  last  spring  in  Washington  at  the  instance  of 
the  Bureau  of  Mines.  However,  the  inspectors  and  the  heads  of 
the  State  mining  departments  have  the  authority  within  themselves 
to  adopt  these  forms  of  report  without  the  sanction  of  legislative 
act. 


UNIFORM  COAL  MINING  LAWS  573 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  there  will  be  a  general  adoption  of  these 
forms  for  standardizing  accident  statistics,  thus  admitting  of  a 
scientific  study  and  comparison  of  all  mine  accidents  in  the  country. 

As  to  uniform  legislation,  there  is  need  of  a  tentative  draft 
for  preliminary  study  and  criticism.  This  Congress  is  pre-emi- 
nently fitted  to  undertake  this  work,  since  it  is  representative  of 
labor,  capital  and  men  of  technical  attainments.  The  manner  of 
accomplishing  this  preliminary  draft  is  open  for  suggestions,  but 
the  author  will  presume  to  outline  and  suggest  the  following  for 
your  consideration : 

1.  Appoint  a  legislative  committee  on  coal  mining  laws 
from  the  membership  of  the  Congress. 

2.  Select  an  advisory  committee  from  among  the  follow- 
ing: 

(a)  American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers. 

(b)  Mine  Inspectors'  Institute  of  U.  'S.  A. 

(c)  United  Mine  Workers  of  America. 

(d)  National  Safety  Council. 

(e)  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Mines. 

3.  Have  the  chairman  of  the  legislative  committee  con- 
fer with  members  of  the  advisory  committee  and  in  co-opera- 
tion with  them,  draw  up  a  code  tentatively  and  submit  the  draft 
to  the  several    Institutes    for    consideration,    suggestions  or 
amendments  at  their  annual  meetings.    A  redraft  containing  the 
suggestions  and  amendments  should  be  furnished  the  advisory 
committee  and  finally  be  returned  to  the  legislative  committee 
for  its  consideration  before  submitting  the  finished  form  to 
this  Congress. 

Unless  full  freedom  is  given  all  parties  in  interest  to  criticize 
and  offer  suggestions  to  be  considered  for  incorporation  in  the  fin- 
ished code,  the  work  of  the  Congress  will  not  be  received,  in  some 
quarters,  as  deserving  favorable  consideration. 

It  appears  that  the  legislative  committee  would  avoid  much 
antagonism  and  opposition  to  its  work  if  it  should  decline  to  incor- 
porate any  provision  in  the  draft  which  has  to  do  with  fixing  wages 
or  compensation  for  accidents.  Let  these  features  be  provided  by 
the  states  as  they  deem  most  fitting.  The  most  this  Congress  can 
hope  to  accomplish  will  be  to  furnish  a  reasonable  and  practical 
code  which  may  be  suitable  for  adoption  in  all  coal  producing  states 
without  undue  hardship  on  the  industry  or  labor.  An  appeal,  how- 
ever, may  be  made  that  each  coal  producing  state  adopt  the  code 


574         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

by  legislative  act  or  authority  and  designate  an  agency  through 
which  the  enforcement  of  the  provisions  of  the  code  may  be  carried 
out  in  an  efficient  manner. 

The  most  logical  agency  for  enforcing  the  provisions  would 
come  within  the  province  of  the  mine  inspection  service  of  the 
states. 

Similarity  of  Conditions. 

In  all  classes  of  coal  mining  there  are  many  conditions  which 
are  similar,  particularly  as  they  are  factors  pertaining  to  the  hazard 
of  mining.  Coal  dust  machinery,  haulage  systems,  mine  roof,  trav- 
eling ways,  ventilation,  drainage,  lighting  and  the  use  of  explosives 
are  some  of  the  factors  that  are  common  to  all  coal  mines. 

Some  desirable  points  of  similarity  in  coal  mining  legislation 
are  presented  for  your  consideration  and  discussion: 

1.  Experience  and  qualifications  of  the  Mine  Inspector. 

All  states  which  have  state  inspection  require  that  the 
inspector  shall  have  certain  qualifications  such  as  a  certain 
length  of  experience  in  mining  and  a  knowledge  of  the  elements 
of  mining,  but  in  few  instances  is  the  inspector  required  to 
have  a  technical  knowledge  of  the  science  of  mining. 

2.  Certificates  of  competency  and  qualifications. 

In  a  few  states  the  inspector  must  have  qualified  before 
an  examining  board  before  he  is  eligible  for  appointment  or 
election  to  the  position  of  inspector.  In  the  majority  of  the 
states  the  inspectors  are  appointed  through  political  prefer- 
ment and  in  like  manner  they  are  too  frequently  dropped  from 
the  inspection  staff. 

3.  Appointive  power. 

The  appointive  authority  in  the  majority  of  the  seates 
rests  with  the  governor.  In  two  states  the  inspectors  are 
elected  by  the  general  electorate,  and  in  another  they  are 
selected  by  a  state  commission. 

In  a  number  of  the  states  the  inspectors  are  under  the 
direction  of  a  chief  of  the  inspection  service;  in  one  state  under 
the  direction  of  an  industrial  commission  and  in  other  states 
the  inspectors  are  independent  of  any  directing  head. 

4.  Terms  of  office  of  the  inspector. 

To  conform  with  the  spirit  of  the  spoils  system,  the  inspec- 
tors are  generally  appointed  for  a  term  of  4  years,  and  if  he 
has  been  a  good  servant  to  the  state  and  his  party,  he  may  be 
reappointed  for  a  second  or  third  term.  Some  effort  has  been 


UNIFORM  COAL  MINING  LAWS  575 

made  to  eliminate  political  preferment  in  some  of  the  states 

but  it  has  been  successful  in  part  only  in  one  state. 

It  may  be  inadvisable  to  include  the  above  subjects  in  a  code 
of  uniform  laws  since  each  state  has  its  notions  as  to  how  it  should 
manage  its  internal  affairs.  The  above,  however,  illustrates  the 
lack  of  uniformity  in  the  matter  of  selecting  the  inspectors  and  is 
symbolic  of  many  features  of  the  laws  of  the  different  states. 

There  are,  however,  a  number  of  important  points  to  which 
uniformity  is  applicable  and  highly  desirable.  Some  of  these  are : 

1.  Qualification  of  mine  foremen  and  fire  bosses,  and  a 
uniform  certificate  which  may  be  accepted  by  the  several  states 
without  re-examination. 

2.  The  adoption  of  a  form  of  inspection  certificate  which 
he  inspector  shall  issue  following  his  visit  to  a  mine. 

3.  Vesting  in  the  inspector  authority  to  promulgate  rules 
to  govern  conditions  which  appear  to  him  to  be  dangerous,  but 
which  are  not  covered  by  law. 

4.  Methods  of  conducting  ventilation;  frequency  of  air 
splits  and  use  of  brattice  at  the  working  face.    Volume  of  air 
required  and  quality  of  air. 

5.  Establishment  of  a  safe  clearance  on  haulage  roads 
and  ample  room  at  points  at  which  trips  of  cars  pass  or  are 
assembled. 

6.  Method  of  checking  men  in  and  out  of  mines. 

7.  Code  of  signals  for  hoisting  in  shafts  and  slopes  and 
for  haulage  underground. 

8.  To  prevent  overwinding  in  shafts,  and  safety  in  hoist- 
ing in  shafts. 

9.  Fire  protection  on  the  surface  and  underground. 

10.  Electrical  installations  underground. 

11.  Mining  methods  with  view  of  safety  and  conservation 
of  fuel. 

12.  Use  of,  storage  and  handling  of  explosives. 

13.  Shot  firing  methods  and  preparation  of  the  shot. 

14.  Danger  signs  and  guide  signs  underground. 

15.  Safeguarding  man  trips. 

1 6.  Regular  and  systematic  inspection  of  hoisting  machin- 
ery, rope  and  appliances. 

17.  Use  of  electricity  in  gaseous  mines. 

18.  Escape  ways,  refuge  holes  and  safety  chambers. 

19.  Telephone  underground,  safe  installation  and  use. 


576         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

20.  Underground  sanitation,  wash  and  change  houses. 

21.  Emergency  hospitals  and  first  aid  stations. 

22.  Conditions    under  which    gasoline  and    volatile  oils 
may  be  used  or  stored  underground. 

23.  Timbering   in   mines.      Local   conditions   govern   the 
system  of  timbering  best  suited  to  take  care  of  roof  hazards, 
but  most  of  our  laws  are  deficient  in  not  requiring  the  adoption 
of  some  system  of  timbering  or  some  regularity  in  placing  tim- 
ber and  props.     State  inspectors  report  a  reduction  of  acci- 
dents as  the  result  of  the  adoption  of  a  regular  system  of  tim- 
bering by  some  of  the  progressive  mining  companies,  but  in 
each  case    the  roof  conditions    determined  the  details  of    the 
system. 

24.  Coal  dust  hazard. 

It  is  an  open  question  if  this  Congress  is  justified  in  at- 
tempting to  formulate  a  uniform  law  that  will  be  applicable 
to  all  bituminous  mines.  Our  state  laws  are  very  indefinite  in 
their  treatment  on  this  subject  and  are  not  based  on  scientific 
principals.  Most  of  the  laws  put  the  responsibility  on  the 
state  inspector,  to  see  that  all  dangerous  coal  dust  is  removed 
from  the  mine  or  is  kept  properly  watered  down  or  sprinkled 
with  water. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Mines  may  be 
able  to  furnish  a  practical  solution  to  this  hazard  which  will 
be  given  universal  adoption. 

25.  First  Aid  and  Mine  Rescue. 

Little  legislation  has  been  adopted  by  the  states  having 
to  do  with  the  establishing  for  rescue  stations  and  the  teach- 
ings of  first  aid  to  the  injured,  and  while  these  subjects  have 
been  given  much  consideration  and  many  rescue  stations  have 
been  established  by  the  operators  and  in  a  few  instances  by 
the  miners,  the  time  seems  propitious  for  presenting  a  draft  for 
legislation  which  will  result  in  uniformity  where  rescue  stations 
may  be  adopted  as  the  result  of  future  state  legislation. 

The  author  favors  the  establishing  of  joint  rescue  stations 
which  may  serve  a  group  of  mines. 

For  a  general  review  of  the  mine  inspection  laws  of  the  states, 
the  author  of  this  paper  will  refer  the  reader  to  a  paper  on  "Mine 
Inspection"  presented  by  the  author  and  printed  in  the  Transactions 
of  the  International  Engineering  Congress,  1915. 


THE    COMMISSION    PLAN    OF    PREPARING    MINING 

LEGISLATION  IN  INDIANA. 

M.  I.  Scollard,  Indiana. 

By  an  act  approved  on  March  10,  1915,  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  State  of  Indiana  created  a  commission  of  six  members  to 
codify  the  laws  relating  to  mines  and  mining  and  to  recommend 
such  amendments  and  changes  in  the  mining  laws  as  will  be  con- 
ducive to  the  highest  and  best  interests  of  the  mining  industry  in 
all  its  relations.  The  Commission  consists  of  two  miners  actively 
engaged  in  the  mining  of  coal,  two  persons  familiar  with  the  oper- 
ation of  coal  mines,  a  mining  engineer  recommended  by  the  Federal 
Bureau  of  Mines,  and  the  Director  of  the  Bureau  of  Legislative 
Information.  Five  hundred  dollars  was  appropriated  to  defray  the 
expenses  of  the  members  of  the  Commission  and  to  assist  in  con- 
ducting such  investigations  as  might  be  authorized. 

In  its  membership  and  organization  and  in  its  equipment  to 
discharge  the  functions  which  the  law  prescribes,  this  Commission 
is  ideal.  By  this  arrangement,  equal  and  adequate  representation 
is  afforded  to  each  interest  affected  by  men  commanding  the  confi- 
dence of  their  colleagues  and  selected  for  their  familiarity  with  the 
problems  involved,  directly  and  indirectly,  in  th^  business  of  mining. 
Both  the  miners  and  the  mine  operators  are  thus  afforded  the  oppor- 
tunity of  advancing  or  opposing  any  regulation  which  may  be  bene- 
ficial or  detrimental  to  its  interests.  The  mining  engineer,  appointed 
on  recommendation  of  the  Federal  Bureau  of  Mines,  is  enabled  to 
place  at  the  disposal  of  the  Commission  a  technical  and  scientific 
knowledge  of  mines  and  mining  problems.  As  a  representative  of 
the  Federal  Bureau  of  Mines,  he  not  only  adds  prestige  to  the  Com- 
mission but  is  enabled  to  detach  himself  sufficiently  from  local  con- 
troversies to  advance  recommendations  with  authority  and  freedom 
from  partiality.  It  is  an  additional  good  fortune  that  the  engineer 
appointed  is  a  resident  of  the  state  and  as  such,  familiar  with  the 
peculiarities  of  mining  problems  in  Indiana.  The  Director  of  the 
Bureau  of  Legislative  Information  is  the  officer  whose  duty  it  is  to 
investigate  any  question  which  may  become  the  subject  of  legisla- 
tion. He  is  likewise  the  official  draftsman  for  the  General  Assem- 
bly and  is  supposed  to  possess  a  technical  and  scientific  knowledge 
of  the  construction  of  laws  and  the  statement  of  statutory  provi- 
sions in  precise  legal  language.  All  investigations  authorized  and 
all  the  tentative  drafting  has  been  done  in  co-operation  with  and 


578         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

under  direction  of  this  department.  At  its  first  meeting,  and  before 
an  organization  had  been  formally  perfected,  the  Commission  solic- 
ited the  assistance  and  co-operation  of  the  State  Inspector  of  Mines 
and  has  freely  and  cordially  availed  itself  of  the  knowledge  and 
experience  of  that  department. 

The  paramount  duty  of  the  Commission  is  to  consolidate  and 
codify  the  existing  mine  laws  of  the  state.  These  laws  were  enacted 
independently  during  a  period  covering  more  than  a  dozen  years, 
and  each  of  the  six  laws  now  constituting  the  statutory  regulations 
pertaining  to  mines  has  been  repeatedly  amended.  As  a  result,  the 
laws  have  become  somewhat  confused;  overlapping  and  contradic- 
tory provisions  prevail ;  where  later  laws  supersede  earlier  ones,  the 
confusion  is  multiplied ;  where  the  laws  are  cumulative,  the  admin- 
istrative officers  are  frequently  in  doubt  as  to  their  rational  applica- 
tion. Besides,  the  law  as  it  stands  is  somewhat  baffling  for  purposes 
of  consultation.  Hence  the  Commission  has  concluded,  first  of  all, 
to  consolidate  and  rearrange  the  existing  laws  in  a  more  logical  and 
scientific  order,  treating  but  one  single  subject  in  a  section,  and 
grouping  those  sections  together  consecutively  which  bear  upon  the 
same  general  subject. 

The  second  thing  which  the  Commission  is  attempting  to  do 
is  to  incorporate  in  the  newly  codified  law  such  additional  provi- 
sions as  the  recent  development  of  the  mining  industry  has  rendered 
desirable  or  imperative.  In  order  to  more  satisfactorily  determine 
the  present  status  of  mine  legislation,  the  Director  of  the  Bureau 
of  Legislative  Information  has  made  a  critical  examination  and 
analysis  of  the  mine  laws  of  other  states  and  has  prepared  a  work- 
able synopsis  of  his  investigations  and  placed  it  at  the  disposal  of 
the  members  of  the  Commission.  A  member  of  the  staff  of  the 
Bureau  has  also  spent  some  time  in  consultation  with  the  experts 
of  the  Federal  Bureau  of  Mines  and  has  been  enabled  to  present, 
by  their  'cordial  and  painstaking  co-operation,  many  valuable  sug- 
gestions to  the  Commission.  This  material  serves  as  a  working  basis 
and  as  each  section  is  taken  up,  suggestions  are  presented  and  dis- 
cussed by  the  several  members  of  the  Commission  and  the  State 
Mine  Inspector. 

The  superiority  of  this  method  of  codifying  laws  is  obvious. 
It  affords  sufficient  leisure  to  work  out  the  details  of  bills  with  care ; 
it  enables  the  Commission  to  avail  itself  of  the  services  of  experts ; 
and  it  presents  to  the  General  Assembly  a  consistent  measure  com- 
manding the  united  support  of  all  interests  affected. 


PLAN  OF  PREPARING  LEGISLATION  579 

Among  the  supplementary  provisions  which  have  been  under 
consideration  by  the  commission  and  which  will  in  all  probability  be 
incorporated  in  the  law  are  the  following: 

In  the  State  of  Indiana  there  are  a  large  number  of  clay  mines 
operated  by  the  use  of  complicated  machinery  which  have  never 
been  placed  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  department  of  inspection. 
Aside  from  the  dangers  attending  the  process  of  blasting,  which  is 
negligible  in  a  clay  mine,  since  none  of  the  chemical  elements  present 
are  susceptible  of  supporting  combustion,  the  perils  of  a  clay  mine 
are  fully  as  great  as  those  of  a  coal  mine  and  no  good  reason  can 
be  assigned  for  exempting  them  from  regulation.  The  Commission, 
therefore,  proposes  to  recommend  that  all  clay  mines  be  placed 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  inspection  department  and  subjected 
to  such  reasonable  regulations  as  may  be  prescribed  by  law. 

Mechanical  processes  employed  in  mining  have  been  introduced 
more  rapidly  than  the  safety  and  precautionary  regulations  and 
measures  necessary  to  safeguard  the  miners  from  the  new  and  addi- 
tional perils  to  which  these  new  processes  expose  them.  Since  the 
last  revision  of  the  law,  for  instance,  electrical  power  and  electrically 
driven  machinery  has  been  introduced  extensively.  This  involves 
the  installation  of  high  power  transmission  wires  throughout  the 
haulage  roads  and  entry  ways  which  not  infrequently  are  exposed 
for  want  of  proper  insulation  or  protection.  As  a  result,  to  the 
fatalities  previously  recorded  from  falling  slate,  premature  blasts 
and  asphyxiation  has  been  added  that  of  electrocution.  Many  oper- 
ators have  voluntarily  established  and  maintained  adequate  safe- 
guards against  this  new  danger;  other  operators  have  responded 
cordially  to  the  recommendations  of  the  inspection  department  to 
install  such  safeguards  as  the  nature  of  the  danger  seemed  to  war- 
rant; others,  through  indifference  or  disinclination  to  incur  the 
necessary  financial  outlay,  have  declined  to  equip  their  mines  with 
even  the  simplest  and  most  inexpensive  safety  devices  until  some 
unnecessary  revolting  and  costly  fatality  has  resulted. 

During  the  past  few  years,  and  subsequent  to  the  last  statutory 
enactment  on  the  subject,  first  motion  hoisting  engines  have  been 
installed  in  the  most  modern  and  up-to-date  mines.  The  law  as  it 
stands  is  designed  to  limit  the  speed  of  the  cage  in  lowering  men 
into  and  hoisting  them  out  of  the  mine  to  600  feet  per  minute.  The 
provision,  however,  is  made  to  apply  to  the  velocity  of  the  engine 
and  a  strict  compliance  with  this  obsolete  statutory  regulation  would 
warrant  the  engineer  in  speeding  his  cage  to  2,000  feet  per  minute, 


580         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

an  indefensible  practice  rendered  strictly  legal  because  legislation 
has  proved  too  dilatory  to  respond  to  modern  economic  progress. 

It  may  happen  that  gas  which  generates  in  abandoned  oil  or 
gas  wells  is  liberated  by  blasts  exploded  in  mines  approaching  the 
vicinity  of  such  wells  and  fill  the  rooms  of  the  mine  with  gas  and 
render  them  dangerous  to  the  miners.  It  has  been  suggested  that 
the  location  of  all  such  oil  and  gas  wells  be  recorded  with  some 
county  officer  and  that  the  engineer  preparing  the  map  of  the  mine 
shall  be  required  to  indicate  the  location  of  such  wells,  if  any  exist. 

lAmong  other  recommendations,  the  following  may  be  briefly 
summarized : 

To  require  mine  operators  to  install  and  maintain  lights  at  the 
surface  landing ;  also  to  provide  a  signal  from  'the  surface,  landing 
to  the  engine  house  to  be  used  when  lowering  men  into  the  mine; 
in  addition  to  the  speaking  tubes,  to  install  telephones  in  all  mines 
having  a  depth  of  250  feet  or  more,  connecting  the  engine  room 
with  the  shaft  bottom;  to  require  that  first  aid  supplies  furnished 
shall  be  such  as  are  approved  by  modern  sanitary  science;  to  pro- 
hibit shot-firers  to  descend  into  the  mine  until  the  close  of  the 
shift  and  until  all  miners  have  been  hoisted  out  of  the  mine;  to 
make  it  unlawful  for  miners  to  have  in  their  possession  tools  used 
for  tamping  purposes  other  than  those  prescribed  by  law ;  and 
recommending  that  the  working  place  of  each  miner  shall  be 
examined  for  gas  not  less  than  three  hours  before  each  shift.  The 
question  of  ventilation  is  still  under  advisement  by  the  Commission 
and  suggestions  have  been  advanced  and  considered  relative  to  the 
quantity  of  air  supplied  to  a  mine;  the  distance  apart  of  break 
throughs ;  and  the  number  of  men  assigned  to  each  separate  current 
or  split.  The  question  of  the  storage  of  powder  in  mines  has  like- 
wise been  under  consideration  and  the  Commission  has  agreed  to 
incorporate  a  section  requiring  miners  to  store  their  powder  in  sub- 
stantial wooden  boxes  securely  locked. 

It  is  fortunate  that  this  meeting  of  the  Uniform  Mining  Laws 
conference  has  been  held  before  the  Indiana  Commission  has  com- 
pleted its  labors,  as  we  shall  doubtless  be  enabled  to  obtain  many 
valuable  suggestions  from  the  papers  and  discussions  presented  here. 


ADVISABILITY    OF    PREPARING    MINING    LEGISLA- 
TION  THROUGH   COMMISSIONS. 

Samuel  A.  Taylor,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

The  question  of  whether  or  not  a  commission  is  the  best  way 
to  arrive  at  a  proper  mining  law  is  one  worthy  of  careful  consid- 
eration. 

I  have  been  asked  to  talk  about  the  experience  of  Pennsylvania 
in  this  line. 

To  begin  with,  I  will  have  to  say  that  so  far  as  I  am  informed, 
there  has  not  been  in  Pennsylvania  any  commission  to  suggest  a 
mining  law. 

I  have  not  had  the  opportunity  to  inquire  into  the  matter  from 
records  to  ascertain  definitely  whether  there  has  been  any  commis- 
sion or  not;  but  from  my  own  knowledge  and  from  inquiry  made 
among  mining  men  there  has  not  been  any  such  commissions;  at 
least  for  the  bituminous  coal  mines,  although  I  understand  today 
there  has  been  for  the  anthracite  coal  mines. 

However,  I  have  served  on  a  commission  in  Pennsylvania,  the 
purpose  of  which  was  to  ascertain  whether  or  not  there  was  any 
need  for  a  law  governing  the  practice  of  engineering  in  this  state, 
and  if  so,  to  suggest  or  prepare  a  draft  of  a  law  and  submit  it  to 
the  governor  of  the  state  for  transmission  to  the  legislature. 

I  might  relate  briefly  the  method  of  procedure  of  the  commis- 
sion charged  as  it  was  with  a  two-fold  purpose. 

The  first  of  which  was  to  ascertain  if  such  a  law  was  desired 
or  necessary.  This  phase  of  the  inquiry  would  not  be  applicable 
to  your  case,  for  the  reason  that  I  think  all  are  agreed  a  mining 
law  is  necessary.  However,  in  our  case,  in  order  to  ascertain  the 
mind  of  the  engineers  and  those  interested  in  the  proposition,  we 
held  three  public  hearings :  one  in  Pittsburgh,  the  western  end  of  the 
state ;  one  in  Philadelphia,  the  eastern  end,  and  one  in  Harrisburg, 
the  central  and  capital  of  the  state.  These  hearings  were  held 
after  we  had  prepared  a  tentative  draft  of  a  bill,  and  sent  it  out 
to  all  interested  throughout  the  state,  with  a  request  that  those 
receiving  the  copy  would  study  the  contents  of  the  bill  and  give  us 


582         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

their  views,  either  in  writing  or  by  appearing  before  the  commission 
at  the  public  hearings. 

The  result  of  this  method  was  such  that  it  proved  the  wisdom 
of  the  arrangement,  for  we  had  several  hundred  persons  that 
responded  to  the  request  for  information,  and  the  information  re- 
ceived from  them  was  of  such  a  nature  that  the  commission  was 
able  to  make  a  very  exhaustive  report  to  the  Governor. 

In  discussing  the  question  before  us,  I  am  quite  sure  that  all 
who  are  interested  in  coal  mining  in  any  way  will  be  in  favor  of  a 
mining  law. 

Let  us  look  briefly  into  the  question  of  what  should  constitute 
a  good  mining  law,  and  then  see  if  in  the  preparation  of  such  a  law 
a  commission  would  be  an  effective  way  of  handling  the  proposition. 

A  good  mining  law  should,  in  my  opinion,  conserve  three  main 
interests:  First,  the  miner,  as  to  safety  and  healthfulness  of  the 
mine  in  which  he  has  to  labor ;  second,  the  operator  or  owner,  which 
in  addition  to  the  necessities  of  the  above  statement  for  the  miner, 
as  to  the  requirements  for  safety  and  healthfulness,  should  also 
conserve  the  property  interests,  both  as  to  economy  of  operation 
and  securing  of  all,  or  as  nearly  all,  of  the  coal  as  possible,  without 
adding  burdens  which  would  be  of  no  interest  in  particular  to  the 
miner  and  only  redound  to  the  selfish  interests  of  some  business 
outside  of  the  regular  business  of  producing  coal;  third,  and  one 
which  in  the  ordinary  method  of  drafting  mining  laws  is  very  often 
lost  sight  of  entirely,  viz.,  the  interest  of  the  consuming  public,  both 
as  to  the  present  requirements,  and  also  looking  to  the  future,  by 
having  in  mind  the  conserving,  insofar  as  practicable,  of  the  fuel 
supply  for  future  generations. 

I  am  of  the  opinion  that  if  in  the  preparation  of  a  mining 
law  it  is  gone  about  with  all  of  these  things  in  mind,  that  some 
of  the  rash  and  useless  things  in  many  of  the  mining  laws  now  on 
the  statute  books  of  our  coal  mining  states  would  be  done  away 
with,  and  in  their  place  would  be  placed  laws  amply  protecting 
the  miner,  without  adding  such  things  as  are  of  no  particular 
advantage  to  them,  or  to  the  safety  of  the  mining  property;  but 
which  only  add  to  the  expense  of  equipping  and  operating  the  mine, 
with  the  consequent  extra  charge  having  to  be  borne  by  the  con- 
sumer in  the  end. 

I  do  not  think  it  is  necessary  to  elaborate  on  this  phase  of  the 
subject  to  any  great  extent,  but  simply  cite  an  example  of  what 
I  mean  by  exacting  things  which  do  not  add  safety  or  health  to  the 


PREPARING  LEGISLATION  THRU  COMMISSIONS        583 

miners.  One  thing  in  particular  is  the  amount  of  air  required  to 
be  passed  into  mines.  In  many  of  the  old  laws  this  was  stipulated 
at  100  cubic  feet  per  minute  per  man,  which  in  many  of  the  later 
laws  has  been  increased  to  150  cubic  feet  per  minute  per  man. 
Now  the  first  amount  was  fixed  in  the  Pennsylvania  law  (which 
was  one  of  the  first)  on  the  basis  that  a  normal  man  would  con- 
sume when  working  under  normal  conditions  between  9  cubic  feet 
and  10  cubic  feet  of  air  per  minute;  and  with  this  as  a  basis  they 
figured  that  to  make  the  amount  ten  times  this  at  the  fan  would  be 
ample  to  not  only  give  the  men  all  the  fresh  air  they  would  need  to 
breathe,  but  also  carry  off  all  objectionable  matters  which  might  be 
encountered  or  produced  in  the  mine. 

The  reasons  for  the  new  requirement  were  never  to  my  mind 
clearly  set  forth.  One  of  the  arguments  was  the  introduction  of 
more  machinery  in  the  mines.  Now,  to  my  way  of  thinking,  these 
machines  making,  as  they  do,  more  dust,  should  have  less  air  rather 
than  more,  for  the  introduction  of  more  air  had  to  be  accom- 
plished with  a  greater  velocity,  as  the  sizes  of  entries  or  airways 
remained  the  same. 

This  greater  velocity  of  air  carried  more  of  the  dust  in  sus- 
pension and  made  it  more  dangerous  as  to  the  extent  of  an  explosion, 
should  one  take  place,  than  would  be  the  case  if  only  such  an  amount 
of  air  as  was  necessary  were  required. 

The  forcing  of  the  excess  air  through  the  mines  cost  the  oper- 
ator a  considerable  amount  more  than  under  the  old  law,  without 
any  advantage  to  the  men,  but  with  the  disadvantage  to  the  oper- 
ator having  to  invest  more  money  in  machinery;  and  if  he  can 
protect  himself  by  getting  a  higher  price  for  his  coal,  then  the 
third  party,  or  the  consuming  public,  has  in  the  end  to  pay  more 
than  he  should;  while  the  miner,  under  the  old  law,  was  fully 
protected,  for  when  it  was  necessary  for  more  air,  the  mine  in- 
spector had  the  right  to  compel  the  same,  which  I  think  is  much 
better. 

Now,  this  is  only  one  of  a  number  of  things  that  are  in  many 
of  our  laws  which  are  unfair  to  either  the  miner,  operator  or  the 
consumer,  and  which  should  be  avoided  as  far  as  possible  in  the 
preparation  of  a  fair  mining  law. 

To  accomplish  the  preparation  of  such  a  law,  I  think  it  is  of 
the  utmost  importance  that  those  charged  with  the  preparation  be 
free  from  the  pressure  of  politics,  as  usually  exercised  or  practiced 
in  the  passage  of  legislation.  At  the  same  time,  the  task  should  be 


584         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

entrusted  to  those  who  would  have  some  qualification,  either  by 
personal  knowledge  or  ability,  to  ascertain  the  facts  from  the  mass 
of  information  and  suggestions  which  are  ordinarily  available,  and 
sometimes  even  attempted  to  be  forced  into  a  bill  from  some  per- 
sonal motive. 

In  conclusion,  it  does,  therefore,  seem  to  me  that  a  commission 
composed  of  a  miner,  an  operator,  a  mining  engineer,  a  lawyer  and 
someone  possessed  of  sufficient  knowledge,  both  as  to  mining  in  a 
general  way  and  economics  in  a  broad  way,  as  would  enable  him 
to  safeguard  the  interest  of  the  public  or  the  consumer,  would  con- 
stitute a  body  that  would  be  able  to  prepare  a  law  that  would  give 
the  best  results  as  a  fair,  comprehensive  and  workable  proposition, 
for  the  mining  industry.  If  a  larger  commission  is  desirable,  it 
could  be  formed  by  doubling  or  trebling  the  above  unit. 


WHAT  CAN  UNIFORM  MINING  LEGISLATION  HOPE 

TO    ACCOMPLISH? 
By  Van  H.  Manning,  Washington,  D.  C. 

In  order  to  make  plain  the  scope  of  my  remarks,  I  shall  begin 
by  denning  the  term  "mining  legislation."  This  term  I  apply  to  all 
legislation  relating  to  the  acquisition  and  transfer  of  mines  and  min- 
eral lands,  to  the  safety  and  health  of  those  engaged  in  the  mineral 
industries,  and  to  the  prevention  of  waste  and  the  increase  of 
efficiency  in  the  utilization  of  ores,  metals  and  mineral  substances. 
In  thus  applying  the  term,  I  may  seem  to  broaden  my  theme  unduly, 
but  my  reasons  for  doing  so  will  be  evident  if  you  will  consider 
that  the  ultimate  aim  of  such  legislation  should  be  to  increase  safety, 
improve  health,  and,  by  lessening  litigation  and  removing  legal  uncer- 
tainties, to  advance  national  efficiency.  At  present  the  mining  indus- 
try, using  that  term  broadly,  is  not  only  burdened  with  much  con- 
fusing legislation,  municipal,  state  and  national,  but  it  also  suffers 
from  a  lack  of  legislation  essential  to  assuring  the  wise  and  efficient 
use  of  our  mineral  resources.  As  an  example,  I  may  cite  the  multi- 
plicity of  regulations  governing  the  transportation,  storage,  and 
sale  of  kerosene  and  gasoline,  and  the  utter  lack  in  many  states 
of  effective  legislation  for  preventing  enormous  waste  of  petroleum 
and  natural  gas.  Also,  I  call  to  your  attention  the  uncertainties  of 
our  Federal  mining  land  law,  and  the  lack  in  many  states  of  ade- 
quate laws  for  protecting  the  safety  and  health  of  metal  miners. 

In  discussing  what  may  be  accomplished  by  uniform  mining 
legislation,  I  shall  for  convenience  consider  the  matter  with  regard, 
first,  to  efficiency,  and,  second,  to  better  health  and  greater  safety. 

I  shall  give  especial  attention  to  the  work  of  the  Bureau  of 
Mines,  which,  as  you  know,  has  ''Safety  and  Efficiency"  as  its 
motto,  and  to  the  efforts  of  the  Department  of  the  Interior. 

Work  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines. 

As  Director  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  Dr.  Jos.  A.  Holmes  called 
attention  to  the  lack  of  uniformity  in  the  mining  laws  of  the  dif- 
ferent states  and  the  desirability  of  uniform  legislation.  The  mat- 
ter was  ever  before  him  in  planning  the  investigation  of  the  bureau, 


586         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

and  he  constantly  sought  the  co-operation  of  engineering  societies 
and  of  other  organizations  in  the  endeavor  to  aid  the  enactment 
of  better  laws.  One  of  the  fruits  of  his  efforts  was  the  publication, 
as  a  Bureau  of  Mines  bulletin,  of  a  proposed  code  of  regulations 
for  metal  mines.  This  code  was  prepared  by  a  committee  of  five 
distinguished  mining  engineers,  John  Hays  Hammond,  W.  R. 
Ingalls,  Jas.  Douglas,  J.  Parke  Charming,  and  J.  R.  Finlay,  and 
representing  not  only  the  earnest  thought  of  these  gentlemen,  but 
the  suggestions  and  criticisms  offered  by  members  of  the  Mining 
and  Metallurgical  Society  of  America,  the  American  Institute  of 
Mining  Engineers,  and  other  organizations.  These  rules  provide 
for  a  thorough  system  of  mine  inspection  and  for  safeguarding  the 
miner  against  the  dangers  of  his  occupation.  Though  their  chief 
aim  is  safety,  yet  they  are  intended  to  contribute  to  greater  ef- 
ficiency in  mining  methods. 

In  efforts  to  protect  miners  from  the  hazard  occasioned  by 
oil  and  gas  wells  drilled  through  coal  beds,  the  Bureau  of  Mines 
was  instrumental  in  having  a  conference  of  coal  mine  and  oil  well 
operators  and  state  geologists  held  in  Pittsburgh  in  February,  1913. 
At  this  conference  desirable  changes  in  well  drilling  practice  were 
discussed,  as  well  as  a  proposed  code  setting  forth  the  duties  of 
oil  and  gas  inspectors,  and  the  precautions  that  should  be  observed 
in  drilling  and  plugging  wells. 

Engineers  of  the  bureau,  in  cooperation  with  members  of  the 
American  Society  of  Electrical  Engineers  and  other  interested 
parties,  have  recently  prepared  a  draft  of  a  proposed  law  govern- 
ing the  installation  of  electrical  apparatus  in  coal  mines.  This 
draft  embodies  the  results  of  investigations  dealing  with  the  use  of 
electricity  for  light  and  power,  and  the  establishment  of  effective 
safeguards  against  explosions  or  fires  from  sparks,  flashes  or  arcs, 
and  against  shock  from  contact  with  live  wires  or  with  equipment 
accidentally  charged.  The  proposed  regulation  will  soon  be  pub- 
lished as  a  technical  paper.  A  set  of  regulations  prepared  by  the 
Bureau  of  Mines  in  cooperation  with  other  interested  parties  some 
years  ago,  was  bodily  incorporated  in  the  mining  code  of  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania. 

Revision  of  Federal  Mining  Land  Laws. 

From  time  to  time  a  demand  has  been  heard  for  a  revision 
of  our  Federal  mining  land  laws  that  would  clarify  the  vague, 
conflicting  or  contradictory  provisions  of  the  present  code,  or  for 


WHAT  CAN  LEGISLATION  ACCOMPLISH?  587 

the  enactment  of  a  new  code  that  would  embody  the  present  needs 
of  the  mining  industry.  This  demand  has  been  ably  voiced  by 
eminent  engineers  and  members  of  the  bar,  who  have  called  atten- 
tion to  the  burdens  inflicted  on  innocent  parties  through  the  pro- 
visions of  the  so-called  law  of  the  apex,  which  gives  the  locator 
of  a  vein  the  right  to  follow  the  vein  on  its  dip,  and  of  tunnel  site 
locations,  which  give  the  owner  of  such  a  location  the  right  to  mine 
ore  from  a  vein  covered  by  a  patented  claim  located  on  the  outcrop. 

One  of  the  national  mining  societies,  the  Alining  and  Metal- 
lurgical Society  of  America,  has  taken  an  especially  prominent  part 
in  urging  the  need  of  a  better  mining  land  code,  and  in  enlisting 
the  co-operation  of  national  and  state  organizations  and  of  Govern- 
ment bureaus.  On  December  6,  1915,  this  society  called  a  meet- 
ing in  Washington,  D.  C,  in  which  representatives  of  these  organ- 
izations, of  the  national  Government,  and  of  many  ^operating  mines 
collaborated.  The  resolutions  adopted  at  that  meeting  called  for  a 
thorough  revision  of  the  mining  laws  of  the  United  States  so  as  to 
co-ordinate  and  harmonize  its  various  provisions ;  recommended  the 
creation  by  Congress  of  a  Government  commission,  appointed  by 
the  President,  to  consider  and  investigate  the  different  questions  and 
issues,  and  to  make  recommendations  in  regard  to  the  proposed 
revision. 

Owing  to  the  conflict  of  interests  in  Congress  and  the  attention 
given  to  problems  created  by  the  war  in  Europe,  the  commission 
called  for  by  those  resolutions  was  not  appointed  and  little  progress 
has  been  made  toward  revision  of  the  mining  land  law. 

The  Department  of  the  Interior  and  the  Federal  Bureau  of 
Mines  have  favored  and  still  favor  a  revision  of  the  mining  land 
laws  that  will  eliminate  uncertainties,  conflicts  and  contradictions, 
lessen  the  chances  of  litigation  over  mining  titles,  and  thus  relieve 
the  industry  of  unnecessary  burdens.  The  mining  code  of  the 
Federal  Government  should  exemplify  simplicity,  clarity  and  direct- 
ness. It  should  serve  as  a  basis  for  laws  governing  the  acquisition 
and  transfer  of  mineral  lands  under  state  control,  and  thus  should 
contribute  to  national  efficiency.  The  Bureau  of  Mines  seeks  the 
co-operation  of  all  parties  interested  in  bringing  about  this  result. 

The  need  of  wide  co-operation  in  obtaining  satisfactory  mining 
laws  has  been  recognized  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  who 
invited  all  state  mine  inspectors  and  state  compensation  commis- 
sioners to  attend  a  conference  in  Washington,  in  February,  1916. 
At  this  convention  one  of  the  principal  subjects  discussed  -was  the 


588         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

need  of  uniformity  in  obtaining  and  presenting  mining  statistics. 
Under  present  conditions  mine  operators  are  asked  to  report  sub- 
stantially the  same  information,  though  perhaps  in  different  form, 
to  four  or  five  different  agencies  of  the  state  or  Federal  Govern- 
ment. As  a  result,  to  many  operators  the  compiling  of  such  reports 
has  become  a  matter  that  entails  considerable  work  and  sometimes 
the  employing  of  extra  assistants.  It  was  felt  that  much  of  this 
duplication  of  reports  could  be  eliminated,  thus  not  only  lessening 
the  amount  of  work  involved  but  permitting  one  report  to  convey 
all  the  information  desired  by  state  and  federal  officials. 

Another  important  subject  discussed  at  the  convention  was  the 
present  lack  of  a  uniform  understanding  of  what  constitutes  an 
accident  serious  enough  to  come  within  the  requirements  of  state 
laws,  which  provide  that  all  serious  accidents  shall  be  reported  to 
the  mine  inspector  and  shall  be  included  by  the  inspector  in  his 
annual  report.  Lack  of  such  a  standard  definition  makes  imprac- 
ticable a  fair  comparison  of  the  accident  risk  in  one  state  with  that 
in  another,  and  the  need  of  a  uniform  method  of  reporting  such 
accidents  was  generally  recognized. 

Classification  of  mine  employes  by  occupation  was  another 
subject  that  engaged  attention.  It  was  appreciated  that  to  know 
the  number  of  men  killed  or  injured  in  a  particular  occupation  is 
of  little  value  unless  the  number  of  men  employed  in  a  work  of  a 
similar  nature  in  known  also.  This  information  is  now  being  re- 
ported in  some  states,  and  it  is  hoped  that  the  practice  will  extend 
to  all  states. 

Discussion  of  present  methods  of  reporting  the  average  num- 
ber of  men  employed  at  mines  brought  out  the  fact  that  there  is 
no  uniformity  regarding  the  number  of  employes  in  the  reports 
now  being  submitted  by  mine  operators.  Physical  differences  be- 
tween one  coal  field  and  another  make  it  impracticable  to  enforce 
identical  regulations  in  the  operation  of  all  mines  throughout  the 
country.  However,  if  coal  mining  be  considered  as  a  whole,  we 
find  that  even  as  regards  the  many  features  common  to  all  coal 
mining,  there  is  a  lamentable  lack  of  uniformity  in  state  laws. 

Probably  no  one  is  opposed  to  mining  legislation  that  shall  be 
as  uniform  as  conditions  permit,  and  it  would  seem  that  the  only 
room  for  difference  of  opinion  is  in  regard  to  conditions  that  are  not 
alike  in  different  states.  This  phase  of  the  question  should  be 
carefully  studied  by  some  representative  committee  authorized  to 


WHAT  CAN  LEGISLATION  ACCOMPLISH?  589 

draft  a  proposed  law  covering  all  phases  of  the  industry  that  admit 
of  uniform  regulation. 

A  law  thus  framed  would  serve  as  a  definite  working  basis, 
and  would  be  submitted  to  the  mining  interests  in  each  state  for 
suggestions.  With  these  suggestions  before  it,  the  committee  would 
be  in  a  position  to  draft  a  law  reasonably  satisfactory  to  all  states, 
and  the  final  draft  prepared  by  the  committee  might  be  submitted 
through  the  proper  channels  to  the  legislature  of  each  state  having 
a  mining  industry  of  sufficient  magnitude  to  warrant  the  enactment 
of  a  mining  code. 

In  order  to  bring  about  such  uniform  legislation,  the  follow- 
ing motion  by  A.  E.  Spriggs,  formerly  Lieutenant-governor  of 
Montana,  and  seconded  by  Mr.  Ed.  Boyle,  state  coal  mine  inspector 
of  Oklahoma,  was  unanimously  adopted: 

"It  is  the  sense  of  this  meeting  that  the  matter  of  pro- 
curing  uniformity   of    mining   laws    be    referred   to   the 
Bureau  of  Mines,  with  the  request  that  they  do  all  in  their 
power  to  bring  about  that  most  desirable  end." 
To  assist  in  carrying  out  the  foregoing  program,  and  also  as 
an  aid  to  a  committee  that  might  be  appointed  for  preparing  the 
proposed  coal  mine  law,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  report  on 
standard  forms  for  reporting  mine  accidents,  mine  equipment,  and 
other  information  required  by  many  state  mining  laws.    This  com- 
mittee has  had  two  conferences  and  is  now  about  ready  to  render 
its  report  on  the  standardization  of  mine  statistics. 

In  its  efforts  to  improve  health  conditions  in  mining  communi- 
ties, the  Bureau  of  Mines  has  co-operated  with  the  Public  Health 
Service  and  the  California  State  Board  of  Health  in  general  in- 
vestigations of  health  conditions  and  in  the  study  of  two  diseases, 
miner's  consumption  and  hookworm.  These  studies  show  the 
prevalence  of  miners'  consumption  and  pulmonary  tuberculosis  in 
certain  districts  where  the  mine  air  contains  sharp  particles  of 
silicious  dust,  and  demonstrate  that  an  unsuspectedly  large  number 
of  men  in  the  Mother  Lode  gold  mines  of  California  were  infected 
with  hookworm.  They  also  call  attention  to  the  need  of  adequate 
preventive  measures  being  adopted  not  only  in  the  states  where 
the  studies  were  made,  but  in  other  states  where  similar  conditions 
may  result  in  the  spread  of  the  two  diseases.  Other  preventable 
diseases,  such  as  typhoid  fever,  annually  kill  or  temporarily  disable 
large  numbers  of  persons  in  the  mining  industry. 


590         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

Adoption  and  enforcement  of  necessary  preventive  measures 
and  of  strict  sanitation  may  come  within  the  province  of  officials 
of  mining  companies,  or  of  local  and  state  boards  of  health,  but 
evidently  the  battle  against  disease  cannot  be  waged  as  it  should  be 
unless  different  communities  and  different  states  enact  laws  that 
will  provide  for  efficient  sanitation,  the  keeping  of  proper  mortality 
and  morbidity  records,  and  the  quarantine  of  persons  suffering 
from  contagious  diseases.  The  provisions  of  such  legislation  and 
their  application  should  be  so  uniform  that  the  morbidity  figures  for 
certain  districts  can  be  compared  with  those  of  another,  thus  per- 
mitting the  drawing  of  reliable  conclusions  as  to  the  relative  health- 
fulness  of  different  methods  and  practices,  the  exact  determination 
of  what  diseases  are  most  apt  to  affect  the  mining  industry,  and 
the  special  safeguards  that  may  be  required. 

Ills  From  Present  Lack  of  Uniform  Legislation  and  the  Need  of 

Uniformity. 

In  the  mines  in  this  country  are  men  from  every  nation  in 
Europe.  Thousands  of  them  had  no  mining  experience  before 
they  came  to  the  United  States  and  possessed  a  merely  rudimentary 
knowledge  of  English  when  they  began  work  underground.  More- 
over, miners  in  this  country  are  prone  to  be  migratory,  moving  from 
mine  to  mine  and  from  state  to  state  by  thousands.  For  such  men 
the  lack  of  uniform  state  legislation  not  only  increases  the  prob- 
ability of  accidents,  but  also  imposes  on  the  mining  industry  of  each 
state  the  burden  of  diminished  efficiency  resulting  from  each  miner 
from  without  that  state  having  to  learn  state  regulations. 

Our  coal  fields  and  mineral  deposits  do  not  respect  state  lines, 
but  cross  them  indiscriminately.  Yet  one  state  may  have  an  ex- 
plicit set  of  rules  governing  the  operation  of  mines  within  its 
borders,  whereas  the  rules  of  an  adjoining  state  may  be  indefinite 
or  insufficient,  although  operators  in  both  fields  supply  the  same 
market  and  must  necessarily  compete  with  each  other.  As  a  result, 
the  operators  in  the  state  having  the  less  effective  laws  are  enabled 
to  produce  coal  at  less  cost  and  to  undersell  operators  in  the  other 
state. 

Furthermore,  because  of  these  differences  in  mining  codes, 
the  decisions  of  a  state  court  construing  a  law  in  force  is  usually 
of  slight  value  outside  of  the  particular  state  in  which  the  law  was 
enacted.  This  practically  results  in  each  state  building  up  a  min- 
ing jurisprudence  of  its  own,  whereas  if  such  legislation  were  uni- 
form throughout  the  states  the  opinion  of  one  court  could  be  given 


WHAT  CAN  LEGISLATION  ACCOMPLISH?  591 

weight  in  passing  judgment  on  like  facts  before  a  court  in  any  state. 
Such  a  change  would  ultimately  result  in  eliminating  much  costly 
litigation. 

Another  matter  to  which  I  wish  to  call  your  attention  is  the 
utter  lack  of  any  general  system  of  valuing  mining  properties  for 
purposes  of  taxation.  Municipalities,  states  and  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment tax  mining  concerns.  What  proportion  of  the  total  in- 
come shall  be  charged  to  working  account  or  depreciation,  what 
allowance  shall  be  made  for  ore  or  minerals  left  underground  in 
the  process  of  mining,  what  is  the  value  of  unmined  minerals,  or  of 
mines  that  cannot  be  worked  at  a  profit — these  are  questions  to 
which  widely  differing  answers  are  given  under  the  present  system, 
or  lack  of  system,  in  valuing  mining  properties.  The  enactment  of 
uniform  laws  covering  these  matters  would  be  an  inestimable  boon 
to  the  mining  industry. 

To  lessen,  if  not  eradicate  occupational  disease  in  the  mining 
industry,  uniform  legislation  /in  the  mining  states  is  a  prime 
requisite.  If  one  state  enacts  laws  that  inconvenience  a  miner 
suffering  from  an  infectious  disease  and  a  neighboring  state  has 
not  made  such  laws,  the  miner  has  but  to  cross  into  the  state  beyond 
to  be  unmolested.  In  this  way,  though  the  state  law  may  be  of 
great  benefit  in  improving  health  conditions  within  the  state,  it 
may  be  the  means  of  spreading  infectious  disease  through  other 
states  and  thus,  in  the  lack  of  uniform  laws,  prove  detrimental  to 
the  industry  as  a  whole.  Of  course  this  result  is  not  to  be  consid- 
ered as  showing  that  any  one  state  should  not  take  the  initiative  in 
legislation  intended  to  protect  the  health  of  miners;  it  merely  em- 
phasizes the  need  of  uniform  legislation  in  those  states  in  which 
conditions  are  favorable  to  the  spread  of  the  same  disease. 

The  lack  of  a  uniform  system  of  hoisting  signals  in  the  dif- 
ferent states  is  a  condition  that  plainly  demands  betterment.  Many 
miners  move  at  frequent  intervals  from  state  to  state.  Lack  of  a 
uniform  signal  code  decreases  the  efficiency  of  mining  operations. 
Also,  as  mistakes  in  giving  or  noting  signals  may  cause  horrible 
accidents,  the  present  lack  of  uniformity  is  a  constant  menace  to 
mine  safety. 

Present  state  laws  providing  for  the  inspection  of  mines,  quar- 
ries, oil  and  gas  wells,  mills  and  metallurgical  works  show  a  great 
lack  of  harmony,  and  some  even  bring  about  conflicts  of  authority 
with  the  state  itself.  Considerations  of  safety,  health  and  ef- 
ficiency do  not  receive  the  attention  they  demand.  Some  states 


592         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

have  no  direct  inspection  of  quarries  or  metal  mines,  in  other  states 
coal  mine  inspection,  or  the  inspection  of  oil  and  gas  wells  still 
leaves  much  to  be  desired.  Practices  that  endanger  life,  impair 
health,  or  waste  our  mineral  resources  continue  unchecked  by  state 
authority.  Too  many  state  inspectors  are  not  granted  sufficient 
authority  or  an  adequate  inspection  force  to  do  properly  what  the 
law  requires  them  to  do.  In  some  states  the  methods  of  selecting' 
inspectors  do  not  assure  that  inspection  will  be  efficient.  In  fact, 
mine  inspection  is,  as  a  whole,  a  matter  that  urgently  needs  im- 
provement in  the  direction  of  more  adequate  inspection  service,  and 
the  harmonizing  of  state  laws  relating  to  the  qualifications,  duties, 
powers  and  authority  of  inspectors. 

In  regard  to  the  requirements  of  mine  inspectors,  I  wish  to 
make  the  point  that  there  should  be  uniform  methods  of  inspecting 
machinery.  The  public  function  that  can  be  performed  by  national 
engineering  societies  in  procuring  such  uniformity  is  already  per- 
ceived, as  is  witnessed  by  the  work  of  the  Boiler  Code  Committee 
of  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers.  This  society 
has  standardized  those  features  of  boiler  construction  that  are  essen- 
tial to  safety,  and  it  will  probably  be  only  a  short  time  before  each 
and  every  state  accepts  this  code.  Then  we  shall  have  uniform 
measurements  throughout  the  country  for  the  inspection  of  boilers. 
For  the  inspection  of  mine  machinery,  and  especially  hoisting 
machinery,  a  uniform  code  of  rules  is  much  needed.  To  await  the 
preparation  of  such  a  code  by  state  legislatures,  without  outside 
prompting  or  assistance,  is  likely  to  cause  indefinite  but  prolonged 
delay,  for  the  tendency  of  state  legislation,  as  I  have  indicated,  is 
toward  diversity  rather  than  uniformity.  But  legislatures  can 
adopt,  and  probably  will  adopt,  rules  that  are  based  on  the  best 
thought  of  national  societies  and  of  government  bureaus.  For  this 
reason  I  believe  that  uniform  requirements  for  the  inspection  of 
machinery  await  merely  the  taking  of  suitable  action  of  influential 
agencies. 

Closely  connected  with  the  topics  of  uniformity  in  mining 
codes  and  methods  of  inspection  is  that  of  uniformity  in  statistics 
relating  to  accidents.  It  is  well  understood  that  even  the  most 
earnest  endeavors  for  the  protection  of  life  and  limb  among  miners 
may  fail  to  accomplish  the  best  results  if  there  are  no  reliable 
records  on  which  to  base  regulations.  Accident  records  and  stat- 
istics are  the  guides  that  show  the  progress  or  lack  of  progress 


WHAT  CAN  LEGISLATION  ACCOMPLISH?  593 

which  «s  being  made  toward  greater  safety,  and  without  satisfac- 
tory records  this  work  must  necessarily  proceed  in  the  dark.  Some 
of  you  may  be  surprised  to  learn  that  the  figures  published  on  mine 
accidents  in  the  United  States  are  as  yet  hardly  more  than  crude 
approximations,  especially  as  regards  comparisons  of  accidents  in 
the  different  states. 

For  instance,  in  one  state  under  the  law,  all  mines  may  be 
subject  to  inspection;  in  another,  those  mines  working  less  than 
three  men  are  exempt ;  in  others  five,  six,  ten,  eleven,  or  twenty  men, 
as  the  case  may  be,  must  be  at  work  before  the  management  is 
required  to  report  to  the  state  officials. 

Again,  there  is  a  wide  difference  in  defining  a  reportable  in- 
jury. In  some  states  all  injuries,  no  matter  how  trivial,  are  re- 
ported and  recorded;  in  others  no  account  is  taken  of  the  disability 
which  may  follow  an  accident  that  is  of  less  than  two  days'  dura- 
tion ;  and  in  other  states  the  time  is  defined  as  three,  four,  five,  six, 
seven,  or  ten  days.  The  official  reports  of  the  State  Mine  Inspector 
are  the  only  available  source  of  information,  and  these  reports  may 
not  contain  a  complete  record  of  accidents  which  the  mine  owner 
must  report  under  the  law.  For  example,  in  one  state  the  pub- 
lished reports  contain  all  injuries  causing  a  disability  of  one  day; 
in  another  state  the  law  requires  inclusion  of  all  "serious"  injuries. 
A  serious  injury  may  be  one  in  which  the  time  lost  is  7  days, 
2  weeks,  30  days,  or  an  indefinite  time,  not  specified.  In  one  state 
a  slight  injury  may  mean  the  miner  lost  less  than  10  working  days, 
whereas  in  another  state  the  time  lost  may  be  3  days,  or  30  days. 

Still  other  matters  that  should  receive  notice  are  the  methods 
for  determining  the  injury  done  by  metallurgical  smoke,  the  abate- 
ment of  such  injury,  and  the  disposal  of  mine  wastes,  slag,  and  mill 
tailings  in  such  manner  as  to  avoid  damage  to  property  rights. 

Under  favorable  weather  conditions  smelter  smoke  laden  with 
injurious  fumes  and  sulphur  gases  is  carried  for  miles,  so  that  a 
smelter  situated  in  one  state  may  cause  great  damage  to  vegetation 
and  animal  life  in  another  state.  Similarly,  the  refuse  of  mines, 
mills  or  smelters  in  one  state  is  dumped  into  a  stream  to  the  damage 
of  property  further  down  stream  and  in  another  state.  The  deter- 
mination of  damages  and  the  method  of  providing  for  the  abatement 
of  the  nuisance  causing  them  should  be  substantially  similar  in 
different  states  that  justice  may  be  done  to  all. 


594         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

Uniform  Oil  and  Gas  Legislation. 

Regulations  governing  the  care  to  be  taken  in  drilling  oil  and 
gas  wells  and  in  recovering  oil  and  gas  should  be  the  same  in  every 
oil-producing  state  in  order  to  prevent  waste,  and  there  should  be 
uniform  regulations  to  govern  the  methods  by  which  abandoned 
wells  and  dry  holes  are  to  be  plugged. 

No  more  flagrant  example  of  the  need  of  legislation  governing 
operations  on  oil  lands  need  be  cited  than  the  conditions  which 
existed  in  Oklahoma  during  the  development  of  the  Gushing  oil 
field  during  1913,  1914  and  1915.  The  tremendous  waste  that  took 
place  in  connection  with  the  rapid  development  of  this  prolific  field 
resulted  in  the  creation  of  a  strong  public  sentiment  for  the  enact- 
ment of  legislation  that  would  reduce  to  a  minimum  such  waste 
of  oil  and  gas  in  the  development  of  other  fields  in  the  state. 

The  productive  lands  in  Oklahoma  are  divided  into  two  main 
classes.  One  class  includes  what  are  known  as  restricted  lands; 
these  belong  to  Indians  and  are  under  the  supervision  of  the  Federal 
Government.  The  other  class  includes  so-called  commercial  lands, 
which  are  subject  only  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  state.  Therefore,, 
two  sets  of  regulations  are  necessary.  The  first  took  effect  on  com- 
mercial lands,  or  those  not  under  the  supervision  of  the  Federal 
Government,  in  1915;  the  regulations  applying  to  restricted  lands 
were  approved  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  on  October  20,  1915. 
These  regulations,  which  are  essentially  identical,  have  been  con- 
spicuously effective  throughout  the  state  wherever  sufficient  in- 
spectors have  been  employed  to  enforce  them. 

The  regulations  require  that  wells  shall  be  drilled  under  the 
supervision  of  the  inspectors  and  in  accordance  with  the  most  ap- 
proved methods,  in  order  to  prevent  waste  of  natural  gas  and  oil 
and  wasteful  utilization  of  gas.  Each  productive  oil  or  gas  forma- 
tion that  is  drilled  through  in  order  to  reach  oil  or  gas  in  a  lower 
formation  must  be  protected  from  the  infiltration  of  water,  and  the 
various  gas  sands  that  carry  gas  in  different  volumes  and  under 
different  pressures  must  be  isolated  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
inspector.  Provision  is  also  made  for  compelling  an  operator  to 
prevent  the  contamination  or  pollution  of  any  supply  of  fresh 
water  penetrated  in  wells  drilled  for  oil  or  gas.  In  drilling  into  or 
through  commercial  gas  sands,  the  operator  is  compelled  to  use 
methods  that  will  prevent  the  waste  of  commercial  quantities,  these 
being  defined  as  any  amount  in  excess  of  2,000,000  cubic  feet  per 
24  hours.  The  operators  are  not  allowed  by  the  regulations  to 


WHAT  CAN  LEGISLATION  ACCOMPLISH?  595 

abandon  any  well  for  the  purpose  of  drilling  deeper  unless  the 
producing  stratum  is  properly  protected,  and  no  well  can  be  aban- 
doned on  Indian  lands  without  the  approval  of  the  proper  official. 
Particular  attention  is  called  to  the  detailed  directions  given  for  the 
effective  plugging  of  dry  holes  and  abandoned  wells  in  order  to 
prevent  gas  or  oil  escaping  from  one  sand  to  another,  to  prevent  the 
encroachment  of  water  on  productive  sands,  and  to  protect  the 
fresh  water  supply. 

On  lands  under  the  supervision  of  the  Federal  Government, 
the  maximum  penalty  for  violating  any  provision  of  the  regulation 
is  cancellation  of  the  lease  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  and  a 
fine  of  $50x3  a  day.  The  violator  of  regulations  on  commercial 
lands  or  those  under  the  supervision  of  the  state  authorities  is 
guilty  of  a  misdemeanor  and  may  be  punished  by  a  fine  not  to 
exceed  $5,000  or  by  30  days'  imprisonment,  or  by  both  such  fine 
and  imprisonment. 

How  Uniformity  May  Be  Procured. 

Uniform  state  laws  are  not  a  new  thing  in  the  United  States. 
Almost  every  state  in  the  union  has  at  different  times  appointed 
commissioners  to  meet  representatives  from  other  states  for  the 
purpose  of  framing  laws  covering  the  more  general  branches  of 
jurisprudence.  The  most  widely  known  work  accomplished  by 
such  commissioners  is  the  "Negotiable  Instruments  Law."  This 
statute  was  prepared  by  commissioners  on  uniform  state  laws  who 
were  appointed  by  the  various  states  to  codify  and  make  uniform 
throughout  the  United  States  the  law  relating  to  negotiable  instru- 
ments. For  the  most  part  the  statute  codified  existing  laws.  It  has 
been  adopted  without  important  amendment  in  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia and  forty-five  states  and  territories. 

The  Uniform  Sales  Act,  drafted  by  a  similar  commission  in 
1916,  has  likewise  been  enacted  in  many  states  to  cover  the  sale  of 
personal  property.  These  laws  were  put  into  effect  in  order  to 
facilitate  the  administering  of  justice,  and  are  principally  the  out- 
come of  the  efforts  of  the  various  state  and  national  bar  associa- 
tions. 

Clearly,  it  should  be  possible  for  representatives  of  those  most 
interested  in  the  adoption  of  uniform  mining  legislation  to  get  to- 
gether and  through  a  codification  of  existing  state  laws  on  mining, 
to  draft  a  uniform  law  and  recommend  that  the  various  state  legis- 
latures enact  it.  Such  a  plan  was  recently  proposed,  but  not  carried 


596         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

out,  in  Oklahoma,  with  a  view  to  amending  the  mining  laws  in  that 
state.  The  proposed  plan  called  a  commission  composed  of  two 
representatives  of  the  miners'  organization,  two  of  the  operators' 
association,  and  a  representative  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  who 
should  meet  and  draft  a  suitable  mining  law  for  submission  to  the 
state  legislature.  It  is  obvious  that  such  a  plan  as  this,  with  all 
interested  parties  behind  it,  would  .leave  the  legislatures  almost  no 
valid  reasons  for  failing  to  adopt  the  law. 

If  representatives  of  miners'  unions,  the  American  Mining 
Congress,  the  American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers,  the  Mining 
and  Metallurgical  Society  of  America,  the  Mine  Inspectors'  Insti- 
tute of  the  United  States,  and  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Mines 
were  to  confer  and  then  recommend  to  the  public  a  uniform  mining 
law  based  on  a  codification  of  present  laws,  this  proposed  law  might 
receive  as  favorable  a  reception  as  did  the  negotiable  instrument  act 
and  the  sales  act. 

I  do  not  mean  that  these  representatives  should  endeavor  to 
actually  frame  such  a  law  in  joint  session,  as  that  would  be  a 
tedious  if  not  impossible  task.  The  first  code  of  legal  ethics 
adopted  in  the  United  States — it  has  been  adopted  by  the  bar  asso- 
ciations of  eleven  states  and  is  the  foundation  for  the  American 
Bar  Association's  Canon  of  Ethics — was  drafted  by  one  man, 
Major  Thos.  Goode  Jones  of  Montgomery,  Ala. 

When  members  of  the  bar  and  other  interested  parties  decided 
that  the  various  states  would  benefit  through  a  uniform  law  covering 
negotiable  instruments,  they,  through  the  commissioners  on  uniform 
state  laws  mentioned  above,  designated  John  J.  Crawford  of  the 
New  York  bar  to  draw  such  an  act  for  discussion  and  action  by  the 
commissioners  at  their  regular  meeting,  and  then  the  final  draft 
was  submitted  to  the  public.  Therefore,  if  the  mining  men,  oper- 
ators, miners,  inspectors  and  engineers,  desire  a  uniform  mining 
law  in  the  United  States,  they  should  follow  the  methods  that  have 
been  successful  in  bringing  about  the  adoption  of  uniform  statues 
now  existing,  and  appoint  a  person  versed  in  the  mining  laws  of  the 
various  states  to  draft  an  act  to  codify  existing  legislation,  so  far  as 
practicable  and  as  of  service  to  existing  needs,  and  present  this  draft 
to  the  representatives  of  the  various  branches  of  the  industry  for 
revision,  if  needed,  and  adoption. 

Such  an  act  would  necessarily  be  elastic  and  cover  the  subject 
only  in  a  general  way,  as  it  would  be  practically  impossible  to  draft 
an  act  that  would  apply  to  every  condition  throughout  the  United 


WHAT  CAN  LEGISLATION  ACCOMPLISH?  597 

States.  However,  with  such  a  well-considered  general  act  as  a 
basis,  it  would  be  a  simple  matter  for  state  inspectors  to  issue  suit- 
able regulations  to  cover  local  conditions.  In  fact,  it  is  the  general 
rule  for  the  present  state  laws  to  cover  the  industry  only  in  a  gen- 
eral way  and  leave  the  necessary  rules  to  the  discretion  of  the  in- 
spector. 

Summary. 

Having  called  your  attention  to  the  ills  resulting  from  the 
present  lack  of  uniform  legislation,  the  need  of  such  legislation  in 
the  various  branches  of  the  mineral  industry,  the  agencies  seeking 
to  assure  it,  and  the  ways  in  which  it  may  be  procured,  I  will  briefly 
summarize  much  that  I  have  said  in  pointing  out  what  uniform 
mining  legislation  can  hope  to  accomplish. 

1.  It  can  eliminate  vexatious  and  costly  litigation  and  promote 
the  development  of  mining  property. 

2.  It  can  bring  order  out  of  the  chaos  that  envelops  present 
methods  of  determining  the  value  of  mining  properties  for  purposes 
of  taxation. 

3.  It  can  prevent  enormous  waste  of  mineral  resources  essen- 
tial to  the  continued  prosperity  of  the  nation. 

4.  It  can  lessen  disability  and  death  from  preventable  disease 
and  stop  the  spread  of  diseases  that  are  contagious. 

5.  It  can  reduce  suffering  and  death  from  accidents  and  can 
increase  safety. 

6.  By  placing  all  producers  on  the  same  basis  in  regard  to 
precautions  necessary  to  guard  the  health  and  safety  of  employes 
and   to   prevent  waste   of   resources,   it  can   end  the  advantages, 
inimical  to  national  welfare,  enjoyed  by  some  producers. 

7.  It  can  increase  national  efficiency  immeasurably  and  enable 
the  U.  S.  to  lead  the  world  in  those  things  that  contribute  most  to 
the  glory  of  a  nation. 

There  are  many  other  benefits  that  can  be  hoped  for  as  the 
result  of  uniform  mining  legislation,  but  those  I  have  pointed  out 
seem  to  me  the  most  important.  They  indicate  how  wide  is  the 
field  of  endeavor  for  those  who  are  seeking  to  obtain  such  legisla- 
tion and  how  great  is  the  need  of  all  interested  parties  and  organ- 
izations co-operating  for  the  common  good.  Surely  the  field  is 
enough  to  give  opportunity  for  us  all,  and  the  need  is  strong  enough 
to  call  for  our  best  efforts. 


IS    UNIFORM    COAL    MINING    LEGISLATION    ADVIS- 
ABLE? 

Robert  H.  Harlan,  Washington. 

Naturally,  I  approach  the  subject  assigned  to  me  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  coal  miner,  and  my  experience  has  been  such  as 
to  permit  of  but  one  answer  to  the  question  propounded  in  the  title 
of  this  address. 

The  need  for  uniform  coal  mining  legislation  in  this  country 
is  indeed  a  crying  need,  and  it  is  gratifying  to  me  to  note  that  men 
influential  in  mining  circles,  actuated  by  a  sincere  desire  to  reduce 
to  the  minimum  the  extraordinary  hazards  that  surround  the  min- 
ing of  coal  are  at  last  awakening  to  the  necessity  for  such  uniform 
legislation. 

The  object  of  all  coal  mining  legislation  is  to  minimize  to  the 
irreducible  minimum  those  natural  dangers,  occasioned  by  falling 
roof,  by  poisonous  and  combustible  gases,  and  by  the  multitude  of 
menacing  conditions  that  lurk  unseen  in  the  regions  of  the  under- 
ground and  threaten  the  life  and  limb  of  the  miner. 

Too  much  praise  cannot  be  given  the  United  States  Bureau  of 
Mines  for  the  great  work  they  have  accomplished  in  recent  years  in 
the  interest  of  safety  in  the  coal  mines  of  the  country. 

Through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  the 
inspection  departments  of  the  various  coal  mining  states  are  now 
co-operating  with  each  other  and  with  the  Federal  Government  to 
a  degree  never  heretofore  attained,  and  it  is  because  of  the  spirit  of 
co-operation  and  co-ordination  of  effort  that  has  been  already 
created  that  I  regard  this  as  being  a  propitious  time  to  lay  plans 
for  uniform  basic  laws  in  the  interest  of  safety  in  our  coal  mines. 

There  is  much  to  be  done  and  surely  much  that  can  be  success- 
fully accomplished  to  further  reduce  the  accidents  that  yearly  take 
such  a  terrible  toll  of  lives  in  the  mining  industry  of  the  United 
States. 

No  further  argument  is  needed  than  that  furnished  in  the 
reports  of  coal  mining  fatalities  compiled  by  the  Federal  Bureau  of 
Mines.  The  fatality  rate  per  each  1,000  men  employed  is  uni- 
formly greater  in  the  United  States  than  in  any  other  coal  mining 


IS  MINING  LEGISLATION  ADVISABLE?  599 

country  of  the  world  with  the  possible  exception  of  British  Colum- 
bia. To  emphasize  this  unpleasant  fact  more  fully,  let  me  point  out 
that  the  average  fatality  rate  in  the  United  States  for  the  ten  year 
period  from  1901  to  1910,  per  1,000  men  was  3.74.-  In  France  for 
the  same  period,  the  rate  was  1.69;  for  the  same  period  in  Belgium, 
the  rate  was  1.02. 

In  the  year  1914,  the  fatality  rate  per  1,000  men  employed  in 
the  United  States  was  3.22.  For  the  year  1914,  the  rate  per  1,000 
in  Great  Britain  was  1.08. 

These  figures,  gleaned  from  Government  reports,  give  food 
for  serious  reflection,  and  in  the  light  of  the  facts  they  establish, 
we  may  very  properly  ask  the  question :  "Is  there  not  some  serious 
defect  in  our  system  of  mine  inspection  or  in  our  protective  legis- 
lation governing  coal  mines?" 

We  can  hardly  attribute  the  higher  fatality  rate  in  the  United 
States  to  adverse  natural  conditions,  because  coal  in  Europe  and  par- 
ticularly in  the  mines  of  Great  Britain  is  mined  usually  at  a  great 
depth,  and  under  conditions  at  least  equally  as  difficult  and  as  dan- 
gerous as  are  to  be  found  here. 

What  then  is  the  reason?  It  is  my  candid  opinion  that  the 
chief  reason  for  the  disparity  manifested  in  the  fatality  reports 
above  quoted,  is  because  of  the  difference  in  the  system  of  mine 
inspection  and  enforcement  of  mining  regulations. 

In  Great  Britain  and  other  coal  mining  countries  of  Europe, 
the  national  government  exercises  direct  supervision  over  the  coal 
mines.  The  inspection  of  mines  is  a  function  of  government. 
Inspectors  are  selected  because  of  their  competency  to  faithfully 
fulfill  the  duties  of  their  office,  and  the  entire  system  of  mine  inspec- 
tion is  removed  from  the  baneful  influence  of  party  politics. 

A  national  mining  code,  embracing  broad  principles  of  safety 
is  uniformly  and  rigidly  enforced.  In  contrast  to  this  exercise  of 
centralized  national  authority,  with  its  resultant  maximum  of  effi- 
ciency, we  in  the  United  States  have  28  state  governments  each  legis- 
lating unto  itself  according  to  its  own  particular  process,  and  oft- 
times  along  lines  completely  out  of  harmony  with  the  recognized 
trend  of  modern  progressive  mine  safety  legislation. 

Each  state  has  improvised  its  own  system  of  mine  inspection, 
and  it  is  unfortunately  true  that  this  function  of  government  with 
its  grave  responsibility  for  the  safe-keeping  of  so  many  human 


600         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

lives  is  made  a  football  of  partisan  politics  in  a  majority  of  the  coal 
producing  states  of  the  Union. 

In  certain  states  where  broad  minded  consideration  has  been 
given  to  the  question  of  adequate  mine  safety  legislation,  certain 
operators  have  been  placed  at  a  competitive  disadvantage,  because 
of  the  lack  of  proper  legalized  safeguards  in  the  coal  mines  across 
the  boundary  line  of  an  adjoining  state.  A  condition  that  puts  the 
penalty  upon  the  mine  operator  who  observes  humane  laws  in  the 
interest  of  safety  is  indefensible. 

At  the  last  International  Convention  of  the  United  Mine 
Workers  held  in  Indianapolis,  January,  1916,  these  matters  were 
given  consideration  and  the  following  resolution  was  adopted: 

"Whereas,  mining  is  historically  a  function  of  government,  and 
the  coal  mining  industry  in  particular  is  of  paramount  importance 
to  the  industrial  life  and  well-being  of  the  Nation,  and 

"Whereas,  in  the  event  of  a  crisis  beng  precipitated  wherein 
these  United  States  would  have  to  repel  foreign  aggression,  it  is 
obvious  that  the  Federal  Government  would  be  compelled  to  immedi- 
ately declare  national  control  over  the  coal  mining  industry  in  the 
interest  of  the  common  weal,  and 

"Whereas,  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  convention  that  this  action, 
necessary  to  the  common  good  in  time  of  war,  is  equally  necessary 
to  the  common  good  in  time  of  peace,  as  we  have  in  mind  the 
appalling  number  of  accidents  and  fatalities  that  occur  each  year 
in  the  coal  mining  industry,  and  we  feel  that  if  the  industry  were 
under  federal  control,  under  a  department  of  mining,  and  subject 
to  the  provisions  of  a  federal  coal  mining  regulation  act,  with  the 
inspection  of  mines  removed  from  the  influence  of  state  politics, 
that  these  accidents  could  be  reduced  to  a  minimum,  and 

"Whereas,  the  present  condition  of  affairs,  wherein  a  great 
national  industry  is  subjected  to  the  laws  and  requirements  of  the 
separate  states  where  coal  is  mined,  results  in  unfair  competitive 
relations,  as  the  employer  in  a  state  where  just  and  humane  mining 
laws  prevail  is  placed  at  a  disadvantage  when  in  competition  with 
the  employers  from  states  where  the  welfare  of  the  men  employed 
in  the  mines  has  been  disregarded;  therefore,  be  it 

"Resolved,  that  this  convention  urge  Congress  to  take  the  nec- 
essary steps  to  have  the  coal  mining  industry  declared  interstate 
commerce  and  to  be  subject  to  the  authority  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment, and  we  instruct  the  international  executive  board  to  use 
its  efforts  to  crystallize  public  sentiment  in  favor  of  such  action  and 


IS  MINING  LEGISLATION  ADVISABLE?  601 

to  take  such  steps  as  they  may  deem  proper  to  the  attainment  of 
this  desired  end." 

I  cite  the  above  in  order  that  this  Conference  may  be  familiar 
with  the  attitude  of  my  organization  upon  the  question  of  uniform 
mining  legislation. 

I  recognize  that  it  is  not  within  the  province  of  this  body  to 
consider  plans  whereby  the  Federal  Government  would  be  able  to 
exercise  direct  and  complete  jurisdiction  over  the  coal  mines  of  our 
country.  I  take  it  that  the  object  sought  for  in  this  Conference  is 
to  have  the  various  states  represented  here,  agree  upon  certain 
broad  principles  of  mine  safety  with  a  view  to  securing  uniform 
legislation  along  the  lines  laid  down  by  enactment  of  the  state  leg- 
islatures. However,  I  accept  this  opportunity  to  state  that,  in  my 
judgment,  the  desired  results  could  be  best  secured  if  it  were  pos- 
sible to  extend  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Federal  Government  by  con- 
stitutional amendment  or  otherwise,  to  govern  the  mining  of  coal. 

I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  fact  that  most  of  the  coal  mined  in 
the  country  becomes  interstate  commerce  in  transit,  and  by  the 
same  process  of  reasoning  that  enabled  Congress  to  pass  remedial 
legislation  in  the  interest  of  the  child  slaves  of  the  mills  of  the 
south,  they  could  enact  certain  basic  inspection  and  safety  laws 
affecting  the  major  portion  of  the  nation's  coal  mines. 

The  legality  of  such  a  procedure  is  a  matter  that  my  organ- 
ization now  has  under  consideration,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  if  it 
were  possible  to  overcome  the  obstacles  created  by  virtue  of  the 
autonomy  practiced  by  the  respective  states,  we  could  then  arrive 
by  a  direct  route  at  the  results  sought  by  this  meeting  by  the  more 
indirect  method  of  legislating  by  states. 

In  any  event,  the  only  individual  that  could  have  any  interest 
in  opposing  practical  uniform  mining  legislation  is  the  individual 
who  seeks  competitive  gain  at  the  expense  of  the  safety  of  his 
employes.  Some  such  there  are  in  the  mining  business,  as  in  every 
other  business,  but  I  prefer  to  think  the  number  is  few  indeed,  con- 
sequently I  apprehend  but  little  opposition  to  any  plans  that  may 
be  formulated  in  this  meeting  in  the  interest  of  uniform  mining 
legislation. 

At  the  St.  Louis  meeting  of  the  Mine  Inspectors'  Institute  of 
the  United  States,  the  advisability  and  practicability  of  uniform  min- 
ing legislation  was  made  a  matter  of  discussion.  Mr.  Beard  of  New 
York  made  the  following  pertinent  statement: 

"If  we  do  not  finish  the  subject  of  how  far  we  can  go  in  the  matter 
of  securng  uniformity  in  mine  legislation,  we  have  left  something  undone 


602         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

that  is  very  important.  I  would  suggest  at  the  start  that  we  disimbue 
our  minds  entirely  of  the  thought  that  uniformity  in  certain  points  is 
impossible  or  impracticable." 

Mr.  Beard  then  presented  the  following  list  of  questions  for 
consideration : 

"The  first  question  is:  Should  mine  foremen,  assistant  mine  fore- 
men, fire  bosses  and  other  mine  officials  be  required  to  qualify  by  pass- 
ing an  examination  before  a  duly  organized  examining  board?  While, 
as  we  all  know,  such  examination  and  certification  is  provided  for  in 
the  mining  laws  of  many  coal  mining  states,  it  is  a  fact  to  be  regretted 
that  the  laws  of  other  states  make  no  such  provision.  Indeed,  in  some 
coal  producing  states  the  question  of  mine  legislation  has  not  been  con- 
sidered separately  from  the  general  code,  in  which  the  matter  is  given 
little  consideration.  I  would  suggest  that  it  is  a  matter  worthy  of  the 
zareful  consideration  of  this  body  whether  or  not  men  holding  these 
official  positions  in  any  and  all  states  should  be  required  by  law  to 
qualify  by  showing  their  fitness  and  competency  to  hold  such  positions. 

"The  second  question  is:  What  should  be  the  character  and  per- 
sonnel of  such  an  examining  board,  and  what  should  be  required  of 
candidates  desiring  to  take  the  examination  for  a  certificate  of  compe- 
tency? I  think  this  is  another  important  question  worthy  of  careful 
consideration  by  this  body.  We  would  be  able  to  classify  conditions 
in  mining  as  to  outline  what  ge.neral  requirements  should  be  exacted  of 
candidates  for  certain  positions.  We  should  consider  how  much  tech- 
nical knowledge  a  man  should  be  required  to  possess  to  become  mine 
foreman,  assistant  mine  foreman  or  fire  boss.  Also,  how  much  practical 
experience  a  candidate  should  be  required  to  possess,  and  of  what  na- 
ture. Some  will  argue  that  no  technical  knowledge  is  necessary  to 
make  a  good  mine  foreman,  and  it  is  for  this  body  to  determine  the 
question. 

"The  third  question  is:  What  are  the  responsibilities  of  the  mine 
foreman,  assistant  mine  foreman  and  fire  boss,  severally,  and  what 
authority  has  each  of  these  in  relation  to  their  duties  in  the  mine? 
This  may  seem,  on  first  thought,  to  be  an  unnecessary  question  for  dis- 
cussion. When  we  reflect,  however,  on  the  different  conditions  sur- 
rounding the  work  of  these  men,  it  is  clear  they  should  possess  the 
knowledge  and  experience  that  will  fit  them  for  their  particular  work. 
In  some  mines  the  authority  of  the  fire  boss,  in  respect  to  gas,  is 
supreme,  while  in  other  instances  there  is  no  such  recognition  in  the  law 
relating  to  the  fire  boss  in  his  work.  There  has  been  much  discussion 
in  the  press  regarding  the  responsibility  of  the  assistant  mine  foreman 
under  the  law.  Much  difference  of  opinion  has  been  expressed  in  this 
regard,  and  it  has  been  shown  that  the  mine  foreman  and  his  assistant, 
and  in  some  cases  the  fire  boss,  hold  only  nominal  authority  in  respect 
to  their  work,  which  is  practically  under  the  control  of  the  superin- 
tendent or  the  manager  of  the  mine,  and  in  order  to  hold  their  positions 
these  officials  must  do  as  requested  -by  their  superior  officers.  This  is 
also  an  important  question. 

"The  fourth  question  is:  Should  the  mine  superintendent  be  re- 
quired to  qualify  by  taking  an  examination  similar  to  that  required 
of  the  candidates  for  inferior  positions  in  mining?  I  need  not  remind 
you  that  there  is  no  qualification  required  of  candidates  for  this  posi- 
tion in  any  of  the  coal  producing  states.  It  is  true  the  mine  superin- 
tendent often  has  far  less  practical  experience  than  the  foreman,  while 
his  superior  position  and  his  relation  to  the  mine  foreman,  who  is 
supposed  to  carry  out  his  orders,  are  such  that  it  would  seem  that  the 
requirements  for  the  position  should  be  as  strict  as  those  now  required 
by  law  for  inferior  and  less  responsible  positions  in  the  mine. 

"The  fifth  question  is:  Is  it  possible  to  form  any  general  classifica- 
tion of  mines  with  respect  to  dust,  gas  and  ventilation,  with  a  view  to 


IS  MINING  LEGISLATION  ADVISABLE?  603 

enforcing  more  strict  regulations  in  regard  to  the  accumulation  of  dust 
in  the  workings  and  its  treatment;  the  more  thorough  and  frequent  in- 
spection of  mines  generating  gas,  and  the  more  efficient  ventilation  of 
the  working  places  by  making  certain  specifications  relating  to  the 
building  of  stoppings,  brattices,  doors  and  overcasts,  so  that  the  cur- 
rent of  air  entering  the  mine  will  be  made  to  sweep  the  entire  working 
face?  The  law  should  also  specify  clearly  that  the  air  current  must 
not  only  be  measured  in  the  main  intake  and  return,  and  at  the  mouth 
of  each  air  split,  but  also  at  the  inside  crosscuts,  to  ascertain  that  the 
air  current  is  doing  the  work  intended." 

After  considerable  discussion,  the  Institute  adopted  the  follow- 
ing resolution: 

"Resolved,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  the  Mine  Inspectors'  Institute 
that,  in  order  to  secure  the  greatest  degree  of  safety  in  the  operation 
of  coal  mines,  it  is  absolutely  essential  for  all  men  holding  positions  of 
authority  in  respect  to  underground  operations  should  be  required  to 
qualify  for  such  positions  by  passing  an  examination  that  will  show  their 
fitness  and  competency  to  conduct  the  operations  in  a  safe  manner." 

At  a  meeting  in  Washington,  D.  C,  last  year,  called  by  the 
Director  of  the  Federal  Bureau  of  Mines,  composed  of  mine  in- 
spectors of  the  United  States  and  others  interested  in  the  standard- 
ization of  mining  reports  and  mine  statistics,  favorable  considera- 
tion was  given  to  the  need  of  uniform  mining  legislation  and  it  was 
unanimously  agreed  that  the  Federal  Bureau  of  Mines  should  draft 
a  standard  set  of  rules  and  regulations  for  coal  mines,  similar  to 
that  prepared  by  the  Bureau  relating  to  metal  mines  and  published 
as  Bulletin  No.  75.  To  the  best  of  my  knowledge,  this  bulletin 
has  not  been  published.  So  the  trend  is  in  the  right  direction  and 
the  time  seems  at  hand  to  take  such  action  in  this  conference  as  will 
insure  tangible  results  in  the  way  of  uniform  mining  laws. 

I  feel  that  the  suggestions  made  by  Mr.  Beard  at  the  St. 
Louis  meeting  of  mine  inspectors  are  worthy  of  special  note  and 
point  the  way  to  practical  reforms  that  might  be  incorporated  in  a 
uniform  mining"  code. 

I  realize  that  in  attempting  to  outline  any  plan  whereby  cer- 
tain principles  in  the  interest  of  safety  might  be  suggested  as  a 
basis  for  a  uniform  mining  code,  I  am  opening  a  wide  field  for 
controversy.  However,  I  am  going  to  suggest  for  your  considera- 
tion the  following  propositions : 

1.  The  advisability  of  a  uniform  examination  of  coal  miners  with 
a  view  to  ascertaining  their  competency,  in  harmony  with  the  Illinois 
law. 

2.  The  advisability  of  an  examination  of  mine  officials  as  suggested 
by  Mr.  Beard. 

(Note:     See  mining  laws  of  Oklahoma.) 

3.  The  advisability  of  removing  as  far  as  possible  mine  inspection 
from  the  influence  of  state  politics,  requiring  state  mine  inspectors  to 


604         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

pass  adequate  examination  tests  and  clothing  the  office  of  mine  inspector 
with  proper  police  power  as  outlined  by  the  Iowa  law. 

4.  The  advisability  of  a  general  classification  of  mines,  with  respect 
to  dust,  gas  and  ventilation,  with  a  view  to  enforcing  strict  regulations 
regarding  the  proper   humidity  of  dusty  mines,  and  other  suggestions 
of  Mr.  Beard  quoted  above. 

5.  The  advisability  of  legislation  providing  that  timber  be  plenti- 
fully supplied,  to  which  the  miner  may  have  ready  access,  with  a  view 
to  lessening  the  alarming  death  rate  occasioned  by  falls  of  roof. 

In  this  connection  it  might  be  well  to  point  out  that  between  40 
and  50  per  cent  of  mine  fatalities  in  the  United  States  are  caused  by  fall 
of  roof,  and  it  is  my  judgme.nt  that  this  condition  could  be  ameliorated 
if  proper  mine  timbers  were  plentifully  furnished  the  miners  in  all  in- 
stances, and  strict  regulations  enforced  compelling  proper  timbering  of 
all  working  places. 

6.  The  advisability  of  uniform  legislation  with  a  view  to  increas- 
ing the  safeguards  around  electric  wires,  etc.     Almost  a  hundred  men 
and  boys  are  killed  annually  in  the  United  States  because  of  coming  in 
contact  with  electric  current. 

(Note:     See  mining  laws  of  Oklahoma.) 

7.  Advisability   of   uniform   legislation    regulating    age    when    boys 
may  enter  the  mines. 

8.  Advisability  of  uniferm  legislation  dealing  with  places  of  egress, 
escape  shafts,  air  shafts,  traveling  ways,  etc. 

9.  Advisability  of  uniform  legislation  establishing  minimum  of  air 
supply  per  person  employed  and  per  mule,  horse  or  other  animal  used 
within  mine,  and  providing  for  proper  distribution  of  ventilation. 

10.  Advisability    of    uniform    legislation    providing    for    adequate 
supply  of  first  aid  and  mine  rescue  appliances  at  each  mine. 

11.  Advisability  of  uniform  legislation  providing  for  standardization 
of  mining  reports  throughout  the  country,  in  harmony  with  plan  to  be 
outlined  by  United  States  Bureau  of  Mines. 

I  venture  these  suggestions  in  the  hope  that  they  may  be  of 
some  practical  assistance  to  the  Conference  in  working  out  a  gen- 
eral plan  in  the  interest  of  greater  safety  in  the  mines  of  our  coun- 
try. 

The  problems  that  must  be  met  and  overcome  in  a  work  of 
this  character  are  obviously  many,  but  the  great  good  that  can  be 
accomplished  in  preventing  as  far  as  is  humanly  possible  a  recur- 
rence of  the  terrible  holocausts  that  from  time  to  time  spread 
misery  and  desolation  throughout  our  mining  regions,  is  a  work 
worthy  of  our  best  minds. 

The  men  whom  I  have  the  honor  to  represent  have  their  lives 
invested  in  the  mines  of  the  nation ;  the  welfare  and  happiness  of 
thousands  of  miners'  homes  depend  upon  the  care  exercised  in 
keeping  these  mines  safe,  so  it  seems  needless  for  me  to  state  to  this 
body  that  we  stand  ready  and  willing  to  cooperate  in  any  and  all 
movements  that  honestly  seek  to  lessen  the  hazard  of  coal  mining. 

Thousands  of  human  lives  are  bound  up  in  this  question  of 
adequate  coal  mining  legislation,  and  in  the  face  of  the  facts  de- 
veloped in  the  fatality  reports  published  by  the  Bureau  of  Mines 


IS  MINING  LEGISLATION  ADVISABLE?  605 

and  the  comparison  with  similar  reports  from  other  coal  mining 
countries,  who  can  gainsay  but  what  we  have  been  negligent  of 
our  priceless  human  resources,  and  in  the  great  work  to  which  this 
meeting  is  dedicated,  our  honor  as  an  enlightened  nation,  jealous  of 
the  welfare  of  our  people,  is  at  stake. 

In  behalf  of  the  United  Mine  Workers,  I  want  to  thank  this 
body  for  the  services  they  are  rendering  the  mining  communities  of 
our  country,  and  it  is  but  fitting  that  I  add  our  token  of  grateful 
appreciation  to  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Mines  and  the  many 
other  progressive  forces  that  are  so  unselfishly  and  assiduously 
working  to  reduce  the  dangers  incident  to  the  mining  of  coal  in  the 
United  States. 


THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT  AND  THE  CALIFORNIA 

OIL  CLAIMANTS. 
By  Louis  Titus,  California. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention:  In  1897 
Congress  passed  a  law  throwing  open  the  public  oil  lands  of  the 
United  States  to  entry  under  the  placer  mining  laws  of  the  United 
States.  Now  that  law  was  hardly  appropriate  for  oil,  but  never- 
theless Congress  did  pass  that  law  making  the  oil  lands  subject,  as 
I  have  said,  to  the  general  placer  mining  laws. 

The  trouble  with  the  placer  mining  laws,  as  applied  to  oil 
claims,  is  simply  this :  That  before  you  can  have  a  valid  mining 
location  you  must  make  a  discovery  of  mineral.  The  gold  miner 
wishing  to  take  a  placer  mine,  takes  a  pan  and  perhaps  washes  a 
few  colors  of  gold,  nothing  of  any  particular  value,  but  if  he  has 
color  he  makes  a  discovery.  After  he  has  filed  his  location,  he  has 
a  vested  right  in  that  claim  to  the  property ;  it  belongs  to  him,  and 
so  long  as  he  does  his  work  upon  that  property  it  is  property  just 
as  much  as  any  other  property  is  property.  But  in  the  case  of  oil 
it  is  slightly  different.  It  lies  beneath  the  surface  of  the  earth  a 
thousand  feet  and  possibly  five  thousand  feet  below  the  surface 
of  the  earth,  and  in  many  cases  no  such  thing  as  a  discovery  is  pos- 
sible until  after  the  expenditure  of  a  great  many  thousand  dollars. 

Nevertheless,  although  the  law  in  that  respect  was  inappro- 
priate, the  petroleum  lands  of  the  United  States  were  taken  up 
under  the  placer  mining  laws,  and  people  filed  their  locations,  they 
drilled,  and  in  the  course  of  time,  having  made  their  discoveries, 
they  got  their  patents  to  the  land.  The  question  that  was  raised 
was  what  were  a  man's  rights  when  he  went  upon  this  land  and  filed 
his  notice  of  location  without  having  made  a  discovery,  and  during 
the  time  when  he  was  drilling  for  oil.  Finally  through  decisions 
of  the  courts,  not  by  statute  law,  but  through  decisions  of  the  courts 
it  was  established  that  the  man  in  possession  had  a  right  to  retain 
his  possessions  and  to  keep  off  intruders  so  long  as  he  was  using 
such  diligence  as  he  reasonably  could  towards  discovering  the  oil, 
and  had  a  right  to  remain  in  possession  and  had  a  right  to  eject  a 
trespasser,  if  need  be,  and  finally,  of  course  upon  the  discovery  of 


THE  GOVERNMENT  AND  OIL  CLAIMANTS  607 

oil  he  had  a  right  to  procure  a  patent,  and  that  claim,  such  as  it 
was,  was  a  valid  claim,  and  the  courts  even  held  it  was  a  right  that 
he  could  transfer  and  sell  to  other  parties. 

Now,  that  was  an  invitation  by  the  United  States  Government 
to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  go  up  onto  public  domains 
and  explore  for  oil,  and  the  citizens  responding  to  that  invitation 
did  go  upon  the  public  domain  and  did  explore  for  oil.  And  with 
the  law  in  that  condition,  and  with  this  work  going  on  upon  public 
lands  of  the  United  States,  on  September  29,  1909,  the  President 
of  the  United  States  made  what  was  known  as  the  first  withdrawal 
of  oil  lands. 

Now,  that  withdrawal  was  simply  this :  Here  was  a  law  of 
Congress,  mind  you,  passed  by  both  Houses  of  Congress  and  signed 
by  the  President,  that  had  been  in  existence  since  1897  applying 
to  all  the  public  lands  in  the  United  States.  Yet  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  in  1909,  said  "This  law  is  repealed  as  to  three 
million  acres  of  the  public  domain;  or,  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  repeals  this  law,  and  it  shall  not  apply  to  three  million  acres 
of  lands  of  the  public  domain."  Well,  that  was  a  startling  thing. 
Nobody  ever  thought  before  that  the  President  of  the  United  States 
could  repeal  the  law.  It  had  never  occurred  to  anybody  that  the 
President  of  the  United  States  could  repeal  the  law.  The  President 
had  a  chance  to  veto  the  law,  but  when  it  became  a  law  we  always 
supposed  he  was  through,  and  he  could  not  repeal  the  laws  of  the 
United  States.  But  that  is  exactly  what  he  did. 

Now,  that  seems  so  absurd,  so  ridiculous,  so  incomprehensible, 
that  the  miners  all  over  the  United  States  with  one  voice  said,  "He 
can't  do  it,  the  order  which  he  has  made  is  invalid,  he  can't  repeal 
the  laws  which  Congress  has  passed."  And  when  the  question  came 
into  court  as  to  whether  the  President  had  a  right  to  do  this,  the 
Federal  judges  of  Wyoming  and  one  of  the  Federal  judges  of  Cal- 
ifornia both  decided  that  the  order  was  invalid,  the  President  had 
no  such  right. 

President  Taft  himself,  who  was  an  eminent  lawyer,  doubted 
his  own  right  to  make  such  an  order  without  a  special  act  of  Con- 
gress, and  he  sent  a  message  to  Congress  in  which  he  expressed  a 
doubt  that  he  had  any  right  to  make  such  an  order,  and  asked  Con- 
gress to  pass  a  special  law  giving  him  that  authority,  which  was 
afterwards  done.  Attorney  General  Wickersham  advised  the  Pres- 
ident he  had  no  such  authority  to  make  that  order,  and  yet  after 
the  case  got  into  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  the 


608         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  decided  that  the  order  was 
valid,  and  the  President  had  a  right  to  make  it.  It  is  true  it  was 
by  the  divided  vote  of  five  to  three,  and  the  change  of  one  vote 
would  have  made  it  a  tie,  which  would  have  made  the  order  invalid, 
because  the  lower  courts  decided  the  order  was  invalid,  so  there 
were  ten  Federal  judges  that  had  a  chance  at  that  order  as  to 
whether  it  was  valid  or  invalid,  and  five  of  them  decided  that  it 
was  invalid  and  five  of  them  decided  it  was  valid. 

Now,  when  the  judges  don't  know  what  the  law  is,  and  when 
the  lawyers  don't  know  what  the  law  is,  how  will  the  poor  oil  oper- 
ators, out  in  the  California  desert,  know  what  the  law  is?  But 
anyway,  some  men  acting  upon  the  advice  of  their  counsel,  believ- 
ing thoroughly  that  that  order  was  invalid,  believing  that  the  Presi- 
dent had  no  right  to  do  what  he  had  done,  and  believing  that  the 
law  which  Congress  had  passed  in  1897  was  still  in  full  force  and 
effect,  went  upon  the  public  domain  even  after  the  withdrawal,  and 
located  land  under  the  law  as  they  believed  the  law  was,  and  as 
Congress  had  passed  it. 

There  were  not  many  such  cases,  very,  very  few.  I  don't  sup- 
pose in  all  the  trouble  we  have  had  in  California  that  there  have 
been  ten;  I  am  quite  sure  there  will  be  less  than  ten  cases  of  that 
kind,  but  there  were  some  cases  of  men  who  went  upon  the  public 
domain  after  the  withdrawal,  but  they  went  there  in  the  best  of 
faith,  they  went  there  upon  the  advice  of  counsel  that  the  President 
had  no  right  to  make  such  a  law. 

Now,  it  has  been  said,  in  circulars  and  in  the  press  and  in  legal 
argument  made  to  the  court,  that  these  men  had  defied  the  order, 
that  they  wilfully  and  maliciously,  if  you  please,  defied  the  order 
of  the  President  of  the  United  States.  Well,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
they  were  simply  doing  what  Congress  had  invited  them  to  do. 
Now,  it  turned  out  that  they  were  mistaken  in  their  legal  position 
because  the  Supreme  Court  said  they  were  mistaken,  and  so  far  as 
the  rights  of  those  men  are  concerned,  the  men  who  went  there 
after  the  withdrawal,  that  is  a  question  which  Congress  will  ha*ve 
to  settle,  whether  it  will  do  anything  for  them  or  not,  because  leg- 
ally, of  course,  they  have  no  right  whatever. 

However,  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  a  clause  in  the  order 
of  withdrawal.  President  Taft  wrote  right  into  this  order  of  with- 
drawal, "All  claims  existing  and  valid  on  this  date  shall  proceed  to 
entry  in  the  usual  manner."  That  clause  has  sometimes  been  over- 


THE  GOVERNMENT  AND  OIL  CLAIMANTS  609 

looked.    "All  claims  existing  and  valid  on  this  date  may  proceed  to 
entry  in  the  usual  manner." 

Now,  what  did  he  mean  by  that?  What  was  an  oil  man  who 
was  in  possession  of  a  claim,  who  already  had  his  location,  who 
was  already  doing  such  work  as  he  could,  what  was  he  to  do  then? 
Was  he  not  entitled  to  think  his  rights  were  protected?  That  the 
order  had  no  application  to  him?  That  is  what  it  said  on  its  face. 
Now,  it  is  argued  by  the  Government  attorneys  that  the  statement 
meant  that  it  applied  only  to  claims  upon  which  there  had  been  a 
discovery  made.  Now,  it  is  hardly  possible  that  such  could  have 
been  the  intention  of  the  President,  because  after  discovery  was 
made  the  rights  were  vested,  and  neither  the  President  nor  Congress 
itself  could  take  away  rights  after  they  once  became  vested.  So 
he  must  have  meant  claims  that  were  valid  in  the  sense  I  have 
before  stated,  claims  that  were  valid  in  the  sense  that  you  had  a 
right  to  stay  there,  a  right  to  continue  in  the  occupancy,  and  explore 
and  to  discover  oil  if  you  could,  and  get  a  patent.  That  is  the  rea- 
sonable interpretation  of  that  order,  and  the  court,  so  far  as  they 
have  interpreted  it  at  all,  have  so  interpreted  it.  There  has  only 
been  one  judicial  determination  of  that  order,  which  was  by  Judge 
Bledsoe,  in  California,  and  he  held  that  was  the  meaning  of  that 
clause.  So  that  as  far  as  the  man  in  possession  was  concerned,  the 
order  of  withdrawal  meant  nothing  to  him.  He  didn't  suppose 
that  that  could  void  his  rights  at  all.  And  so  he  went  on  mining, 
trying  to  find  oil,  and  the  California  cases  and  some  cases  in  Wyom- 
ing have  approved  it. 

Now,  this  saving  clause  that  these  claims  might  proceed  to 
entry  in  the  usual  manner,  I  wish  to  call  your  particular  attention  to 
that,  that  these  valid  and  existing  claims  were  not  to  be  affected  by 
the  withdrawal,  but  they  might  proceed  to  entry  in  the  usual  man- 
ner. Now,  the  usual  manner  was  for  a  man  to  do  such  work  as 
he  could  do.  This  was  out  in  the  desert.  •  There  was  no  water  to 
be  had.  There  were  some  small  supplies  of  water  there,  but  the 
evidence  in  the  cases  which  have  already  been  tried  shows  conclu- 
sively, and  the  courts  have  so  held,  that  water  was  almost  impos- 
sible to  be  had  by  a  great  number  of  operators  in  1909  and  early 
in  1910.  It  means  that  a  man  would  have  had  to  have  gone  40 
miles  away  and  brought  in  water,  an  expenditure  of  some  three  or 
four  hundred  thousand  dollars,  but  the  locator  with  160  acres  of 
land  couldn't  make  any  such  expenditure  as  that,  and  it  was  not 
reasonable  that  he  should  be  required  to  make  any  such  expendi- 


610         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

ture  as  that.  All  that  he  could  do,  as  a  practical  thing,  was  to  build 
his  derrick,  put  his  house  up  for  his  men  to  work  in  getting  ready 
to  drill,  then  wait  till  somebody  brought  in  water  that  he  could 
use  for  drilling,  because  there  were  projects  under  way  for  bring- 
ing in  water,  and  they  sometimes  thereafter  did  materialize  and 
water  was  brought  in. 

So  that  in  1910  there  was  a  considerable  amount  of  water,  and 
large  drilling  went  on. 

Now,  I  want  to  cite  you  just  one  case  which  has  been  decided 
in  the  courts  already,  and  I  won't  go  outside  of  the  opinion  of  the 
judge  for  the  curious  and  almost  incomprehensible  state  of  the  law 
as  it  exists  now.  In  the  Midway-Northern  case,  which  was  decided 
not  so  very  long  ago,  there  were  many  interesting  points.  On 
one  particular  quarter  section  of  land,  it  was  shown  these  men  had 
been  in  possession  something  like  two  years  before  the  first  order 
of  withdrawal.  They  had  their  house  on  the  ground,  they  had  a 
complete  standard  derrick,  an  improvement  costing  several  thou- 
sand dollars,  but  they  couldn't  get  water  and  couldn't  go  on  drilling, 
although  doing  some  slight  work  that  could  be  done  there,  but  on 
September  27,  1909,  they  had  all  those  improvements  there.  They 
couldn't  work  because  they  didn't  have  water  to  drill  with.  In 
1910,  the  very  next  year,  within  just  a  few  months,  they  made 
arrangements  to  get  water.  They  got  the  water  and  they  pro- 
ceeded to  drill,  and  they  had  oil  in  May  of  1910.  That  was  a  per- 
fect claim.  President  Taft  had  said  that  they  might  proceed  to 
entry  in  the  usual  manner  and  that  they  should  finally  get  their 
patent.  That  was  a  perfect  claim,  nothing  the  matter  with  it,  an 
absolute  title,  and  on  June  25,  1910,  a  month  later,  Congress  passed 
what  is  known  as  the  Pickett  bill,  which  said  that  the  rights  of  any 
person,  any  claimant  for  oil  land,  who  at  the  date  of  any  with- 
drawal heretofore  made  shall  not  be  affected  by  that  withdrawal, 
if  at  the  date  of  the  withdrawal  he  was  in  diligent  prosecution  of 
work  leading  to  discovery  if  he  has  continued  that  work  with  dili- 
gence until  he  made  the  discovery. 

Well,  now,  diligence  is  always  a  relative  thing.  Diligence  ordi- 
narily means  that  you  shall  only  do  such  things  as  a  reasonable  man 
would  do.  It  doesn't  require  you  to  do  something  superhuman, 
something  impossible.  At  least,  that  is  what  we  have  always 
thought  reasonable  diligence  meant.  And  yet  the  judge  in  deciding 
this  case  decided  all  these  facts  just  as  I  have  related  them  to  you, 
decided  that  the  Pickett  bill  required  them  to  be  diligently  at  work 


THE  GOVERNMENT  AND  OIL  CLAIMANTS  611 

looking  to  the  discovery  of  oil  at  the  date  of  the  withdrawal,  and 
that  the  work  must  be  continued  thereafter  every  day,  and  that  no 
excuse  or  delay  would  be  tolerated.  The  language  of  the  judge 
was  this:  "The  law  requires  them  to  have  been  at  work,  and  the 
fact  that  water  was  impractical  or  even  impossible  to  procure,  is  no 
excuse." 

So  that  here  we  have  the  case  of  a  man  who  had  a  perfect 
claim,  his  title  was  absolutely  perfect,  he  discovered  oil,  and  yet 
Congress,  a  month  after  he  has  discovered  oil,  passed  the  law  which 
swept  all  his  rights  away,  and  that  man  has  been  decided  by  the 
court  not  to  have  any  title  to  that  land — more  than  that,  all  the 
money  he  spent  on  improvements  are  adjudged  to  belong  to  the 
United  States  Government,  the  well,  the  machinery,  the  derrick, 
everything  belongs  to  the  United  States  Government,  he  gets 
nothing  for  it. 

Now,  that  is  the  condition  that  confronts  people  today,  and 
that  is  the  condition  that  we  need  relief  against.  And  this  case  is 
so  plain  and  so  manifest  that  every  time  we  have  a  chance  to  get 
before  a  committee  of  Congress,  we  have  practically  got  the  unani- 
mous vote  in  our  favor.  We  haven't  been  able  to  pass  it  through 
the  Senate,  but  we  hope  to  do  better  this  time. 

I  didn't  mean  to  take  quite  so  long,  but  there  is  just  one  other 
feature  of  this  that  I  want  to  refer  to,  and  I  refer  to  it  with  a  good 
deal  of  timidity,  perhaps,  because  there  is  some  sentiment  about  the 
United  States  Navy.  The  Navy  appeals  to  us  all.  We  are  all  for 
the  Navy,  and  it  has  been  the  worst  thing  that  we  have  had  to  con- 
tend against,  the  question  of  the  Naval  Reserve. 

Now,  mind  you,  this  withdrawal  was  in  1909,  the  Pickett  bill 
was  in  1910.  Oil  wells  were  all  over  this  property  by  1912,  and  in 
December,  1912,  three  years  after  the  first  withdrawal,  five  years 
after  much  of  this  land  had  been  occupied  and  improved,  the  Presi- 
dent created  the  Naval  Reserve.  Somebody  drew  a  red  line  around 
13,000  acres  on  the  map,  and  said,  "This  is  the  Naval  Reserve." 
And  now  because  the  Navy  is  a  sacred  thing  we  are  asked  to  lie 
down  and  say,  "Let  the  Navy  take  all  of  this  land." 

Now,  even  if  the  Navy  needs  oil,  it  would  apparently  be  the 
reasonable  thing  to  do  for  the  Navy  to  buy  it.  The  Navy  might 
need  a  shipbuilding  yard.  That  would  be  no  reason  why  they 
should  go  somewhere  and  confiscate  one.  If  they  need  a  shipbuild- 
ing yard  they  can  build  one  or  buy  one.  So,  if  they  need  this  oil 
reserve  they  can  buy  it.  Of  course  the  President  tomorrow  under 


612         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

the  authority  of  the  law  now,  because  Congress  has  passed  a  law 
giving  him  authority  to  do  so,  can  create  as  many  naval  reserves 
as  he  chooses,  and  the  Governor  has  told  you  that  there  are  3,000,- 
ooo  acres  of  this  oil  land,  classified  as  oil  land  by  the  Geological 
Department,  all  of  which  could  be  made  into  a  naval  reserve  tomor- 
row if  there  was  any  need  to  do  so,  which  of  course  there  is  not, 
because  there  is  an  abundance  of  oil  for  the  Navy  for  years  to 
come  when  the  figures  are  analyzed. 

But  now  just  think  of  the  situation  here.  Take  a  case  of  two 
men  side  by  side  in  the  field  in  California,  both  there  before  with- 
drawal, both  working  in  good  faith,  had  discovered  oil,  and  they 
were  there  believing  their  titles  were  good  on  the  I2th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1912,  when  this  red  line  was  drawn  and  the  Naval  Reserve 
created.  Now,  isn't  it  absurd  to  think  that  the  man  on  one  side  of 
that  line  should  be  protected  in  his  rights  afterwards,  and  the  man 
on  the  other  side  should  have  all  his  property  confiscated  because 
he  couldn't  know  where  that  red  line  was  going  to  be  placed? 

As  I  say,  the  thing  is  so  manifest  on  the  face  of  it,  that  every 
time  we  have  had  a  chance  to, present  these  facts  to  the  committee 
in  Congress  we  have  practically  secured  a  unanimous  vote. 

Now,  I  thank  you  for  letting  me  open  up  this  discussion  in 
this  way.  The  chairman  of  this  committee  is  much  more  familiar 
with  all  these  things  than  I  am,  and  I  think  he  can  discuss  this 
argument  much  better  than  I  can  do,  and  I  turn  it  over  to  him. 


THE    RELATION    OF    THE    FEDERAL    GOVERNMENT 

TO  WESTERN  OIL  PRODUCTION. 

Hon.  James  N.  Gillett  of  California. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  About  the  year  1908,  the 
United  States  Government  commenced  to  study  the  oil  situation  in 
the  west  as  it  affected  the  public  lands  in  that  section  of  the  coun- 
try. Those  in  authority,  and  those  who  had  been  investigating  the 
subject,  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  something  ought  to  be  done 
by  the  National  Government  to  conserve  the  oil  resources  of  the 
country,  and  to  keep  such  a  control  over  them  as  to  prevent  monop- 
oly, waste  and  over-production.  So  in  September,  1909,  on  the  2/th 
of  that  month,  President  Taft  made  a  temporary  withdrawal  order 
withdrawing  from  entry  oil  lands  in  California  and  Wyoming.  It 
covered  a  large  territory,  including  many  thousands  of  acres  of 
patented  as  well  as  government  lands.  It  was 'done  in  aid  of  future 
legislation. 

In  this  order  of  withdrawal  it  was  provided  that  those  who  had 
valid  claims  or  locations  existing  at  the  date  of  withdrawal  might 
proceed  to  entry  in  the  usual  manner.  At  that  time  there  was  in 
the  State  of  California  many  oil  claimants  who  had  gone  into  the 
mountains  of  that  state  upon  government  land,  had  filed  their 
notices  of  location,  and  had  proceeded  to  develop  the  property,  but 
had  not  yet  discovered  oil  though  they  had  expended  large  sums 
of  money  in  their  efforts  to  do  so. 

The  Government  since  that  time  has  continued  to  make  with- 
drawals until  today  it  has  withdrawn  from  entry  over  three  million 
acres  of  public  lands  distributed  in  California,  Wyoming,  Colorado, 
Utah  and  Montana,  and  I  think  some  in  Arizona. 

There  has  been  an  effort  for  two  years  by  Congress  to  pass 
some  law  by  which  this  large  tract  of  valuable  land  might  be  opened 
and  become  useful  to  the  people,  but  so  far  nothing  has  been  accom- 
plished. It  is  intended  that  the  Government  shall  have  full  control 
of  the  oil  lands,  not  only  those  which  have  been  withdrawn,  but 
those  which  will  be  hereafter  discovered,  because  it  has  been  the 
policy  for  the  last  few  years  as  soon  as  known  oil  fields  have  been 
found,  and  the  geologists  of  the  United  States  Government  are  sent 


614         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

west  looking  for  such  fields,  to  withdraw  them  from  entry,  so  we 
may  safely  assume  that  from  now  on  whenever  any  public  land  is 
discovered  to  contain  petroleum  that  it  will  be  immediately  with- 
drawn from  entry.  So  as  far  as  the  west  is  concerned  from  now 
on  the  development  of  oil  fields  and  the  production  of  oil  upon 
public  land  is  going  to  be  under  the  control  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment, and  this  for  the  purpose  of  providing  a  supply  of  oil  for 
the  Navy,  to  prevent  waste  of  oil  lands,  and  to  prevent  monopoly. 
We  hope  that  all  this  may  be  properly  accomplished. 

It  is  true  that  in  the  past  a  great  deal  of  waste  has  occurred 
in  valuable  oil  lands  by  reason  of  the  negligent  manner  in  which 
the  wells  have  been  drilled ;  some  have  been  abandoned  so  that 
water  would  get  into  the  oil  sand  and  destroy  large  areas.  There 
has  been  also  at  times  an  over-production  which  has  produced  a 
great  loss  in  oil  and  to  those  engaged  in  oil  operations.  An  oil  field 
would  be  discovered,  locations  would  be  made,  wells  would  be 
drilled  and  then  immediately  there  would  start  a  race  on  the  part 
of  everyone  interested  to  get  the  oil  out  as  rapidly  as  possible,  and 
the  man  who  gets  his  well  down  first  can  drain  the  oil  of  his  neigh- 
bor, and  wells  were  drilled  right  along  the  boundary  lines  except  in 
instances  where  those  owning  the  property  would  agree  that  they 
should  be  drilled  further  apart.  This  had  a  bad  effect  on  the  oil 
business  of  the  State  of  California  and  in  the  west,  and  it  is  hoped 
that  the  oil  leasing  bill  which  is  now  pending  will  remedy  this.  An 
oil  leasing  bill,  proposed  by  Secretary  Lane,  was  introduced  in  the 
House  by  Congressman  Ferris,  of  Oklahoma,  and  is  known  as  the 
Ferris  Bill. 

This  bill  provides  that  a  permit  may  be  given  by  the  Interior 
Department  to  anybody  who  wishes  to  prospect  for  oil.  If  he 
seeks  to  prospect  for  oil  within  10  miles  of  a  known  oil  well,  the 
permit  may  only  cover  640  acres;  if  he  seeks  to  explore  for  oil  in 
a  territory  more  than  10  miles  from  a  known  oil  well,  then  it  may 
embrace  2,560  acres.  He  then  posts  his  notice  upon  this  claim, 
marks  its  boundaries,  which  must  be  in  a  compact  form,  and  within 
six  months  of  the  time  the  permit  is  granted  he  must  commence  to 
drill  for  oil,  and  must  drill  a  well  at  least  500  feet  deep  within  a  year. 
If  he  succeeds  in  discovering  oil,  then  he  is  to  receive  a  patent  for 
one-fourth  of  the  land  included  within  his  permit.  It  becomes  his 
property  and  he  can  do  with  it  as  he  pleases,  excepting  under  such 
regulations  as  the  Government  may  establish.  Now  all  the  rest 


RELATION  OF  GOVERNMENT  TO  OIL  PRODUCTION    615 

of  the  land  within  the  zone  or  within  this  field  that  is  then  known 
to  be  oil  land  the  Government  intends  to  lease  in  competition  bid- 
ding to  the  one  who  will  pay  the  highest  royalty,  not  less  than  ten 
per  cent. 

In  issuing  these  permits  and  granting  these  leases  the  Govern- 
ment will  get  full  control  of  the  oil  field.  It  has  the  right  to  direct 
how  wells  shall  be  drilled  and  where  they  shall  be  drilled.  It  will 
protect,  as  far  as  protection  can  be  made  possible,  water  from  escap- 
ing into  the  oil  sand,  and  it  will  control  to  a  large  extent  the  pro- 
duction. 

Now,  the  government  also  intends  to  use  some  of  its  oil  for 
the  Navy,  which  will  consume  a  great  deal,  some  two  million  barrels 
a  year,  of  one  of  the  most  valuable  and  indispensable  products  that 
we  have  in  this  country.  But  other  nations  are  burning  oil,  and 
our  Government  is  going  to  do  the  same  thing.  This  will  mean  that 
the  Government  will  probably  have  to  in  certain  places  build  refin- 
eries and  control  pipe  lines. 

It  is  expected  by  the  establishing  of  refineries  and  the  building 
of  pipe  lines,  to  control  the  oil  fields,  to  protect  small  operators 
against  monopoly,  to  preserve  the  oil  within  the  land,  and  to  use 
it  as  it  is  needed,  and  not  to  take  it  out  and  put  it  in  expensive  tanks, 
but  to  use  the  earth  itself  as  a  reservoir  in  which  to  confine  the  oil 
during  the  time  that  the  Government  will  not  need  it.  This  will 
mean  an  enormous  saving  to  the  Government  and  to  those  who  own 
the  oil  lands,  and  will  save  the  great  expense  in  the  construction 
of  tanks  to  contain  the  oil.  So  it  seems  to  many  who  have  studied 
this  question  and  given  it  thought  the  Government  control  of  the 
oil  fields  in  the  west  and  the  enforcement  of  proper  regulations 
will  tend  to  and  will  conserve  the  Nation's  oil  supply.  Of  course 
in  the  east  there  are  no  public  lands,  but  in  the  west  we  have  got 
great  fields  yet  undeveloped  and  possibly  other  great  fields  that  will 
be  found. 

Now,  this  oil  leasing  bill  called  the  Ferris  Bill  passed  the  House 
at  the  last  session,  and  failed  of  passage  in  the  Senate.  In  the 
present  session  it  passed  the  House  again  and  is  now  pending  in  the 
Senate,  and  the  plan  is,  or  was,  just  before  Congress  adjourned,  to 
take  the  matter  up  for  consideration  during  the  month  of  December, 
and  the  probabilities  are  at  this  session  of  Congress  we  will  have 
an  oil  leasing  bill,  which  will  turn  over  to  the  Government  all  the 
oil  lands  in  the  west  excepting  those  which  are  owned  by  private 


616         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

parties,  or  excepting  those  upon  which  people  have  locations  prior 
to  the  withdrawal,  which  are  valid  claims. 

Now,  in  connection  with  this  leasing  bill  there  has  been  consid- 
erable discussion  growing  out  of  the  claims  of  certain  people  in  Cal- 
ifornia and  Wyoming  who  went  upon  the  Government  lands,  as 
they  had  a  right  to  go  under  the  placer  mining  laws,  and  made  loca- 
tions prior  to  any  order  of  withdrawal.  This  matter  is  now  before 
the  Senate  and  is  being  considered  in  the  oil  leasing  bill,  in  fact,  the 
bill  as  it  passed  the  House  contains  certain  provisions  that  a  person 
who  entered  upon  public  land  and  discovered  oil  might  receive  a 
lease  from  the  Government,  a  preferential  lease  for  the  land  upon 
which  the  discovery  was  made. 

In  California,  prior  to  the  time  of  the  first  withdrawal,  which 
was  on  September  27,  1909,  a  great  many  people  had  gone  into  our 
mountain  districts,  our  oil  districts,  and  located  lands  under  the 
placer  mining  law,  a  law  which  was  always  a  misfit  law,  and  a 
hard  one  to  follow.  This  country  into  which  they  went  was  an 
arid  country,  a  barren  country,  intensely  hot  in  summer,  and  with 
but  little  water.  They  proceeded  the  best  they  could  to  develop 
their  different  locations  under  the  existing  conditions  and  when 
this  order  was  made,  without  any  notice  that  it  was  to  be  made,  it 
found  many  of  them  there  on  the  land,  some  drilling,  some  building 
roads,  some  bringing  in  water,  some  doing  this  work  and  some 
doing  that,  but  such  work  as  was  necessary  to  discover  oil.  Now 
several  thousand  acres  of  this  kind  of  land  is  involved.  When  the 
order  of  withdrawal  was  made,  some  continued  to  go  on  with  their 
development,  others  became  alarmed,  stopped  work  and  sought 
counsel  and  advice.  The  result  has  been  that  a  great  deal  of  doubt 
exists  as  to  just  what  their  rights  are.  Some  claim  they  are  entitled 
to  a  patent,  the  Government  insists  they  are  only  entitled  to  a  lease, 
and  this  is  a  question  which  is  a  very  vital  question  to  the  oil  oper- 
ators in  the  states  of  California  and  Wyoming. 

The  people  that  I  have  called  your  attention  to,  before  this 
order  of  withdrawal  was  made,  had  spent  millions  of  dollars  in  the 
development  of  these  oil  fields.  There  is  one  company  there  called 
the  Honolulu  Consolidated  Oil  Company,  which  spent  over  three 
millions  of  dollars,  built  over  forty  miles  of  fine  oil  road,  brought 
water  from  a  long  distance,  and  had  power  houses,  miles  of  tele- 
phone lines  and  gas  lines  built  in  the  development  of  their  property, 
and  have  no  patent  as  yet,  and  their  right  to  a  patent  is  being  con- 
tested. Others  have  made  not  so  extensive  improvements,  but  all 


RELATION  OF  GOVERNMENT  TO  OIL  PRODUCTION    617 

have  done  work  that  was  necessary  leading  to  the  discovery  of  oil, 
and  all  were  acting  in  good  faith. 

In  1912,  about  three  or  four  years  after  these  people  had  been 
upon  the  land  and  developing  it,  and  fighting  law  suits,  and  doing 
the  best  they  could  to  hold  on  to  their  rights,  and  many  becoming 
bankrupt,  the  Government  conceived  the  idea  of  using  oil  for  the 
Navy,  and  it  became  important  then  that  there  should  be  set  aside 
certain  lands  for  Naval  Reserves,  and  representatives  of  the  Geo- 
logical Survey  went  into  California  for  the  purpose  of  locating  such 
reserves.  They  selected  a  tract  containing  38,000  acres  of  land. 
There  were  two  or  three  wells  only  in  this  large  territory.  This 
land  was  claimed  by  the  geologist  who  made  the  survey  to  be  per- 
fectly adapted  for  the  purposes  of  a  Naval  Reserve.  It  was  esti- 
mated by  that  geologist  to  contain  three  hundred  million  barrels, 
or  probably  twice  that  amount  of  oil.  The  Secretary  of  the  Interior 
in  September,  1912,  made  an  order  setting  aside  this  particular  piece 
of  land  as  a  Naval  Reserve  and  it  is  known  as  Naval  Reserve  No. 
One.  Now  adjoining  this  piece  of  land  was  another  tract  where  all 
of  the  work  I  have  mentioned  had  been  going  on,  or  a  large  part  of 
it.  Three  months  later,  in  December  of  1912,  it  was  decided  to 
establish  another  Naval  Reserve,  and  over  night  a  reserve  was  estab- 
lished on  this  tract  containing  30,720  acres  of  land,  which  is  known 
as  Naval  Reserve  No.  Two. 

One-half  of  this  land  is  owned  by  the  Southern  Pacific  Rail- 
road Company,  it  having  received  patents  therefor  as  early  as  1896. 
Several  thousand  acres  more  were  patented  to  others  who  had 
located  it  for  different  purposes.  There  are  six  or  seven  thousand 
more  acres  of  land  that  have  been  either  patented  or  clear-listed, 
or  will  be  patented  or  clear-listed,  so  there  are  about  five  or  six 
thousand  acres  in  this  reserve  that  is  in  dispute  between  the  Gov- 
ernment and  those  who  have  been  occupying  and  claiming  the  land 
and  have  discovered  oil  thereon. 

I  want  to  state  here  that  these  people  who  are  in  possession 
were  there  from  three  to  four  years  before  ever  a  Naval  Reserve 
was  thought  of.  Nearly  all  of  them  had  discovered  oil.  None  of 
them  had  received  patents  and  their  rights  are  now  being  threatened. 
Millions  of  dollars  have  been  spent  by  them  upon  this  particular 
tract.  Wells  are  all  over  it.  It  is  impossible  to  conserve  the  oil 
in  this  reserve  for  the  reason  that  the  wells  that  are  now  there  and 
will  be  drilled  by  those  who  own  their  land  will  drain  most  of  it. 
Suits  have  been  commenced  by  the  Government  against  these  people 


618         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

claiming  that  they  have  no  right  to  the  lands,  that  they  were  neg- 
ligent in  their  development  of  it,  that  is  that  they  didn't  use  dili- 
gence in  their  development.  Receivers  have  been  appointed,  and 
have  taken  charge  of  their  properties,  and  the  stockholders,  con- 
sisting of  merchants,  farmers  and  business  men,  stand  to  lose  all  of 
the  money  which  they  have  invested. 

Naval  Reserve  No.  3  is  in  Wyoming.  It  consists  of  about  9,520 
acres  of  land.  It  is  claimed  that  this  reserve  is  a  very  valuable 
reserve.  I  think  the  Geological  Survey  estimates  that  it  contains 
about  30,000,000  barrels  of  oil.  It  has  been  stated  that  this  reserve 
is  as  valuable  and  as  rich  in  oil  as  the  Tea  Pot  Dome  and  it  is  esti- 
mated that  it  contains  over  30,000  barrels  to  the  acre.  And  this 
particular  reserve,  geologists  have  stated  to  me,  contains  at  least 
300,000,000  barrels  of  oil. 

Now,  these  are  the  three  reserves  that  the  Government  has 
already  withdrawn  for  the  uses  of  the  Navy.  The  Naval  Reserve 
No.  One  with  38,000  acres  in  which  practically  there  is  no  private 
ownership  at  all.  Naval  Reserve  No.  Two,  where  people  have  been 
spending  thousands  and  thousands  and  millions  of  dollars  long 
before  a  reserve  ever  was  thought  of  who  have  not  yet  received  a 
patent,  and  are  now  being  held  up,  and  Naval  Reserve  No.  Three, 
in  Wyoming,  which  is  free,  I  understand,  from  private  claims. 

Now,  while  the  Navy  should  have  all  the  oil  that  it  needs  to 
properly  operate  its  ships  so  that  we  may  have  vessels  as  speedy 
as  those  of  any  other  nation,  it  seems  to  the  people  of  Wyoming 
and  particularly  of  California,  that  it  is  not  necessary  for  the  Navy 
in  securing  this  oil  to  reach  out  and  take  from  its  citizens  property 
which  they  have  developed  in  good  faith  during  all  these  years,  and 
upon  which  they  have  spent  their  fortunes.  The  Government  is 
not  going  to  run  short  on  oil.  The  three  reserves  that  it  has  would 
run  it  for  a  great  many  years,  but  the  Government  has  already,  as 
I  stated  in  the  beginning,  withdrawn  over  three  million  acres  of 
petroleum  land  out  of  which  it  can  create  as  many  more  reserves  as 
it  may  desire.  So  the  Government  need  not  be  apprehensive  of  the 
oil  which  it  needs  now  in  the  future  for  its  Navy  if  the  people  who 
are  in  California  get  either  a  patent  or  a  lease  for  the  land  which 
they  have  occupied  and  which  they  have  claimed  for  so  long. 

.  Now  the  Senate  Public  Lands  Committee  amended  the  House 
bill  and  provided  that  those  who  had  entered  upon  land  prior  to 
the  withdrawal  thereof,  and  had  done  substantial  work  upon  the 
land  and  discovered  oil  should  receive  a  patent.  It  also  provides 


RELATION  OF  GOVERNMENT  TO  OIL  PRODUCTION    619 

that  another  class  should  receive  leases,  and  this  amendment  we 
hope  that  the  Senate  will  put  through  either  in  the  form  in  which 
it  is  prepared  or  in  some  other  form  so  that  it  will  protect  the 
citizens  who  in  good  faith  occupied  Government  land  under  the 
placer  mining  laws  of  this  country,  before  a  withdrawal  order  was 
made,  or  before  a  Naval  Reserve  was  created.  We  think  we  can 
arrange  this  matter  with  the  Government  working  in  co-operation 
with  it,  and  also  to  enact  a  law  which  will  conserve  the  oil  of  the 
west,  because  it  is  one  of  our  greatest  resources.  We  don't  want  it 
wasted.  \Ve  want  it  used  to  the  best  advantage.  We  want  our  oil 
resources  placed  in  the  hands  of  those  who  will  in  good  faith  go  on 
and  develop  them,  and  we  hope  the  legislation  which  is  now  pending 
will  be  so  drawn  that  this  will  be  brought  about ;  and  that  the  Gov- 
ernment may  co-operate  and  work  with  the  people  in  the  west,  and 
that  it  may  have  a  controlling  influence  and  supervision  over  the 
work  to  be  done.  We  realize  the  great  importance  of  this  product 
for  the  present  and  for  the  future.  We  do  not  desire  to  have  it 
wasted.  Wre  would  like  to  see  it  under  proper  regulation.  The 
Government  is  now  going  to  take  charge  of  it,  and  we  hope  that  its 
charge  will  be  fair,  will  be  reasonable  and  will  be  just,  and  in  bring- 
ing about  this  change  the  greatest  thing  it  seems  to  me  to  do  is 
that  those  who  have  equities  and  fair  equities  shall  be  protected,  and 
this  we  believe  Congress  will  do. 

There  is  shown  a  spirit  on  the  part  of  the  members  of  the 
Public  Lands  Committee  in  the  Senate  and  the  Public  Lands  Com- 
mittee in  the  House  to  take  care  of  those  who  have  honest  claims. 
There  are  some  objections,  and  always  are  some  objections  to  every 
movement  that  goes  before  Congress  in  which  any  party  in  the  west 
is  asking  for  anything,  but  I  believe  that  when  it  is  fully  understood, 
and  when  the  country  understands  the  situation,  that  there  will  be 
no  serious  objections  to  the  Government  taking  charge  of  the  oil 
fields  of  the  west,  properly  developing  them,  controlling  and  regu- 
lating them,  and  at  the  same  time  doing  justice  to  those  who  before 
this  change  was  brought  about  were  there  upon  the  land  in  good 
faith  and  had  spent  large  sums  of  money  in  developing  the  different 
properties  which  they  now  are  claiming. 


UNCLE  SAM  AND  WESTERN  PUBLIC  LAND  QUESTION 

How  the  Nation  Tries  to  Insert  Itself  into  Western  Affairs  by 

Means  of  Its  Ownership  of  Lands  and  What  the 

West  Thinks  of  It  All. 

By  Hon.  F.  H.  Short,  Fresno,  California. 

Mr.  Toastmaster  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  Of  course,  I 
trust  that  you  are  not  anticipating-  that  the  delivery  will  be  up  to 
the  sample  that  has  been  cited.  I  desire  to  say,  however,  that  if 
any  one  of  you  thinks  I  am  consuming  too  much  time  and  desires 
to  interrupt  me  in  the  same  way  (laughter)  and  with  the  same  con- 
sideration the  previous  speaker  was  interrupted,  don't  hesitate. 
(Laughter.) 

In  this  little  colloquy  about  time  I  was  reminded  that  I  have 
talked  frequently  in  front  of  distinguished  speakers.  You  know, 
if  you  have  a  real  speaker  of  distinction,  you  always  hold  him  to 
the  last,  and  in  order  that  he  may  not  arrive  too  soon  you  have  other 
speakers  to  fill  in  the  interval  before  he  comes.  However,  by  the 
time  I  get  through  with  an  intelligent  and  elaborate  elucidation  of 
the  land  laws  of  the  western  states,  it  will  be  full  time  for  Colonel 
Pope  to  arrive. 

This  argument  about  time  reminded  me  about  what  I  have 
often  thought  of  when  the  speaker  was  before  me  at  a  banquet.  It 
is  a  story  of  the  fellow  that  was  going  through  the  country.  I 
believe  there  are  a  number  of  educated,  scholarly  looking  gentlemen 
present  tonight,  and  he  was  an  educated,  scholarly  looking  gentle- 
man. A  farmer  was  out  feeding  his  hogs  and  he  was  calling  them 
in  the  good  old-fashioned  way  and  distributing  good,  old,  hard  corn 
for  them  to  eat  in  the  good  old-fashioned  way.  And  the  professor 
and  scientist,  as  professors  and  scientists  are  inclined  to  do,  looked 
on  him  with  a  troubled  and  worried  face.  He  said  to  him :  "My 
friend,  .don't  you  know  if  you  boil  the  corn  before  you  feed  it  to 
the  hogs  they  would  get  fat  in  half  the  time?" 

The  farmer  said:  "You  don't  really  mean,  do  you,  that  they 
would  get  fat  in  half  the  time?" 


UNCLE  SAM  AND  WESTERN  LAND  QUESTION          621 

"Yes,"  he  said ;  "we  have  made  perfectly  good  and  scientific 
tests,  and  if  you  will  boil  the  corn  thoroughly  and  feed  it  to  the 
hogs  that  way  they  will  get  fat  in  half  the  time." 

The  old  man  studied  the  question  a  little  bit,  and  then  he 
started  throwing  out  the  good,  old,  hard  corn  to  the  hogs,  and  after 
a  while  he  said:  "Oh,  anyhow,  what's  time  to  a  hog?"  (Laughter.) 

I  want  to  say  to  you,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  that,  having  a  very 
distinguished  speaker  that  you  will  all  stay  to  hear,  time  is  irrele- 
vant to  me.  (Laughter.) 

The  subject  that  I  am  supposed  to  discuss  is  the  relation  of 
the  United  States  Government  to  the  western  lands.  Preliminary 
to  that  I  want  to  illustrate  what  seems  to  me  to  be  a  square  deal. 
A  few  years  ago,  and  a  few  years  only,  the  idea  was  developed  that 
all  of  the  soil  and  resources  of  this  country  belonged  to  all  of  the 
people  of  the  country  and  should  be  retained  for  the  benefit  of  all. 
That  sounded  pretty  good  to  me  and  at  first  I  was  inclined  to  wonder 
if  I  wasn't  in  on  that  deal.  (Laughter.)  The  remaining  resources 
of  the  nation  belonged  to  all  of  the  people  of  the  nation,  there 
being  a  hundred  million  Americans,  of  course  if  it  belonged  to  all 
of  them  and  we  should  get  a  hundred  million  dollars  a  year  I  would 
get  a  dollar.  However,  with  some  experience  in  the  realization  of 
political  hopes — not  referring  to  the  unkindly  remarks  about  Cali- 
fornia, of  course  (laughter) — but  with  some  experience  in  the 
realization  of  political  hopes  and  the  promises  of  political  returns 
and  political  dividends,  I  have  grown  so  unbelieving  that  I  never 
put  my  money  anywhere  except  on  the  pay  roll,  and  that  no  matter 
how  munificent  the  resources  of  a  nation  may  be,  if  they  are  handled 
by  some  of  the  people  for  the  benefit  of  all  of  the  people,  some  of 
the  people  get  them  before  they  get  to  any  of  the  rest  of  the  people. 
(Laughter.)  I  never  have  worked  up  very  great  excitment  about 
any  of  the  soil  or  resources  west  of  the  Missouri  River  getting  east 
of  the  river,  unless  by  taxation  or  flood.  As  an  illustration  of  the 
situation  I  would  cite  the  following:  If  the  remaining  resources  of 
the  United  States  are  going  to  be  really  used  for  the  benefit  of  the 
whole  nation,  there  are  only  about  ten  million  of  us,  men,  women 
and  children,  in  that  portion  of  Uncle  Sam's  establishment  that  we 
had  fondly  believed  was  ours,  as  the  other  portion  had  been  yours. 
If  that  part  is  going  to  be  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  nation,  we 
will  have  to  go  through  considerable  labor  and  travel  and  through 
a  good  deal  of  trouble  with  ten  millions  of  people  to  contribute  a 


622         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

great  deal  out  of  their  resources  for  the  benefit  of  the  other  ninety 
millions  of  Americans. 

So  just  to  illustrate  that  situation  I  have  invented  what  is  called 
The  Parable  of  the  Four  Sons.  My  friend,  Colonel  Roosevelt, 
named  it,  thanks  to  him.  It  runs  this  way:  if  the  remaining  re- 
sources of  the  Nation  now  belong  to  all  of  the  people  of  the  Nation, 
there  was  a  time  when  all  the  resources  of  the  Nation  belonged  to 
all  the  people  of  the  Nation.  You  could  not  get  away  from  that, 
could  you?  But  Uncle  Sam,  being  the  father  of  four  sons,  and  so 
that  we  may  have  our  history  and  geography  straight,  we  will  call 
them  East  and  North  and  South  and  West;  and  Uncle  Sam,  being 
a  good  father,  generous  to  a  fault,  proceeded  to  distribute  to  his 
three  elder  sons,  East  and  North  and  South,  all  of  that  portion  of 
the  estate  that  pertained  to  them  or  their  children.  Whether  he  did 
it  wisely  or  unwisely  we  don't  know ;  but  that  he  did  it  no  one  can 
deny.  And  that  portion  of  the  estate  that  fell  to  the  younger 
brother,  West,  was  not  supposed  to  be  worth  a  very  great  deal, 
being  mostly  deserts  and  mountains  and  wilderness.  But  West  was 
quite  an  industrious  young  fellow,  inclined  to  exploration  and  devel- 
opment; and  he  began  to  demonstrate  that  by  taking  those  wonder- 
ful rivers  that  head  in  these  real  mountains  and  traverse  real  valleys 
into  the  world's  most  majestic  sea — by  the  development  of  power 
and  distribution  of  water  it  began  to  look  as  if  the  inheritance  of 
the  younger  brother,  West,  was  pretty  near  one-quarter  of  the 
estate,  and  it  was  about  this  time  that  a  great  idea  of  regeneration 
and  moral  uplift  seized  the  minds  of  East  and  North  and  South. 
(Laughter  and  applause.)  And  the  more  they  thought  about  it 
the  worse  they  felt  about  it,  and  finally  they  went  to  Uncle  Sam  and 
said,  "Father,  in  the  distribution  of  that  portion  of  your  estate  which 
you  have  distributed  to  us  and  to  our  children  you  have  sinned 
against  heaven  and  in  the  sight  of  all  men  and  have  greatly  impaired 
the  family  estate.  The  only  recompense  that  we  can  suggest  and 
the  only  antonement  is  that  you  take,  seize  and  hold  that  portion  that 
was  supposed  to  belong  to  the  younger  brother  for  the  benefit  of 
the  whole  Sam  family."  (Laughter.) 

Mr.  Welch,  the  other  day,  yesterday,  I  think  it  was,  in  a  very 
excellent  address  before  the  Oil  Section,  said  that  science  was  a 
progressive  matter,  but  that  law  was  unprogressive.  Well,  now,  it 
may  be  that  that  is  so,  and  if  we  think  it  over,  it  has  got  to  be  so. 
I  think  it  is  nearly  four  the  usand  years  since  Moses  wrote  the  Ten 
Commandments.  I  am  not  testifying  as  a  witness,  but  testifying  to 


UNCLE  SAM  AND  WESTERN  LAND  QUESTION          623 

my  best  information  and  belief  (laughter),  and  I  am  perfectly  pre- 
pared to  admit  that  the  scientific  methods  and  mechanical  devices 
by  which  the  ten  commandments  were  constructed  would  not  be  up 
to  date  now — not  at  all.  There  has  been  a  good  deal  of  progress 
involved  in  the  printing  of  the  ten  commandments;  but  is  there  any 
progress,  either  to  or  away  from  the  ten  commandments?  Isn't  it 
pretty  near  true  that  they  are  the  substance  of  all  the  law?  And 
if  my  friends  would  ever  get  wise  to  the  idea  that  unless  truth, 
which  is  supposed  to  be  eternal,  is  progressive,  that  law  and  justice 
cannot  in  that  sense  be  progressive  at  all.  If  you  are  going  to 
progress  away  from  the  commandment,  "Thou  shalt  not  steal," 
which  way  would  you  progress  ?  You  see,  there  is  no  progress  in 
right  and  wrong. 

And  so  it  was  that  when  the  public  lands  of  this  nation  were 
set  apart  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  ago  under  a  declaration  by 
the. United  States  Government  that  it  would  hold  them  and  dispose 
of  them  as  soon  as  might  be  done  to  actual  settlers,  and  erect  over 
the  lands  thus  disposed  of  new  states  that  should  be  equal  with  the 
original  states  in  all  respects  whatsoever,  there  was  written  into 
the  law  of  this  country  a  commandment,  and  just  as  the  people  of 
Illinois  and  all  the  states  that  lie  about  Illinois  never  paid  Uncle  Sam 
anything  when  they  wanted  to  build  a  road,  because  it  was  necessary 
to  the  development  of  our  common  country,  and  they  never  paid 
anything  when  it  was  necessary  to  build  railroads  or  utilize  the 
water  resources  of  the  state  over  the  public  lands,  just  so  it  is  true 
that  that  policy  should  be  continued  and  the  soil  and  resources  of 
the  United  States  should  be  dedicated  forever  to  citizenship  and  to 
homes  and  to  the  development  of  the  resources  of  the  nation  and 
the  people,  so  that  we  shall  have  one  great,  equal  and  common  coun- 
try in  every  part  of  the  country.  (Applause.) 

Now,  in  the  west  those  of  us  who  have  studied  this  subject 
believe  in  conservation  in  a  common  sense  way.  There  is  no  sug- 
gestion but  what  intelligence  should  be  used  in  preserving  the  for- 
ests. Any  civilized  people  ought  to  take  good  care  of  their  soil  and 
adopt  all  advanced  methods  of  protecting  and  improving  it.  Our 
minerals,  coal  and  oil,  ought  to  be  produced  and  mined  in  such  a 
a  way  as  to  endure  the  longest  possible  time.  All  of  these  things 
are  sane  and  sensible.  But  I  have  heard  addresses  in  which  it  was 
asserted  that  at  the  present  rate  of  consumption  and  increase  that 
coal  would  be  consumed  in  seventy-five  or  a  hundred  years — all 
of  it. 


624         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

Then  I  heard  a  man  testify  a  few  months  later — one  of  the 
scientific  geologists — that  there  was  enough  coal  surveyed  in  Alaska, 
south  of  the  Arctic  Circle,  to  last  the  world  at  the  present  rate  of 
consumption  for  two  thousand  years,  and  there  probably  was  as 
much  more  north  of  the  Arctic  Circle.  And  I  saw  a  statement  from 
Lieutenant  Schackleford  that  in  discovering  the  South  Pole  they 
traveled  for  many  weeks  over  pretty  near  perpetual  solid  coal.  So 
that  I  imagine,  with  the  growing  ingenuity  and  growing  knowledge 
and  science  of  mankind,  that  we  need  not  worry  about  our  children 
or  our  children's  children  taking  care  of  themselves,  but  that  they 
will  take  care  of  themselves  just  as  the  preceding  generations  have 
taken  care  of  themselves. 

If  you  were  to  ask  me  what  I  thought  was  true  conservation, 
I  would  tell  you  that  I  thought  it  began  when  Benjamin  Franklin 
drew  the  first  lightning  from  the  clouds  and  stole  a  little  of  their 
thunder  as  well.  That  marked  the  beginning  of  electricity.  In  Cal- 
ifornia, while  we  are  consuming  some  of  our  oils  and  our  coals,  we 
are  not  worrying  very  much  about  their  destruction  or  exhaustion, 
because  by  utilizing  the  streams  that  flow  on  the  high  mountains  in 
the  west,  by  reservoiring  them  against  waste  and  letting  them  come 
down  at  our  will  and  harnessed  in  power,  we  can  produce  in  that 
state  all  of  the  power  that  is  necessary  to  heat  and  light  all  of  our 
homes,  to  carry  on  all  of  our  commerce  and  do  all  of  our  manu- 
facturing, all  of  the  time,  and  that  power  is  not  consumed  as  is  coal 
and  oil  and  wood,  but  it  runs  on  and  on  and  will  endure  as  long  as 
flowers  bloom  and  rivers  run.  Therefore,  I  say  to  you,  an  American 
audience,  that  I  think  it  is  time  that  we  should  begin  to  look  quietly 
and  sanely  at  these  matters.  As  the  people  of  the  United  States 
work  out  their  common  problems,  as  the  people  of  Illinois  and  adja- 
cent states  work  out  their  problems,  so  can  the  people  of  the  west- 
ern states,  having  staked  their  all  upon  the  issue  and  being  the  sons 
and  daughters  of  the  men  of  the  east,  I  believe  they  can  work  out 
and  will  work  out  their  problems  in  the  same  honest  and  intelligent 
way.  All  we  ask  is  that  the  trust  long  ago  confided  in  Uncle  Sam 
shall  be  carried  out  in  spirit  and  in  letter,  so  that  we  may  have,  not 
unequal  states,  not  states  in  which  government  is  injected  into  that 
state  through  the  public  lands.  We  of  the  west  never  object  to 
anything  that  the  United  States  Government  may  do  under  its  con- 
stitutional grant  of  power,  because  they  could  do  that  in  Illinois; 
but  when  through  the  ownership  of  the  public  lands  they  seek  to 
levy  upon  other  states,  when  they  seek  to  impose  laws  and  regula- 


UNCLE  SAM  AND  WESTERN  LAND  QUESTION          625 

tions  upon  us  through  those  lands,  we  say  that  this  is  an  inseparable 
union  of  equal  and  indestructible  states  and  we  demand  equal  treat- 
ment— no  more  and  no  less.  (Applause.) 

My  friends,  before  concluding  I  want  to  say  just  a  few  words 
to  you,  not  as  easterners,  not  as  westerners,  but  as  American  citi- 
zens. It  may  be  that  there  is  some  criticism  just  now  and  I  noticed 
some  criticism  of  California  in  a  very  bright  Chicago  paper — and 
when  I  say  a  bright  Chicago  paper,  of  course  it  is  necessarily  one 
of  the  brightest  papers  in  the  world.  (Laughter.)  Now,  we  have 
our  shortcomings.  You  will  admit  that.  And  you  have  yours.  We 
will  admit  that.  (Laughter.)  And  with  those  admissions  we  ought 
to  get  along  pretty  well.  I  have  talked  to  you  briefly  as  a  western 
man.  I  want  to  say  these  few  general  things  that  I  have  said  to 
you  and  I  am  going  to  leave  your  education  as  to  the  refinements 
and  technicalities  of  the  public  land  laws  to  some  later  occasion 
when  I  am  the  last  speaker.  (Laughter.)  At  this  time  I  want  to  say 
to  you  further  because  I  think  we  are  facing  some  very  serious  and 
important  problems  in  America:  We  all  like  to  talk  of  prosperity, 
and  I  am  sure  I  do  not  like  to  bring  up  any  ideas  of  adversity;  but 
I  do  not  think  we  ought  to  or  could  afford  to  quarrel  on  sectional 
issues  and  divide  upon  internal  problems.  This  is  the  only  constitu- 
tional government,  of  law,  that  exists  in  the  world  that  has  ruled 
any  considerable  number  of  people  for  any  considerable  length  of 
time;  and  with  the  gathering  forces  of  destruction,  and  with  the 
menace  from  the  outside  world,  it  may  be,  it  may  well  be,  that 
whether  it  be  on  the  Atlantic  or  on  the  Pacific,  we  must  fight  as 
men  have  seldom  fought  before  for  the  preservation  of  constitu- 
tional government,  civil  liberty  and  free  institutions  in  this  world. 
It  may  be  so.  Let  me  say  to  you  that  while  you  hear  a  great  deal 
of  talk  in  campaigns  about  how  rich  we  have  grown  and  how  soft 
and  indulgent  and  given  over  to  luxury  the  American  people  are,  I 
think  it  is  all  on  the  surface.  I  like  to  remember  that  we  had  our 
origin  as  a  distinctive  race  some  thousands  of  years  ago,  away  back 
beneath  the  oak  forests  of  Germany  and  Brittany  and  while  as  a 
race  we  have  yielded  sometimes  to  the  domination  of  king  or  priestly 
rule,  while  we  have  erred  in  one  direction  or  another,  we  have  always 
risen  safely  superior  to  every  obstacle,  and  that  all  in  all  we  as  a 
race  are  the  most  liberty-loving,  the  most  resistless,  progressive, 
freest,  best  race  of  men  that  has  peopled  the  earth  in  all  the  tides 
of  time.  (Applause.) 


GOVERNMENT  OWNED  PATENTS. 
By  F.  G.  Cottrell,  Washington,  D.  C. 

During  last  year  the  Bureau  of  Mines  has  been  brought  very 
squarely  to  face  the  problem  of  what  to  do  about  patentable  inven- 
tions developed  in  the  Government's  own  service.  I  do  not,  how- 
ever, wish  here  to  discuss  in  detail  the  present  policy  of  this  par- 
ticular bureau,  that  being  a  matter  for  the  director  to  deal  with  in 
person,  but  speaking  as  an  individual  rather  than  as  a  member  of 
the  Bureau  of  Mines  staff,  there  are  some  general  questions  sug- 
gested by  the  idea  of  government  ownership  of  industrial  patents 
which  seem  to  me  well  worthy  of  the  thoughtful  consideration  of 
this  body  and  I  am  taking  your  time  today  more  particularly  in  the 
hope  of  turning  attention  to  the  need  of  a  broad  enough  working 
plan  to  fit  all  branches  of  the  Government  service  wherein  it  may 
prove  desirable  to  deal  with  these  matters. 

The  taking  of  patents  by  the  Government,  like  many  other  sim- 
ilar functions,  has  within  it  the  possibility  of  very  valuable  public 
service  if  wisely  administered,  but  on  the  other  hand  could  do  much 
mischief,  both  inside  the  service  and  out,  if  initiated  and  developed 
without  a  truly  comprehensive  and  sympathetic  understanding  of  its 
relation  to  the  whole  spirit,  history  and  working  of  our  present 
patent  system. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  this  latter  was  in  its  fundamentals 
conceived  when  the  orgonization  of  industry  was  on  a  very  different 
basis  and  scale  from  what  it  is  today  and  the  relation  of  the  inventor 
and  his  work  to  the  fruits  thereof  far  simpler  and  easier  to  under- 
stand and  define  than  at  present  with  the  ever  growing  complexity 
of  our  economic  mechanism. 

In  this  day  of  widespread  interest  in  the  regulation  of  natural 
monopolies  it  is  certainly  both  fitting  and  necessary  that  we  give 
due  attention  to  our  patent  system  as  the  earliest  and  in  many  ways 
the  most  striking  instance  of  the  recognition  and  regulation  of 
monopolies  by  our  national  Government.  In  fact,  patents  may 
appear  at  first  sight  as  purely  artificial  rather  than  natural  monopo- 
lies. This  is  not,  however,  an  entirely  tenable  view. 

The  first  basic  reason  for  granting  patents  on  invention  is  to 
substitute  a  definite  and  regulated  form  of  monopoly  under  the  law 


GOVERNMENT  OWNED  PATENTS  627 

for  a  broader  and  entirely  unregulated  one  which  the  patentee 
might  otherwise  secure  by  retaining  his  secret.  Even  today  many 
manufacturers  prefer  to  rely  upon  this  secrecy  in  many  instances 
rather  than  take  out  patents. 

The  second  basic  reason  for  issuing  patents  is  to  encourage 
and  stimulate  invention. 

The  third  reason  for  patent  protection  is  to  give  adequate 
opportunity  and  encouragement  for  intensive  commercial  develop- 
ment of  the  invention  which  is  almost  invariably  necessary  to  make 
it  generally  available  on  its  own  merits  to  the  ultimate  consumer. 

In  the  case  of  inventions  made  in  Government  laboratories  the 
first  of  the  above  reasons  for  patents  has  no  significance  as  it  is 
within  the  Government's  own  hands  to  determine  the  matter  of 
publicity  irrespective  of  patent. 

The  second  reason  for  patents — stimulation  of  invention — 
might  have  a  meaning  in  the  Government  service  on  the  ground  of 
recognition  and  prestige  even  though  no  direct  pecuniary  reward 
came  to  the  individual  inventor  over  and  above  his  regular  salary. 

But  it  is  by  all  odds  the  third  reason,  the  necessity  of  fostering 
under  patent  protection  the  early  commercial  development  of  most 
new  inventions,  that  would  seem  chiefly  to  justify  the  taking  out 
and  administering  of  government  patents  in  carefully  investigated 
and  approved  cases. 

The  chief  danger  to  be  avoided,  if  the  system  of  taking  patents 
became  general  in  the  service,  is  probably  the  multiplication  of 
cases  and  the  patenting  of  trivial  details  for  which  a  dangerous 
precedent  has  already  been  set  by  the  patent  departments  of  the 
commercial  interests  who,  due  to  their  rivalry  and  close  competi- 
tion, perhaps  have  a  greater  excuse  for  this  than  would  the  Gov- 
ernment. Still  even  in  the  production  of  present  publications, 
Government  employes  are  often  charged  with  taking  too  great  an 
interest  in  turning  out  a  given  number  of  pages,  and  it  is  easy  to 
imagine  that  any  such  tendency  which  may  exist  would  make  itself 
still  more  obvious  and  wasteful  of  time  and  energy  of  all  con- 
cerned, if  applied  to  the  field  of  patent  applications. 

These  are  matters,  of  course,  upon  which  it  is  impossible  to 
legislate  in  detail,  but  in  working  out  any  comprehensive  system 
care  will  have  to  be  taken  to  so  clearly  fix  responsibility  for  the 
exercise  of  judgment  in  these  particulars,  that  it  can  not  be  escaped 
or  ignored. 


628         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

Even  among  *some  of  those  in  the  government  service  who 
would  be  most  directly  concerned  with  such  patents,  should  the 
system  be  generally  adopted,  there  seems  to  be  a  considerable  lack 
of  appreciation  of  the  amount  and  importance  of  the  administra- 
tive work  necessary,  not  only  to  render  patents  of  the  greatest 
possible  public  utility,  but  even  to  prevent  them  from  becoming  an 
actual  drag  on  the  wheels  of  progress. 

The  taking  of  patents  by  Government  employes  and  the  adjust- 
ment of  questions  arising  therefrom  is  no  new  subject,  but  so  far 
it  has  not  received  the  general  study  it  deserves  but  like  Topsy  has 
"just  growed." 

There  is  at  present  no  legislation,  nor  executive  order  fixing  a 
general  policy  or  procedure  with  regard  to  patents  by  Govern- 
ment employes,  and  thus  each  department,  or  in  some  cases  each 
bureau,  has  dealt  with  the  matter  piecemeal  ?nd  often  very  inci- 
dentally in  its  own  way  and  usually  with  only  its  own  specific 
needs  in  mind  when  immediate  necessity  arose;  with  the  conse- 
quence that  a  wide  range  of  policy  and  point  of  view  is  to  be  found 
in  practice.  Thus,  in  certain  divisions  of  the  service  the  employes 
are  prohibited  from  taking  out  patents  at  all ;  in  others,  if  they  take 
them  out  they  must  be  "dedicated  to  the  public,"  i.  e.,  thrown  open 
absolutely  and  unrestrictively  to  public  use  from  the  outset.  In 
others,  again,  the  employe  may  retain  title  to  the  patent  and  make 
personal  profit  therefrom  in  the  open  market,  save  for  a  free 
license  to  the  Government  for  its  own  uses.  In  some  bureaus  this 
free  license  is  further  restricted  to  the  particular  bureau,  the  pat- 
entee being  at  liberty  to  profit  individually  from  the  use  of  his 
invention  by  other  branches  of  the  service,  if  he  can. 

Even  in  the  same  division  of  the  service,  the  requirements  on 
the  individual  will  vary,  depending  upon  the  character  of  the  inven- 
tion and  the  natui^  of  the  service  for  which  he  was  specifically 
employed.  For  example,  it  has  been  decided  that  if  a  soldier  or 
line  officer  invents,  say  an  improvement  to  a  cartridge  belt,  he  is 
individually  entitled  to  patent  to  it  and  can  deal  with  the  Govern- 
ment on  the  matter  as  could  an  entire  outsider  because  the  improve- 
ment of  accouterment  was  no  part  of  his  regular  duties,  but  if  an 
ordnance  officer  gets  out  a  new  gun  carriage  it  is  in  the  line  of  his 
regular  duty  and  belongs  to  the  Government. 

Similarly  in  the  case  of  anyone  employed  in  the  civil  service 
for  the  specific  purpose  of  research  along  a  particular  line,  any- 
thing developed  therein  is  at  the  command  of  the  Government,  at 


GOVERNMENT  OWNED  PATENTS  629 

least  as  far  as  this  country  is  concerned.  But  in  such  cases  the 
question  of  foreign  rights  is  still  open,  and  while  these  may  for  the 
present  be  considered  a  legitimate  and  theoretically  very  natural 
form  of  bonus  to  go  to  the  individual  in  recognition  of  special 
initiative,  still  to  those  who  have  had  experience  with  develop- 
ments of  foreign  patents,  the  question  will  arise  whether  after  all 
they  are  not  apt  to  prove  more  of  a  snare  and  a  burden  than  an 
asset. 

These  illustrations  merely  represent  a  very  few  of  the  many 
questions  arising  with  regard  to  the  relation  of  the  Government  to 
its  own  employes  in  the  matter  of  patents. 

On  the  larger  and  more  important  side,  viz.,  that  dealing  with 
its  relation  to  the  industries  and  the  public  at  large,  the  matter  is 
apt  to  be  even  more  complicated  as  time  goes  on,  so  that  the  fore- 
most need  at  present  would  seem  to  be  the  definite  location  of 
responsibility  for  the  study  and  gradual  development  of  a  compre- 
hensive and  consistent  system  of  administration  of  this  whole  sub- 
ject of  patents  within  the  Government's  own  service. 

This  guiding  and  unifying  element  between  the  different  de- 
partment should  be  permanent  in  its  character  and  organization, 
as  the  work  must  constantly  develop  and  maintain  a  thoroughly 
up-to-date  and  helpful  relation  to  the  industries.  The  funda- 
mental aim  of  Government  patents  need  be  in  no  sense  that  of 
destructive  competition  with  private  enterprise,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, should  be  to  aid,  encourage  and  stabilize  the  latter  by  supply- 
ing some  of  the  connecting  links  for  whose  early  development  it 
might  be  particularly  hard  to  secure  private  backing,  even  though 
the  final  result  was  of  recognized  public  benefit. 

The  whole  policy  underlying  the  issuance  of  licenses  must  be 
conceived  and  executed  in  a  broad  and  intelligent  manner  with  a 
full  understanding  of  the  complexities  of  modern  industry  and 
trade.  In  its  various  ramifications  it  is  a  subject  somewhat  re- 
sembling and  fully  as  complicated  as  railroad  and  other  public 
utility  regulation.  The  Government  is  already  responsible  for  the 
general  guidance  of  our  whole  system  of  patent  law  and  is  of 
necessity  being  called  upon  steadily  to  make  more  and  more  de- 
tailed study  and  pronouncement,  either  legislative  or  judicial,  con- 
cerning the  detailed  working  of  the  system  in  both  industry  and 
trade.  It  certainly  seems  that  if  the  Government  itself  had  also 
the  experience  of  dealing  with  the  working  of  these  laws  from  the 
side  of  the  assignee  of  patent  rights,  it  might  insure  a  more  thought- 


630         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

ful  and  sympathetic  understanding  of  the  entire  subject  from  both 
sides  than  is  now  always  possible  to  secure. 

The  question  as  to  just  where  responsibility  for  this  general 
oversight  and  guidance  of  business  administration  of  government 
patents  could  best  be  vested  is  an  extremely  important  issue.  The 
scientific  and  technical  aspects  of  the  work  should,  of  course,  be 
left  to  the  individual  departments  and  bureaus  as  at  present,  but 
experience  shows  that  few,  if  any,  of  these  as  at  present  consti- 
tuted, have  the  organization,  or  take  the  interest  in  the  details  of 
patent  administration  in  general  to  insure  adequate  attention  to  the 
subject  along  the  lines  above  indicated  for  the  public  good. 

The  two  alternatives  which  most  naturally  suggest  themselves 
are  perhaps  the  creation  of  a  separate  commission,  similar  to  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission  and  the  Civil  Service  Commis- 
sion on  the  one  hand,  or  the  enlargement  of  the  functions  of  the 
Patent  Office  itself  on  the  other. 

The  first  has  the  advantage  of  giving  the  new  work  a  per- 
fectly fresh  start,  but  has  the  generally  recognized  disadvantage  of 
creating  one  more  isolated  administrative  unit  to  be  kept  in  co- 
ordination with  the  rest  of  the  executive  machinery.  If  the  work 
were  placed  under  the  Patent  Office,  it  would  presumably  mean, 
eventually,  the  establishment  of  a  separate  division  of  patent  admin- 
istration which  would  be  quite  distinct  from  the  present  work  of  the 
office,  but  it  would  have  the  advantage  of  assuring  as  far  as  pos- 
sible that  the  new  work  would  go  forward  along  constructive  lines 
fully  in  harmony  with  the  original  spirit  and  intent  of  the  patent 
system  as  a  whole  and  might  be  expected  to  have  a  healthy  and 
helpful  influence  on  the  other  work  of  the  Patent  Office  in  bringing 
home  to  its  official  family  in  a  very  practical  way  the  live  problems 
met  with  in  the  industries  through  the  administration  of  patents 
after  they  leave  the  office. 


CONSERVATION:     ITS    PURPOSE;    ITS    EFFECT. 
Hon.  Frank  H.  Short,  Fresno,  Cal. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen :  In  connection  with  the  subject 
that  is  before  us  for  discussion  this  afternoon  I  must  admit  that  I 
am  a  partisan.  I  hope,  however,  I  have  understanding  enough  to 
be  a  reasonable  partisan  and  not  an  offensive  partisan,  as  the  term 
is  used  in  political  matters. 

For  about  twenty  years  now  I  have  been  with  considerable 
activity  and  industry  representing  a  good  many  men  who  have 
been  endeavoring  to  develop  the  resources  of  the  western  states 
under  the  laws  of  the  United  States  and  the  western  states.  At 
times  this  has  been  found  both  difficult  and  troublesome,  and 
although  we  were  not  engaged  in  doing  anything  that  was  not 
being  done  in  the  open  and  under  the  law,  and  although  we  were 
engaged  in  the  construction  of  canals,  appropriation  of  water,  and 
for  the  irrigation  of  land  and  the  erection  of  reservoirs  and  canals 
and  aqueducts  for  the  development  of  hydro-electric  power  and  in 
the  location  and  development  of  mines  and  oil  lands  and  oil 
claims,  nevertheless  I  have  frequently  found  myself  in  public  gath- 
erings accused  of  being  a  wicked  enemy  of  the  people,  desiring  to 
accomplish  something  wholly  wrong,  undesirable  and  wholly  inimical 
to  the  public  interest.  This  character  of  attack  and  argument  was 
pretty  active  for  a  while.  However,  that  never  bothered  me  very 
much.  If  a  thing  is  not  true  ,and  if  you  go  about  your  business  in 
a  legitimate  way,  false  rumors  and  false  agitations  wear  themselves 
out.  Unhappily,  however,  I  have  seen  false  agitations  and  false 
rumors  last  long  enough  to  kill  off  a  good  many  people.  But  those 
of  us  who  are  wearable,  durable  and  indestructible  come  out  all 
right  in  the  end. 

Mining,  in  the  west,  is  practically  synonymous  with  mining 
on  the  public  land.  This  for  the  reason  that  before  much  of  the 
lands  of  the  west  was  disposed  of  by  the  United  States  it  was 
provided  by  law  that  the  mineral  lands,  and  later  including  the  oil 
lands,  could  not  be  disposed  of  except  under  the  mineral  laws. 
That  meant  upon  the  discovery  and  development  of  minerals  justify- 


632         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

ing  the  patenting  of  the  land  by  the  Government  to  those  who  had 
developed  the  same. 

Many  of  you  people  of  the  east  never  think  of  land  title 
troubles  in  connection  with  mining.  However,  that  is  about  two- 
thirds  of  what  the  western  miner  has  to  think  about,  and  whether 
he  thinks  about  it  or  not,  he  usually  finds  himself  sooner  or  later  in 
trouble. 

For  a  good  long  time  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
regarded  itself  as  a  trustee  for  the  disposition  of  the  public  lands 
to  actual  settlers  and  to  those  who  developed  its  mineral  character. 
In  fact  at  the  time  the  public  lands  were  ceded  by  the  original 
thirteen  states  to  the  Federal  Government,  it  was  provided  by 
statute  that  they  were  transferred  to  the  United  States  in  trust,  to 
be  disposed  of  to  actual  settlers,  and  that  over  these  lands,  then 
extending  as  far  west  as  the  Mississippi  River,  there  should  be 
erected  new  states  equal  in  power,  dignity  and  authority,  in  all 
respects  whatsoever,  with  the  original  thirteen  states.  The  trust 
thus  created  was  for  a  century  carried  out  by  the  United  States 
with  unchanging  fidelity — sometimes,  it  may  be,  with  undue  gen- 
erosity— but  for  all  of  this  time  it  was  carried  out  in  the  original 
spirit. 

Later,  and  not  very  long  ago,  there  was  the  development  of  a 
new  idea,  or  an  application  of  a  world-old  one,  under  the  title  of 
"Conservation."  This  is  the  subject,  I  believe,  that  I  am  to  dis- 
cuss this  afternoon.  Perhaps  I  am  inclined  at  times  to  give  a 
somewhat  strict  construction  to  the  constitution  and  laws  of  our 
country.  However,  I  have  always  understood  that  a  subject  is 
given  to  a  speaker  as  a  license  and  not  a  limitation.  Therefore,  in 
talking  of  conservation,  I  will  be  permitted  to  talk  of  anything  I 
want  to  discuss,  for  the  reason  that  conservation  is  an  all-inclusive 
subject.  In  fact,  it  has  extended  and  grown  and  ramified  until  if 
you  talk  of  any  phase  of  the  public  lands  or  the  acquisition  of  the 
same  or  upon  any  public  question  from  the  Cunningham  claims  in 
Alaska  to  Better  Babies,  you  are  discussing  conservation  in  s  its 
present  understood  sense. 

However,  as  I  first  learned  to  understand  the  subject,  con- 
servation meant  the  saving  and  holding  and  better  protection  of  the 
resources  of  the  country.  Especially  with  respect  to  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  timber,  the  soils  and  the  river  flows  and  water  supplies. 


CONSERVATION:  ITS  PURPOSE;  ITS  EFFECT  633 

I  have  never  known  a  subject  that  divided  itself  as  clearly  as 
conservation  does.  Up  to  a  certain  point  we  all  agree.  Beyond  that 
point  we  all  disagree. 

We  of  the  west  have  no  quarrel  with  conservation  in  the  sense 
that  it  means  the  better  protection  of  the  soil  or  the  timber  or  the 
water  supply  or  the  mineral  resources.  With  all  of  these  purposes 
we  are  entirely  and  necessarily  in  complete  accord.  And  we  have 
always  desired  to  co-operate  with  such  a  policy. 

But  conservation  so  grew  and  crowded  itself  upon  other  things 
that  Jonah's  gourd  was  nothing  at  all  in  comparison  with  the  final 
growth  of  conservation  in  the  west. 

I  recall  being  present  at  one  of  the  enormous  gatherings  that 
marked  the  high  tide  of  conservation,  and  I  there  heard  my  altruistic 
friend,  Mr.  GifTord  Pinchot,  assert  and  demonstrate  with  a  set  of 
figures  that  in  about  seventy-five  or  eighty  years,  at  the  present  rate 
of  consumption,  the  world's  available  supply  of  coal  would  be 
exhausted.  This  by  a  process  of  assuming  a  mathematical  percent- 
age of  increase  at  the  same  ratio  that  was  then  going  on  (by  which 
ratio  of  increase,  of  course,  you  could  burn  up  the  world  in 'a  few 
centuries).  However,  we  were  assured,  as  a  matter  of  mathematical 
and  logical  deduction,  that  the  world's  supply  of  coal,  and,  presum- 
ably, other  fuels,  would  be  exhausted  within  approximately  the 
period  of  time  stated.  Not  being  very  strong  on  statistics  at  the 
time,  I  was  necessarily  much  afflicted  with  fear  and  cold  feet  on 
account  of  this  statement. 

Not  only  was  the  coal  to  be  burned  up  and  disappear,  but  the 
forests  such  as  remained  were  soon  to  be  destroyed,  and  a  cold, 
arid,  desolate  world  was  spread  out  before  our  bewildered  and  won- 
dering minds. 

However,  only  a  few  months  later  I  was  present  when  a  gov- 
ernmental geologist  testified  before  a  committee  of  Congress  as  to 
the  conditions  in  Alaska.  He  said  that  the  geological  department 
had  surveyed  enough  coal  south  of  the  Arctic  circle  in  Alaska  to 
supply  the  world  with  coal,  at  the  present  rate  of  consumption,  for 
2,000  years,  and  that  he  assumed  that  there  was  as  much  coal  north 
of  the  arctic  circle. 

Some  years  later,  in  reading  the  report  of  Lieut.  Schackleton's 
trip  to  the  South  Pole,  I  found  that  he  had  reported  that  he  had 
traveled  for  many  days  over  what  appeared  to  be  solid  coal  forma- 
tions. I  therefore  changed  my  mind  and  decided  not  to  try  to 


634         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS 

monopolize  the  world's   supply  of  coal — at  least,  without  further 
verification  of  Mr.  Pinchot's  estimates. 

No  doubt,  however,  there  were  many  good  men  and  women  in 
the  country  who  did  not  hear  this  geologist  or  any  other  geologist, 
testify,  and  who  have  felt  ashamed  to  put  a  shovel  of  coal  on  the 
fire  to  keep  their  children  warm  for  fear  they  were  depriving  their 
grand  children  of  a  needed  fuel  supply. 

This  sense  of  fear,  this  impending  destruction,  this  exhaustion 
of  coal,  this  impoverishment  of  the  soil,  this  exhaustion  of  mines 
and  of  oils  and  of  the  resources  of  living,  were  so  exaggerated, 
were  so  exploited  in  the  magazines  and  were  so  headlined  in  the 
papers  that  for  a  time  conservation  was  the  greatest  political  theme 
of  the  country. 

If  a  politician  was  not  particularly  strong  in  any  other  direction, 
he  gained  strength  by  aligning  himself  with  the  spirit  of  conserva- 
tion. While  conservation  still  has  its  useful  and  its  strong  and  its 
wholesome  features,  it  is  not  available  at  this  date,  I  believe,  as  an 
argument  to  persuade  people  to  vote  for  a  wholly  useless  candidate 
simply  because  he  dreams  of  conservation  by  night  and  heralds  it 
abroad  by  day. 

The  considerations  just  outlined  were  the  elementary  ones  in 
the  beginning  of  conservation.  A  little  later,  however,  under  the 
banner  of  "conservation"  there  was  developed  the  theory  and  policy 
that  the  United  States  Government,  by  its  ownership  of  the  public 
lands,  should  place  its  authority,  control  and  restraint  over  the  devel- 
opment of  the  resources  of  the  western  states  in  connection  with  the 
„  use  of  rights  of  way  over  the  public  lands. 

Congress  never  gave  direct  sanction  to  this  policy.  It  simply 
passed  laws  of  a  general  nature,  authorizing  departments,  either  of 
the  interior  or  of  agriculture,  to  permit,  under  rules  and  regulations, 
the  uses  of  rights  of  way  over  the  public  lands.  While  these  rules 
and  regulations  were  supposed  to  have  been  designed  only  to  pro- 
tect the  interests  of  the  United  States  in  the  use  and  occupation  of 
its  lands,  they  were  shortly  after  their  enactment  and  are  now  used 
as  the  basis  of  nearly  every  conceivable  kind  of  restraint,  charge, 
regulation  and  control. 

The  authority  is  assumed  wholly  to  deny  such  right  or  use  at 
all  except  in  the  discretion  of  the  departmental  head.  Also  to  im- 
pose almost  every  character  of  governmental  authority  and  restraint 
over  the  industry  necessarily  occupying  and  using  such  rights  of 
way.  Including,  amongst  other  things,  the  necessity  of  getting 


CONSERVATION:  ITS  PURPOSE;  ITS  EFFECT  635 

departmental  permission  to  dispose  of  electric  power  by  physical 
connection  with  others,  although  such  connection  occurs  off  of  the 
public  lands. 

Also  providing  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  might 
take  over  and  develop  an  entire  power  project  within  a  state,  not 
only  on  the  public  lands,  but  off  of  the  same,  and  regardless  of  how 
little  of  the  public  lands  are  used  and  of  how  extensive  and  expen- 
sive the  development  off  of  the  public  lands  may  be. 

Therefore,  even  if  you  are  under  the  laws  of  a  State  entitled 
to  develop  a  power  or  other  product  over  the  public  lands,  you 
could  not  do  so  at  all  except  with  the  approval  of  the  head  of  one 
of  the  departments,  and  then  only  under  such  terms,  either  restric- 
tive or  governmental,  as  the  department  might  impose,  and  this 
includes  the  charge,  regardless  of  the  value  of  the  right  of  way  over 
the  public  lands,  varying  from  ten  cents  per  horsepower  per  year 
at  the  end  of  ten  years  increasing  annually  until  the  maximum  of 
one  dollar  is  reached. 

There  is  a  clause  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  that 
gives  the  Federal  Government  authority  to  levy  excise  taxes.  But 
the  framers  of  the  Constitution  very  clearly  provided  that  this  tax 
should  be  uniform  throughout  the  United  States. 

If,  however,  the  Government,  in  connection  with  the  use  of  a 
trivial  right  of  way,  imposed  a  charge  measured  by  the  quantity  of 
electricity  developed,  it  could  correspondingly  impose  any  desired 
charge  for  water  flowing  in  canals  over  the  public  lands,  or  a  charge 
per  ton  per  mile  for  freight  transported  over  a  railroad,  and  if  it 
could  itself  take  over  and  operate  an  industry  within  a  state,  then 
in  all  of  the  public  land  states  the  provisions  as  to  equal  taxation 
under  the  Constitution  would  be  effectually  repealed,  and  each  and 
all  of  these  states  would  be,  in  connection  with  the  raising  of  reve- 
nues, upon  an  inequality  with  all  of  the  other  states. 

The  United  States  cannot  be  sued  (at  least  it  is  assumed  that  it 
cannot),  and  therefore  rights  of  way  over  the  public  lands  cannot 
be  acquired  as  over  privately  owned  lands.  Nevertheless,  through 
these  lands  you  will  observe  the  United  States  Government  is 
endeavoring  to  acquire  under  contracts  and  by  processes  equivalent 
to  eminent  domain,  the  possession  and  ownership  of  extensive 
power  developments  in  all  of  the  public  land  states  and  which  it 
could  possibly  not  acquire  in  the  non-public  land  states  unless  in 


636         PROCEEDINGS   AMERICAN    MINING   CONGRESS 

connection  with  permitting  the  use  of  the  waters  of  navigable 
streams  for  power  or  other  preferred  uses. 

All  of  these  matters  of  constitutional  equality  of  opportunity, 
and  of  revenue,  and  of  eminent  domain,  have  been  thought  to  be 
the  very  highest  and  most  important  functions  of  government,  and 
probably  one  of  the  greatest  mistakes  ever  made  by  any  English- 
speaking  people  was  the  effort  on  the  part  of  our  English  ancestors 
and  relatives  to  impose  taxation  without  representation  upon  the 
American  colonists.  The  charges  and  taxes  proposed  to  be  imposed 
on  the  colonists  were  not  large  nor  of  themselves  important,  but  in 
the  minds  of  our  Anglo-Saxon  ancestors  it  was  unequal  without 
representation,  and  therefore  unjust. 

By  every  standard  of  equality,  by  every  desire  for  unit,  and 
upon  the  plainest  principles  of  justice  and  the  general  welfare,  we 
all  ought  to  oppose  these  unequal  policies  with  all  the  strength  that 
we  possess. 

The  excuse  for  the  charge  on  western  industries  was  that  it 
was  expensive  to  supervise  the  forests  and  the  public  lands,  and 
therefore  additional  revenue  should  be  provided.  Parenthetically  I 
wish  to  observe,  however,  that  I  am  not  complaining  of  the  salaries 
of  forest  rangers.  I  have  always  regarded  a  forest  ranger  as  a 
patriot.  If  we  are  fixing  wages  for  other  people  to  pay,  we  Amer- 
ican citizens  are  a  pretty  liberal  people,  but  when  it  comes  to  fixing 
the  wages  we  are  to  pay  out  ourselves,  we  are  fairly  economical. 
We  pay  the  forest  rangers,  and  I  believe  they  usually  get  about 
$75.00  a  month.  But  the  ranger  has  the  privilege  of  furnishing  his 
own  pony,  and  also  the  United  States  furnishes  for  his  use  all  of 
the  green  grass  in  the  reservation,  and  an  abundance  of  river  water, 
and  the  finest  scenery  in  the  world,  all  of  which  is  as  free  to  the 
ranger  as  the  air  and  the  air  is  also  free  for  him  I  believe. 

If  a  ranger  can  find  a  suitable  wife  who  does  not  adhere  to 
society,  and  who  loves  nature  and  the  inexpensive  wearing  apparel 
of  an  Indian  squaw,  he  is  free  to  marry,  but  he  and  his  wife  are 
forever  removed  from  all  social  ambition  and  desire  for  wealth  or 
other  hurtful  ambitions. 

However,  while  rangers  are  cheap  enough  on  the  range,  a  great 
many  buildings  must  be  built  and  erected,  and  they  must  be  filled 
with  patriotic  bureau  heads  and  other  government  functionaries  in 
Washington,  and  the  aggregate  expense  is  quite  sufficient  to  con- 
sume any  excess  of  the  aggregate  revenue.  So  there  would  be  no 
dividend  for  the  average  citizen — at  least  not  right  away. 


CONSERVATION:  ITS  PURPOSE;  ITS  EFFECT  637 

I  have  heard  it  suggested  in  committees  of  Congress  that  one 
dollar  per  horsepower  per  year  was  not  much  of  a  charge.  Since, 
however,  a  fair  wholesaling-  price  for  electric  power  would  be 
twenty  dollars  per  horsepower  per  annum  where  supplied  at  the 
power  house,  it  is  equivalent  to  a  tax  of  five  per  cent  on  the  gross 
income,  and  even  if  you  got  fifty  dollars  per  horsepower,  it  would 
be  two  per  cent  and  the  present  income  tax  on  the  exemptions  is 
one  per  cent  and  probably  the  average  citizen  would  feel  somewhat 
imposed  upon  if  his  present  income  tax  were  increased  from  one 
per  cent  to  six  per  cent  per  annum. 

This  charge  is  not  in  actual  operation  so  much  of  an  imposi- 
tion upon  the  power  companies  and  their  stockholders  as  on  the 
consumers  of  power.  In  nearly  all  the  public  land  states  the  busi- 
ness of  developing  and  distributing  electric  power  is  public  service 
and  is  strictly  regulated  by  law,  and  under  commissions  provided  for 
that  purpose  the  rates  and  charges  are  fixed.  And  this  being  so, 
whatever  tax  is  paid  to  the  Federal  Government  is  necessarily  added 
to  the  charge  which  the  power  companies  earn  from  the  public,  and, 
correspondingly,  the  consumer  pays  the  tax. 

The  discriminating  individuals  who  framed  the  constitution  of 
the  United  States  provided  that  the  Federal  Government  should 
have  the  power  to  levy  excise  and  certain  other  taxes,  but  with  dis- 
crmination  they  said  that  the  same  "must  be  uniform"  throughout 
the  United  States.  However,  what  would  I  care  for  this  constitu- 
tional limitation  if  I  owned  the  public  lands  within  a  state  and 
could  impose  arbitrarily  upon  any  industry  using  the  same  any 
desired  tax  or  charge  and  if  I  could  also  take  over  by  authority  of 
the  public  lands  and  own  and  run  the  power  business  within  a  state, 
the  limitation  would  amount  to  but  precious  little  it  seems  to  me. 
If  these  regulations  can  be  maintained  and  sustained  as  constitu- 
tional and  just,  then  in  the  thirteen  western  states  of  this  Union 
equal  taxation  by  the  United  States  is  forever  suspended. 

I  do  not  believe  that  any  thoughtful  American  citizen  wants 
this.  I  believe  the  people  of  the  east  want  the  people  of  the  west 
to  operate  and  live  under  equal  laws  and  in  equal  states  and  have 
and  exercise  equal  rights ;  and  it  is  only  those  that  have  been  mis- 
advised and  misinformed  and  that  misunderstand  the  policy  that 
have  approved  the  same. 

The  purpose  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  was  to 
create  equal  citizens,  and  as  an  essential  condition  of  equal  citizen- 


638         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

ship  it  was  necessary  to  create  equal  states.  If  the  states  are 
unequal,  or  if  one  state  cannot  be  developed  under  the  same  laws 
as  another  state,  or  with  the  same  exemptions  from  charges  and 
impositions,  then  the  states  are  unequal,  and  it  follows  therefore 
that  if  the  states  are  unequal,  the  equality  of  American  citizenship 
is  destroyed. 

In  a  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  writ- 
ten by  Judge  Brewer,  it  was  said  that  the  powers  of  the  Federal 
Government  in  every  state  should  be  the  same,  no  greater  and  no 
less.  This  is  exactly  what  we  contend  for — no  greater  and  no  less. 
Even  if  the  Federal  Government  under  the  constitution  had  the 
power  to  change  its  policy  and  could  deny  development  of  resources 
over  the  public  land  or  could  impose  large  and  arbitrary  charges 
in  connection  therewith,  or  could  impose  restraints  or  exact  powers 
of  government  that  it  could  not  otherwise  exercise  everywhere,  it 
should  not  attempt  to  do  so. 

The  very  essence  of  our  institutions,  the  very  basis  of  our 
citizenship,  is  equality,  and  this  equality  should  be  preserved, 
whether  the  constitution  would  permit  it  to  be  violated  or  not.  But 
if  it  is  held  that  this  equality  cannot  be  violated,  then  the  appre- 
hension will  be  removed. 

These  considerations  seem  very  simple,  elementary  and  unde- 
niable. But  my  friends  of  conservation  absolutely  decline  to  con- 
sider them.  They  constantly  insist  that  they  are  going  to  help  us 
by  helping  themselves  to  authority,  to  revenue,  to  income  and  to 
control  over  government.  The  greatest  vice  of  the  situation  is  that 
it  applies  only  to  about  one-third  of  the  remaining  territory  of  the 
United  States  and  to  only  about  one-tenth  of  its  population.  If  it 
applied  to  all  of  the  territory  and  to  all  of  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  it  would  very  readily  adjust  itself.  But  where  the  condition 
is  unequal,  where  the  majority  is  in  interest  opposed  to  the  minority, 
inequality  and  sectionalism  develop  and  infinite  harm  can  be  done. 

If  "the  remaining  resources  of  the  nation  belong  to  all  of  the 
people  of  the  nation,"  then  in  the  beginning  the  resources  of  the 
nation  belonged  to  all  the  people  of  the  nation,  and  it  seems  rather 
inopportune  and  unjust,  after  the  distribution  of  its  common  assets 
to  four-fifths  of  the  states  that  the  proportion  remaining  to  the 
other  fifth  should  be  taken  and  retained  for  the  benefit  of  all. 

In  Utah,  for  instance,  there  is  only  about  twenty  per  cent  or 
less  of  all  the  land  in  the  state  that  is  vested  in  private  ownership, 


CONSERVATION:  ITS  PURPOSE;  ITS  EFFECT  639 

and  therefore  eighty  per  cent  of  the  soil  in  Utah  is  now  and  will 
be,  until  the  United  States  Government  disposes  of  its  land  if  it 
ever  does,  exempt  from  the  power  of  taxation  in  that  state.  This 
eighty  percent  can  never  be  made  to  pay  any  income  in  support 
of  the  government  of  the  state  or  of  the  counties  of  the  state  or 
of  the  municipalities  or  the  common  schools  of  the  state.  And  yet 
we  are  assured  that  this  policy  is  for  the  benefit  of  the  western 
states  and  the  western  people. 

In  this  connection  I  have  illustrated  the  situation  by  a  parable 
that  Col.  Roosevelt  has  referred  to  as  the  parable  of  the  four  sons. 
But  I  am  going  to  make  an  address  at  the  banquet  tonight,  and  of 
course  as  the  banquet  will  cost  money  and  as  this  is  a  free  show, 
it  would  not  be  right  for  me  to  give  you  the  benefit  of  everything 
here  and  say  nothing  new  there.  The  seats  at  the  banquet,  I 
believe,  are  five  dollars.  However,  in  addition  to  my  address  there 
will  be  one  by  Col.  Pope  and  also  others  to  speak,  and  there  will  be 
also  five  or  six  courses  served,  but  you  will  not  hear  the  parable 
of  the  four  brothers  unless  you  pay  five  dollars.  (Laugther.) 

One  of  the  most  hurtful  developments  in  connection  with  this 
new  public  land  policy  is  the  uncertainty  that  it  developed.  When 
the  United  States  Government  was  simply  acting  as  an  arbiter  as 
to  which  of  two  or  more  applicants  it  would  assign  the  land,  there 
was  little  difficulty  and  but  little  complaint,  but  now  when  a  citizen 
is  claiming  title,  either  as  to  agricultural  or  mineral  land,  the  United 
States  comes  in  claiming  the  land  itself.  The  official  who  is  to 
decide  the  case  is  an  officer  of  the  Government.  We  therefore  find 
this  as  a  good  deal  like  trying  a  defendant  charged  with  crime  before 
a  district  attorney  and  expect  to  get  a  verdict  of  acquittal.  The 
Government  generally  wins  when  there  is  any  plausible  reason  or 
excuse  for  deciding  in  its  favor,  and  I  sometimes  think  the  reasons 
assigned  are  not  very  plausible. 

Many  of  the  western  states  have  not  increased  in  population 
for  the  last  ten  or  fifteen  years  in  a  proportionate  way.  And  a  large 
percent  of  this  retardation  of  growth  is  because  no  American  citizen 
could  know  whether,  if  he  went  to  the  public  lands  and  undertook 
their  development  under  the  law  either  for  their  acquisition  as  agri- 
cultural lands  or  as  mineral  lands  or  for  the  development  of  water 
resources  for  hydro-electric  power,  his  rights  would  be  respected  or 
not,  or  whether  his  title  would  be  confirmed. 

In  California  and  in  some  of  the  other  western  states  a  very 
serious  phase  of  this  matter  has  occurred  in  connection  with  the 


640         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

development  of  oil.  These  oil  lands  were  subject  to  be  taken  up 
only  under  the  mineral  laws.  But  as  no  absolute  rights  existed 
until  discovery  of  mineral  or  oil,  and  since  it  took  unavoidably 
sometimes  several  years  to  make  a  discovery  of  oil  on  the  claim, 
the  title  of  the  locator  was  insecure. 

Under  this  state  and  condition  of  things  there  were  presi- 
dential orders  of  withdrawal  and  an  intervening  act  of  Congress, 
so  that  many  American  citizens  who  at  enormous  expense  have 
developed  the  oil  mineral  lands  find  their  titles  denied  and  their 
possession  disputed,  and  although  they  have  developed  the  property 
openly  and  in  good  faith  and  are  in  possession,  they  have  been  sued 
by  the  Government.  Receivers  are  in  charge  of  their  property  and 
many  of  them  are  facing  bankruptcy,  all  because  of  the  uncertain- 
ties and  changes  and  conflicting  administration  of  the  law. 

Those  who  have  developed  these  oil  mineral  lands  have  pro- 
ceeded under  the  advice  of  counsel.  For  instance,  upon  the  ques- 
tion of  the  validity  of  the  withdrawal  made  by  the  president,  ten 
federal  judges  have  passed  upon  the  question,  five  holding  that  the 
withdrawals  were  invalid  and  five  holding  that  they  were  valid. 
Since,  however,  five  out  of  eight  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  thought  the  withdrawals  were  valid,  the  decision 
went  against  the  oil  locators,  and  it  is  now  actually  being  attempted 
to  forfeit  their  properties,  take  over  their  improvements  and  charge 
them  with  the  oil  that  they  have  taken  from  the  lands,  although, 
as  decided  by  the  courts,  the  Government  and  its  officials  have 
stood  by  knowing  what  was  being  done,  the  improvements  being 
made,  the  lands  developed  and  the  oil  produced,  and  never  gave  any 
notice  of  their  intention  to  forfeit  the  same. 

Congress  is  now  considering  legislation  that  it  is  hoped  will 
somewhat  relieve  the  situation,  and,  strange  to  relate,  from  unin- 
formed sources  vigorous  attacks  have  been  leveled  against  this 
humane  and  reasonable  request  for  relief  legislation.  But  inasmuch 
as  the  courts,  while  holding  the  title  to  the  oil  land  defective  in  a 
legal  sense,  have  uniformly  held  their  good  faith  and  their  good 
intentions  and  the  honesty  of  their  motives,  there  can  be  little  doubt 
that  the  relief  sought  will  be  granted. 

I  am  morally  certain  that  every  miner  in  the  United  States 
when  informed  of  the  conditions  upon  the  oil  lands  will  approve 
of  the  passage  by  Congress  of  just  and  reasonable  laws  in  this  con- 
nection. I  was  pleased  to  see  in  the  remarks  of  Franklin  D.  Roose- 
velt, speaking  for  the  Navy,  that  he  does  not  favor  confiscation. 


CONSERVATION:  ITS  PURPOSE;  ITS  EFFECT  641 

While  he  does  favor  an  adequate  supply  of  oil  for  the  Nayy,  there 
is  no  official  conflict  between  its  policy  and  the  confirmation  of  the 
just  rights  of  those  who  have  developed  these  lands. 

We  are  all,  of  course,  in  favor  of  an  adequate  navy  and  of 
everything  that  is  needed  for  its  efficiency  and  success.  But  t*> 
state  the  matter  in  very  round  figures,  three  million  acres  of  oil 
lands  have  been  withdrawn. .  It  is  stated  by  the  Geological  Depart- 
ment that  they  have  been  withdrawn  because  it  is  believed  that 
they  contain  valuable  deposits  of  petroleum.  Assuming  even  that 
the  Geological  Department  is  ninety  per  cent  wrong  and  that  only 
ten  per  cent  of  these  three  million  acres  contain  petroleum,  there 
is  not  more  than  thirty  thousand  acres  of  disputed  developed  oil 
lands  altogether. 

Assuming  that  there  is  so  little  as  three  hundred  thousand  acres 
of  productive  oil  land  undeveloped  and  they  are  to  be  appropriated 
by  the  Government  for  the  use  of  the  Navy,  if  there  was  only  one 
oil  well  on  each  five  acres  of  land — and  you  could  put  on  double 
that  number,  and  if  these  wells  produced  only  an  average  of  fifty 
barrels  per  day — and  they  would  probably  produce  twice  as  much — 
you  would  have  a  daily  production  of  three  million  barrels,  this 
production  would  be  sufficient  to  supply  the  needs  of  the  Navy, 
even  when  it  is  fully  developed  up  to  anticipated  standards,  for  a 
year  out  of  the  production  of  two  days. 

It  is,  therefore,  not  only  wholly  wrong,  but  wholly  unnecessary 
to  talk  about  robbing  the  miners  who  have  developed  the  public 
lands  in  the  interest  of  the  Navy.  Happily,  there  is  a  permanent 
supply  of  fuel  oil  for  the  Navy  for  indefinite  years  to  come,  regard- 
less of  any  disputed  lands  or  whether  they  shall  be  retained  by  the 
Government  or  assigned  to  those  who  have  developed  them  at  great 
hazard  and  expense. 

In  conclusion,  allow  me  to  say  that  the  people  of  the  western 
States  are  seeking  only  a  square  deal,  no  more  and  no  less.  What 
we  desire  is  absolute  equality.  We  talk  much  about  liberty  and 
justice,  but  without  equality  there  can.be  no  liberty  and  unequal 
justice  is  not  justice  at  all,  and  inequality  is  incompatible  with  the 
very  first  and  most  fundamental  ideas  of  American  citizenship. 

But  we  do  believe  that  the  western  states  and  the  pioneers  who 
have  settled  them  are  entitled  to  be  as  free  and  as  respected  as 
those  who  developed  the  east  and  the  central  and  southern  portion 


642         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN   MINING   CONGRESS 

of  this  country.  We  believe  in  this  and  we  hope  and  believe  that 
you  agree  with  us. 

It  has  been  an  enormous  task  to  develop  the  west  even  so  far 
as  now  developed.  We  who  have  seen  its  deserts  and  its  fertile 
plains  and  its  great  mountains  are  its  loyal  friends.  I  wish  that 
every  American  could  have  seen  the  same  and  could  get  the  spirit 
of  the  west  in  his  veins. 

We  who  are  seeking  to  develop  this  great  and  necessary  por- 
tion of  the  nation  do  not  desire  to  stop  to  consider  whether  we 
are  in  the  east  or  the  west  or  the  north  or  the  south.  The  problem 
is  simply  one  great  American  proble.1  to  be  worked  out  consistent 
with  the  idea  of  a  common  country,  consistent  with  the  idea  of 
absolute  equality  of  states,  absolute  equality  of  citizenship,  absolute 
equality  of  opportunity  and  absolute  equality  of  right.  (Applause.) 


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